Description
Broadly, the coinage of the Mughals can be sorted into four phases: the wandering or regional phase lasted from 1526 to 1556 with emperors Babur and Humayun; the classical phase (1556-1707) saw leaders like Akbar, Jahangir, Shah Jahan and Aurangzeb; the decadent phase (1707-1720) began with Shah Alam I, ended with the start of Muhammad Shah’s reign and had as many as seven occupants of the throne who got there by massacring or blinding rivals; and finally, the quasi-Mughal phase (1720-1835) saw the issuing of ‘Mughal’ coins by regional powers in Awadh, Hyderabad and Rohilkhand, as well as enemies of the empire, like the Marathas, Sikhs, Rajputs, the French and the English. These coins carried the nominal consent of the ruling Mughal emperor and were issued in his name. While the sun may have finally set on the empire only with the end of Uprising of 1857, the decline had begun in 1720. During Muhammad Shah’s three-decade rule the influence of the Emperor shrunk rapidly and local powers, both Mughal and non-Mughal, rushed in to claim imperial authority. Mughal coins came to be made in all three metals at the imperial mints established in Agra, Delhi, Ahmedabad, Lahore and other important towns. Akbar the great period also saw huge gold coins or mohurs being minted in multiple units of 5, 50 and 100 tolas, a policy that was continued by his successor, Jahangir.