After an absence of several hundred years, die-struck gold coins began to re-appear in North Indi... more After an absence of several hundred years, die-struck gold coins began to re-appear in North India in the eleventh century, following the introduction of punch-marked gold in South India in the tenth. All these issues had one point of unity: the figure of goddess Lakshmī, seated on a lotus (in the north) or her name, ‘Śrī’ (in the south). They became the dominant gold coins of most Rajput kingdoms, even being adopted by the early Turkish invaders.
This book explores the production and circulation of these coins, probes the question of who really minted them, and explores their economic and cultural functions in early medieval society.
It is the first major update of the gold coin listings of Living Without Silver (1990). Retaining the original catalogue numbers, it expands them to accommodate many new discoveries.
Money is central to the functioning of economies, yet for the pre- modern period, our knowledge o... more Money is central to the functioning of economies, yet for the pre- modern period, our knowledge of monetary systems is still evolving. Until recently, historians of the medieval world have conflated the use of coins with a high degree of monetization. States without coinage were considered under-monetized. It is becoming more evident, however, that some medieval states used money in complex ways without using coinage. Moneys of account supplanted coins wholly or in part. But there is an imbalance of evidence: coins survive physically, while intangible forms of money leave little trace. This has skewed our understanding. Since coin usage has been well studied in the past, these essays flesh out our consideration of societies that used money but struck no coins. Absence or shortage of coining metals was not the causative factor: some of these societies had access to metal supplies but still remained coinless. Was this a strategic choice? Does it reflect the unique system of governance that developed in each kingdom? It is surely time to unravel this puzzle. This book examines money use in the Bay of Bengal world, using the case of medieval Bengal as a fulcrum. Situated between mountains and the sea, this region had simultaneous access to both overland and maritime trade routes. How did such ‘cashless’ economies function internally, within their regions and in the broader Indian Ocean context? This volume brings together the thoughts of a range of upcoming scholars (and a sprinkling of their elders), on these and related issues.
This book focuses intensely on the enigmatic base gold dinara coins of the descendants of the Kid... more This book focuses intensely on the enigmatic base gold dinara coins of the descendants of the Kidarite Huns. By thoroughly investigating the coins in their temporal, geographic and physical contexts, it exposes a fascinating story with three facets: treasure (gold and silver mineral wealth, as well as the spiritual wealth of pilgrimage centres sacred to Buddhism and Hinduism); trade (bearing horses, precious metals and pilgrims alike over the great caravan roads between Central Asia and North India); and tradition (the minting traditions of banking communities, the rulership traditions of royal lineages, and the spiritual traditions of religious art).
This work requires a thorough revision, update and expansion, to reflect many recent discoveries ... more This work requires a thorough revision, update and expansion, to reflect many recent discoveries and an expanding secondary literature. I would welcome any fresh suggestions from interested parties as to corrections, emendations, or new research approaches and methodologies.
Sanjay Garg, The Raj and the Rajas: Money and Coinage in Colonial India (New Delhi: Manohar, 2022), 2022
The extension of British colonial power over major areas of the Indian subcontinent in the eighte... more The extension of British colonial power over major areas of the Indian subcontinent in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, was a halting, episodic process pursued via a variety of channels. The assumption of empire by a putatively commercial company necessarily involved its adoption of claims of legitimacy, stature (and eventually) paramountcy. This in an evolving milieu in which the fading trappings of Mughal imperium and its intricate formal status structure, often seemed as important as de facto power. One highly visible example of the status contest between the Company and Indian princes, was the right to coin. Originally endowed exclusively by the Mughal emperor, this jealously-guarded minting right of princely states was under sustained and determined attack by the British administration. Both sides tacitly acknowledged that the creation of coinage was more than an economic act, but actually expressed both the ritual and the symbolism of sovereignty.
Simon Digby was fascinated not only by the aesthetic and artistic aspects of medieval Asian Islam... more Simon Digby was fascinated not only by the aesthetic and artistic aspects of medieval Asian Islamic civilization but also by its manifestations of power: horses (the sinews of war) and coins (the sinews of both war and commerce). This study focuses on both, in the context of Afghan tokens issued to promote local commerce in cities that served as nodes for the horse trade between Central Asia and Delhi in the early 13th century.
Daniel Potts, et. al. (eds), The Encyclopedia of Ancient History: Asia and Africa. Hoboken, USA: John Wiley & Sons, 2021
Prior to c. 500 CE, gold, silver, and copper coins of a dynastic model (bearing clear reference t... more Prior to c. 500 CE, gold, silver, and copper coins of a dynastic model (bearing clear reference to issuing authority and regal or religious art), circulated widely throughout North India. During the following “early medieval” period up to about 1000 CE, gold coins all but disappeared. Silver coins became debased in content and anonymous or abbreviated in message. Copper coins were replaced by cowrie shells.The nature, form, and quality of coinage changed, but it did not diminish in quantity.
