Deccan Sultanate Coins (A Guide)

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Islamic coins were first issued in India by the Amirs of Sind in the eighth century AD and their regular coinage commenced in the eleventh and twelfth century AD by the Sultans of Delhi. Bahmani was the first major Muslim dynasty (748-942 AH/ 1347-1538 AD) to rule in the Deccan after their revolt against the Tughlaq rule from the Delhi. After the disintegration of Bahmani rule five succession states emerged in the Deccan and they are B arid Shahi (895-1028 AH/ 1489-1619 AD), Nizam Shahi (902-1046 AH/ 1496-1636 AD), Adil Shahi (895-1097 AH/ 1490-1686 AD), Qutb Shahi (895- 1098 AH/ 1489-1687 AD) and Imad Shahi (895-980 AH/ 1484-1572 AD) respectively.

Islamic coins are unique not only for their calligraphy but also for the wealth of information that they provide and Bahmani and the five succession dynasties coins are no exception. Islamic coins usually have mints name, year of issue in Hijri era, regnal year and a legend which could be very elaborate and truly reveal the character of the issuer. Another characteristic of Islamic coins is the mention of the name of the father of the issuer which makes it easy to identify the king especially when his name is common like Ahmad and Muhammad. For example there were four Ahrnads and three Muhammad's out of eighteen Bahmani rulers and each king can be identified because they mention the name of their father and sometimes even their grandfather.

Deccan Sultanate coins are available in plenty in the market and this book is a guide for those non-Urdu knowledgeable coin enthusiasts to identify them and find new coins.

D. Raja Reddy is a well known neurosurgeon and a numismatist. He is now the president of the Numismatic Society of India and been the past president of the South Indian Numismatic society and editor of its journal 'studies in south Indian coins'. He is the author of many books and articles on neurosurgery and numismatics especially of the Deccan coins.

Megana Deme is the resident of Novi in Michigan and is greatly interested in the Deccan and Indian history because of her roots in India. She is a Bharata Natyam dancer and keen student of numismatics.

Islamic coins were first issued in India by the Amirs of Sind in the eighth century AD and their regular coinage commenced in the eleventh and twelfth century xAD by the Sultans of Delhi. Bahmani was the first major Muslim dynasty (748-942 AH/ 1347-1538 AD) to rule in the Deccan after their revolt against the Tughlaq rule from the Delhi. After the disintegration of Bahmani rule five succession states emerged in the Deccan and they are Barid Shahi (895-1028 AH/ 1489-1619 AD), Nizam Shahi (902-1046 AH/ 1496-1636 AD), Adil Shahi (895-1097 AH/ 1490-1686 AD), Qutb Shahi (895-1098 AH/ 1489-1687 AD) and 'mad Shahi (895-980 AH/ 1484-1572 AD) respectively. The areas of rule of these dynasties are given in Map.

Islamic coins are unique not only for their calligraphy but also for the wealth of information that they provide and Bahmani and the five succession dynasties coins are no exception. Islamic coins usually have mints name, year of issue in Hijri era, regnal year and a legend which could be very elaborate and truly reveal the character of the issuer. Another characteristic of Islamic coins is the mention of the name of the father of the issuer which makes it easy to identify the king especially when his name is common like Ahmad and Muhammad. For example there were four Ahmads and three Muhammad's out of eighteen Bahmani rulers and each king can be identified because they mention the name of their father and sometimes even their grandfather. Genealogies of these dynasties are very useful in identifying the coins of individual Muslim rulers. The beauty of the Coins of Muslim rulers can be appreciated by comparing the typical coins of two contemporary rulers namely Muhammad Shah (1358-1375 AD) of the Bahmani dynasty and Bukka Raya I (1356-1377 AD) of the Vijayanagar period (Fig. l & 2). It is obvious that Muslim coins are a delight to coin collectors as well as to the historians. The coins of the Deccan Muslim dynasties also corrected some of the wrong information contained in the two historic source material of the Bahmani period such as Tarikh-i- Ferishta and Burhan-i- Maathir compiled by Muhammad Qasim Hindu Shah and Ali Bin Azizullah Tabataba respectively. To quote two examples Ferishta stated that first two Bahmani rulers did not issue coins in their names and both of these kings coins are depicted in this book. Ferishta stated that all Bahmani coins are square in shape and this is true of only one type of coin of Firoz Shah out of hundreds of types of coins of Bahmani rulers. There was also other wrong

Map: Map of Deccan of India showing the areas of rule of five Bahmani succession states namely Band Shahi, Nizam Shahi, Adil Shahi, Qutb Shahi and Imad Shahi respectively. The capitals of these five of the states were: Bidar, Ahmadnagar, Bijapur, Golconda and Elichpur respectively. There were some areas of dispute which are marked shaded in the map. At the height of their glory Bahmani rule extended from Arabian Sea to the Bay of Bengal. information in Ferishta which opined that fourth king Dawud and the fifth king Muhammad II were sons of Alauddin Bahman Shah which is not true. Both Dawud and Muhammad II were sons of Alauddin Bahmani's second son Mahmud Khan. The mint names of Gulbarga and Bidar were inscribed as Ahsanabad, Muhammadabad on coins while Ferishta wrongly mentions them as Hasanabad and Ahmedabad respectively. There were other mistakes in the accession of some of these rulers which were corrected by coins. Hence study of these coins is very informative to coin collectors as well as historians. Bahmanis issued three tier system of coinage made of gold, silver and copper. Subsequent rulers mostly issued coins made of copper and precious metal coins of these rulers are somewhat rare with some exceptions. The coins of Deccan Riltanates are available in plenty in the market and knowledge of Persian or Urdu is necessary to identify these coins. This guide is meant for those non-Islamic coin enthusiasts to identify such coins.