Silver rupee of Muhammad Shah – Itawa

 

Obverse

Inscription	Muhammad Shah Badshah Ghazi Sikka Mubarak 1158	मुहम्मद शाह बादशा ग़ाज़ी सिक्का मुबारक 1158	محمد شاہ بادشاہ غازی سکہ مبارک 1158
Translation	Muhammad Shah Badshah Ghazi Auspicious Money 1158	मुहम्मद शाह बादशा ग़ाज़ी शुभ धन 1158	محمد شاہ بادشاہ غازی مبارک رقم 1158

Reverse

Inscription	Julus manus sanah 27 mimnat zarb Itawa	जुलूस मानूस सनह 27 मीमनत ज़र्ब इतावा	جلوس مانوس سنہ 27 میمنت ضرب اتاوا
Translation	Struck in the year thirty-nine of his reign of tranquil prosperity at Itawa	इटावा में शांत समृद्धि के सत्ताईसवे वर्ष में ढाला गया	اٹاوا میں پرسکون خوشحالی دور حکومت کے ستائسوے سال میں ڈھالا گیا

 

 

About

Mirza Nasir-ud-Din Muhammad Shah (reigned: 1719-1748) was the thirteenth Mughal emperor. After a series of violent feuds in the empire, resulting in four Emperors being crowned in the year 1719 alone, Muhammad Shah ascended the throne at sixteen years of age with the help of the Sayyid Brothers. His first course of action was dealing with them.

After winning the struggle for the throne, Muhammad Shah surrendered to the self-indulgence that had become the birthright of Moghul Emperors, allowed the Marathas to conquer his kingdom, and allowed it to be divided up into numerous minor principalities that were more or less independent, from which most of the current native states of India descended. This self-indulgent nature resulted in him being called ‘Muhammad Shah Rangila’ ('Muhammad Shah "the colourful"').

It was during his reign that Nadir Shah, a Persian, invaded India, and sacked Delhi.[i] Nine hours of indiscriminate killing of the locals followed the sack of Delhi, allegedly resulting in the deaths of 120,000 people. After this unexpected shock, the Persians marched out of Delhi carrying a Mughal princess and a contract by which they acquired all of the lands west of the Indus, leaving the Mughal empire trembling and in disarray.

Even though the Marathas' demands were a constant hindrance to his Deccan administration, and Nadir Shah had caused widespread destruction in his reign, he was a benevolent and enlightened leader who supported poor scholars and improved his domains by constructing bridges, canals, mosques, and public works projects.[ii]

The coin

By now, the decline in Mughal coinage was truly evident, although the coin still carried Aurangzeb’s Julus format, the Persian couplet had been entirely removed. The coin now merely featured the Emperor’s name, title and the phrase ‘Sikka Mubarak’ (Auspicious Money).

The mint of Itawa was established by Aurangzeb and was a part of the “Delhi group” of mints. [iii]

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[i] Lane-Poole, S. (1892). The Coins of the Moghul Emperors of Hindustan. London.

[ii] Wright, H. N. (1908). Coins in the Indian Museum Calcutta. London: University of Oxford.

[iii] B.Whitehead, R. (1914). Catalogue of Coins in the Panjab Museum, Lahore : Vol. II Coins of the Mughal Emperors. Oxford: Clarendon Press.