Abdul Momin Chowdhury (ed.), History of Bangladesh, Sultanate and Mughal Periods (c. 1200 to 1800 CE). Vol. 2, Society, Economy, Culture. Dhaka: Asiatic Society of Bangladesh, 2020
Published in Abdul Momin Chowdhury (ed.), History of Bangladesh, Sultanate and Mughal Periods (c.... more Published in Abdul Momin Chowdhury (ed.), History of Bangladesh, Sultanate and Mughal Periods (c. 1200 to 1800 CE). Vol. 2, Society, Economy, Culture. Dhaka: Asiatic Society of Bangladesh, 2020, pp. 129-40.
From Mountain Fastness to Coastal Kingdoms: Hard Money and ‘Cashless’ Economies in the Medieval bay of Bengal World, 2019
Money in any society is a social convention, but in advanced societies it is also an institutiona... more Money in any society is a social convention, but in advanced societies it is also an institutional arrangement to measure and to settle debt. When stable institutions were involved, the clearance of debt often involved book-keeping entries or their analogues. In other circumstances, tangible money such as cowries might be involved. In contrast, a predilection for the use of coin was characteristic of statecraft practiced by ruling elites of a certain background. Prior to 1200, many of the major empires and kingdoms of India derived the majority of their state revenue from agricultural taxes, and often relied on intangible moneys of account to administer this system. Notable was Bengal, which was ‘cashless’ under the successive Palas and Senas (eighth to late twelfth centuries). In these monetary systems, tangible circulating media, where they existed, often comprised huge quantities of cowries. Increasingly after 1200, as the Central Asian model of centralized state formation expanded in India, this indigenous mixed monetary system was replaced by a coin-based one. Hence the Indian demand for coinage metals rose progressively and sharply from the thirteenth to the sixteenth centuries.
The economies of the Indian subcontinent have historically exerted a dominant influence on the tr... more The economies of the Indian subcontinent have historically exerted a dominant influence on the trade in monetary commodities across the Indian Ocean basin. This study examines that role in the period between 1200 and 1500 CE, ending almost a century before the first appearance in India of New World silver.
The Indian demand for monetary commodities was shaped by the internal logic and dynamics of each of the sub-continent’s multiple monetary systems, all oriented towards domestic concerns, with considerable variation. Silver was by far the dominant precious metal in the north of India and the Deccan. Gold was mined in southern India, although the level of demand could not be met locally and gold was frequently imported. Copper was in great demand, being the basis of low-value coinage in the Delhi, Gujarat and Bahmanid Sultanates. In contrast, in Bengal there was no demand at all for copper for monetary purposes prior to 1538 because cowries served that function.
The dual demand for silver and copper especially, set the pattern for the succeeding “early modern” period, when Indian coinage systems developed a voracious appetite for both metals.
Journal of the Asiatic Society of Bangladesh, Vol. 4O, No. 2 (December), 1995
This old paper has recently been requested. Much of its catalogue, analysis and conclusions are s... more This old paper has recently been requested. Much of its catalogue, analysis and conclusions are subsumed in more recent publications by Michael Mitchiner, Stan Goron, and myself.
Numismatic Digest vol. 34-5 (2010-11), pp. 119-33., 2010
The silver coinage of the Bengal sultanate, ca. 1205-1576, is important for a number of schola... more The silver coinage of the Bengal sultanate, ca. 1205-1576, is important for a number of scholarly disciplines. It provides a continuous and unbroken record of the silver bullion circulating on India’s eastern frontiers for more than three and a half centuries, all of it before the arrival of New World silver in Asia. From a monetary history perspective, it is vital to have an accurate knowledge of the precious metal content of the coins, so that the coins’ function as a circulating medium can be fully understood. For these reasons, the recent scientific interest in the metallic composition of Bengal Sultanate silver tankas, is most welcome. In the 1990s, and again in the past decade, metallurgists in Bangladesh have explored new technologies for the chemical analysis of these silver coins. This interest is to be congratulated, as it helps develop scientific methodology for the study of the physical characteristics of the coinage. Unfortunately the initial findings of these studies are still not reliable. The published results to date of various non-destructive analytic techniques of coin surfaces, vary considerably from the well-established record of destructive analysis by mint laboratories. As the attached paper shows, the mint laboratory assays consistently find a silver content in the range of 95-99% for these coins. The mean silver content of 63 specimens dating from 1301 to 1561 CE, is 97.5%. Since the mints’ destructive technique samples both the surface and the interior of each coin, it is far more trustworthy than modern scanning techniques which sample only the coin surface. Metallurgists exploring these new techniques need to keep the established wet-technique benchmarks in mind when calibrating their equipment or interpreting their results.
Kamal Sheel, Charles Willemen & Kenneth Zysk (eds), From Local to Global: Papers in Asian History and Culture, Delhi: Buddhist World Press, 2017, vol. I, pp. 28-50., 2017
This study investigates the technology of coin production in Hellenistic Bactria. It discusses th... more This study investigates the technology of coin production in Hellenistic Bactria. It discusses the mechanics of die striking, notes the different life expectancy of upper and lower dies, and examines how this can be detected by die count analysis. It then explores a case study in probability statistics based on Greco-Bactrian coins, undertaken at the University of Wisconsin, Madison. Note: The layout of this attachment is not precisely as published.
The identification, typology and distribution patterns of twelfth-century Rajput ‘bull-and-horsem... more The identification, typology and distribution patterns of twelfth-century Rajput ‘bull-and-horseman’ billon coins, are highly dependent on the evidence of coin hoards. Since the publication of Living Without Silver, a number of new hoards have come to light. This article updates the corpus of known hoards, and considers the implications of this new evidence for the previous analysis. Do the earlier conclusions stand the test of time?
After an absence of several hundred years, die-struck gold coins began to re-appear in North Indi... more After an absence of several hundred years, die-struck gold coins began to re-appear in North India in the eleventh century, following the introduction of punch-marked gold in South India in the tenth. All these issues had one point of unity: the figure of goddess Lakshmī, seated on a lotus (in the north) or her name, ‘Śrī’ (in the south). They became the dominant gold coins of most Rajput kingdoms, even being adopted by the early Turkish invaders.
This book explores the production and circulation of these coins, probes the question of who really minted them, and explores their economic and cultural functions in early medieval society.
It is the first major update of the gold coin listings of Living Without Silver (1990). Retaining the original catalogue numbers, it expands them to accommodate many new discoveries.
Money is central to the functioning of economies, yet for the pre- modern period, our knowledge o... more Money is central to the functioning of economies, yet for the pre- modern period, our knowledge of monetary systems is still evolving. Until recently, historians of the medieval world have conflated the use of coins with a high degree of monetization. States without coinage were considered under-monetized. It is becoming more evident, however, that some medieval states used money in complex ways without using coinage. Moneys of account supplanted coins wholly or in part. But there is an imbalance of evidence: coins survive physically, while intangible forms of money leave little trace. This has skewed our understanding. Since coin usage has been well studied in the past, these essays flesh out our consideration of societies that used money but struck no coins. Absence or shortage of coining metals was not the causative factor: some of these societies had access to metal supplies but still remained coinless. Was this a strategic choice? Does it reflect the unique system of governance that developed in each kingdom? It is surely time to unravel this puzzle. This book examines money use in the Bay of Bengal world, using the case of medieval Bengal as a fulcrum. Situated between mountains and the sea, this region had simultaneous access to both overland and maritime trade routes. How did such ‘cashless’ economies function internally, within their regions and in the broader Indian Ocean context? This volume brings together the thoughts of a range of upcoming scholars (and a sprinkling of their elders), on these and related issues.
This book focuses intensely on the enigmatic base gold dinara coins of the descendants of the Kid... more This book focuses intensely on the enigmatic base gold dinara coins of the descendants of the Kidarite Huns. By thoroughly investigating the coins in their temporal, geographic and physical contexts, it exposes a fascinating story with three facets: treasure (gold and silver mineral wealth, as well as the spiritual wealth of pilgrimage centres sacred to Buddhism and Hinduism); trade (bearing horses, precious metals and pilgrims alike over the great caravan roads between Central Asia and North India); and tradition (the minting traditions of banking communities, the rulership traditions of royal lineages, and the spiritual traditions of religious art).
This work requires a thorough revision, update and expansion, to reflect many recent discoveries ... more This work requires a thorough revision, update and expansion, to reflect many recent discoveries and an expanding secondary literature. I would welcome any fresh suggestions from interested parties as to corrections, emendations, or new research approaches and methodologies.
Sanjay Garg, The Raj and the Rajas: Money and Coinage in Colonial India (New Delhi: Manohar, 2022), 2022
The extension of British colonial power over major areas of the Indian subcontinent in the eighte... more The extension of British colonial power over major areas of the Indian subcontinent in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, was a halting, episodic process pursued via a variety of channels. The assumption of empire by a putatively commercial company necessarily involved its adoption of claims of legitimacy, stature (and eventually) paramountcy. This in an evolving milieu in which the fading trappings of Mughal imperium and its intricate formal status structure, often seemed as important as de facto power. One highly visible example of the status contest between the Company and Indian princes, was the right to coin. Originally endowed exclusively by the Mughal emperor, this jealously-guarded minting right of princely states was under sustained and determined attack by the British administration. Both sides tacitly acknowledged that the creation of coinage was more than an economic act, but actually expressed both the ritual and the symbolism of sovereignty.
Simon Digby was fascinated not only by the aesthetic and artistic aspects of medieval Asian Islam... more Simon Digby was fascinated not only by the aesthetic and artistic aspects of medieval Asian Islamic civilization but also by its manifestations of power: horses (the sinews of war) and coins (the sinews of both war and commerce). This study focuses on both, in the context of Afghan tokens issued to promote local commerce in cities that served as nodes for the horse trade between Central Asia and Delhi in the early 13th century.
Daniel Potts, et. al. (eds), The Encyclopedia of Ancient History: Asia and Africa. Hoboken, USA: John Wiley & Sons, 2021
Prior to c. 500 CE, gold, silver, and copper coins of a dynastic model (bearing clear reference t... more Prior to c. 500 CE, gold, silver, and copper coins of a dynastic model (bearing clear reference to issuing authority and regal or religious art), circulated widely throughout North India. During the following “early medieval” period up to about 1000 CE, gold coins all but disappeared. Silver coins became debased in content and anonymous or abbreviated in message. Copper coins were replaced by cowrie shells.The nature, form, and quality of coinage changed, but it did not diminish in quantity.
Abdul Momin Chowdhury (ed.), History of Bangladesh, Sultanate and Mughal Periods (c. 1200 to 1800 CE). Vol. 2, Society, Economy, Culture. Dhaka: Asiatic Society of Bangladesh, 2020
Published in Abdul Momin Chowdhury (ed.), History of Bangladesh, Sultanate and Mughal Periods (c.... more Published in Abdul Momin Chowdhury (ed.), History of Bangladesh, Sultanate and Mughal Periods (c. 1200 to 1800 CE). Vol. 2, Society, Economy, Culture. Dhaka: Asiatic Society of Bangladesh, 2020, pp. 129-40.
From Mountain Fastness to Coastal Kingdoms: Hard Money and ‘Cashless’ Economies in the Medieval bay of Bengal World, 2019
Money in any society is a social convention, but in advanced societies it is also an institutiona... more Money in any society is a social convention, but in advanced societies it is also an institutional arrangement to measure and to settle debt. When stable institutions were involved, the clearance of debt often involved book-keeping entries or their analogues. In other circumstances, tangible money such as cowries might be involved. In contrast, a predilection for the use of coin was characteristic of statecraft practiced by ruling elites of a certain background. Prior to 1200, many of the major empires and kingdoms of India derived the majority of their state revenue from agricultural taxes, and often relied on intangible moneys of account to administer this system. Notable was Bengal, which was ‘cashless’ under the successive Palas and Senas (eighth to late twelfth centuries). In these monetary systems, tangible circulating media, where they existed, often comprised huge quantities of cowries. Increasingly after 1200, as the Central Asian model of centralized state formation expanded in India, this indigenous mixed monetary system was replaced by a coin-based one. Hence the Indian demand for coinage metals rose progressively and sharply from the thirteenth to the sixteenth centuries.
The economies of the Indian subcontinent have historically exerted a dominant influence on the tr... more The economies of the Indian subcontinent have historically exerted a dominant influence on the trade in monetary commodities across the Indian Ocean basin. This study examines that role in the period between 1200 and 1500 CE, ending almost a century before the first appearance in India of New World silver.
The Indian demand for monetary commodities was shaped by the internal logic and dynamics of each of the sub-continent’s multiple monetary systems, all oriented towards domestic concerns, with considerable variation. Silver was by far the dominant precious metal in the north of India and the Deccan. Gold was mined in southern India, although the level of demand could not be met locally and gold was frequently imported. Copper was in great demand, being the basis of low-value coinage in the Delhi, Gujarat and Bahmanid Sultanates. In contrast, in Bengal there was no demand at all for copper for monetary purposes prior to 1538 because cowries served that function.
The dual demand for silver and copper especially, set the pattern for the succeeding “early modern” period, when Indian coinage systems developed a voracious appetite for both metals.
Journal of the Asiatic Society of Bangladesh, Vol. 4O, No. 2 (December), 1995
This old paper has recently been requested. Much of its catalogue, analysis and conclusions are s... more This old paper has recently been requested. Much of its catalogue, analysis and conclusions are subsumed in more recent publications by Michael Mitchiner, Stan Goron, and myself.
Numismatic Digest vol. 34-5 (2010-11), pp. 119-33., 2010
The silver coinage of the Bengal sultanate, ca. 1205-1576, is important for a number of schola... more The silver coinage of the Bengal sultanate, ca. 1205-1576, is important for a number of scholarly disciplines. It provides a continuous and unbroken record of the silver bullion circulating on India’s eastern frontiers for more than three and a half centuries, all of it before the arrival of New World silver in Asia. From a monetary history perspective, it is vital to have an accurate knowledge of the precious metal content of the coins, so that the coins’ function as a circulating medium can be fully understood. For these reasons, the recent scientific interest in the metallic composition of Bengal Sultanate silver tankas, is most welcome. In the 1990s, and again in the past decade, metallurgists in Bangladesh have explored new technologies for the chemical analysis of these silver coins. This interest is to be congratulated, as it helps develop scientific methodology for the study of the physical characteristics of the coinage. Unfortunately the initial findings of these studies are still not reliable. The published results to date of various non-destructive analytic techniques of coin surfaces, vary considerably from the well-established record of destructive analysis by mint laboratories. As the attached paper shows, the mint laboratory assays consistently find a silver content in the range of 95-99% for these coins. The mean silver content of 63 specimens dating from 1301 to 1561 CE, is 97.5%. Since the mints’ destructive technique samples both the surface and the interior of each coin, it is far more trustworthy than modern scanning techniques which sample only the coin surface. Metallurgists exploring these new techniques need to keep the established wet-technique benchmarks in mind when calibrating their equipment or interpreting their results.
Kamal Sheel, Charles Willemen & Kenneth Zysk (eds), From Local to Global: Papers in Asian History and Culture, Delhi: Buddhist World Press, 2017, vol. I, pp. 28-50., 2017
This study investigates the technology of coin production in Hellenistic Bactria. It discusses th... more This study investigates the technology of coin production in Hellenistic Bactria. It discusses the mechanics of die striking, notes the different life expectancy of upper and lower dies, and examines how this can be detected by die count analysis. It then explores a case study in probability statistics based on Greco-Bactrian coins, undertaken at the University of Wisconsin, Madison. Note: The layout of this attachment is not precisely as published.
The identification, typology and distribution patterns of twelfth-century Rajput ‘bull-and-horsem... more The identification, typology and distribution patterns of twelfth-century Rajput ‘bull-and-horseman’ billon coins, are highly dependent on the evidence of coin hoards. Since the publication of Living Without Silver, a number of new hoards have come to light. This article updates the corpus of known hoards, and considers the implications of this new evidence for the previous analysis. Do the earlier conclusions stand the test of time?
This subject is more thoroughly explored in the book mentioned elsewhere on this page, e.g. John ... more This subject is more thoroughly explored in the book mentioned elsewhere on this page, e.g. John S. Deyell, ‘Treasure, Trade and Tradition: Post-Kidarite Coins of the Gangetic Plains and Punjab Foothills, 590-820 CE’, New Delhi: Manohar, 2017.
Unlike the 'cashless' economies of the contemporary Pala (Bengal) and Rashtrakuta (Deccan)... more Unlike the 'cashless' economies of the contemporary Pala (Bengal) and Rashtrakuta (Deccan) realms, there existed a prolific silver coinage within the borders of the Gurjara-Pratihara empire (Ganges valley and north-eastern Rajasthan). In the eighth century, these comprised an anonymous coinage called the ‘Vigrahapala dramma’; in the ninth century they consisted of the ‘Srimadadivaraha dramma’. Both series are arguably descended, via the early medieval ‘Indo-Sasanian’ coinage, from the silver coinage of the Sasanian Empire. This paper reviews evidence published by researchers to date on the temporal sequencing and evolution of these two series, and compares the results to treasure trove hoard records, in order to determine the geographic distribution of the coins in circulation, and identify possible minting places. Reference to the few available metallurgical findings rounds out the picture of denominational structure and the coins’ monetary function.
The Imperial Monetary System of Mughal India, Jan 1, 1987
I've been asked to make this old paper available. I think that portions may have been superceded ... more I've been asked to make this old paper available. I think that portions may have been superceded by the excellent, more recent work by Shireen Moosvi and Najaf Haider.
This Prof. Emeritus Abdul Karim Memorial Lecture at the Chittagong Centre for Advanced Studies, U... more This Prof. Emeritus Abdul Karim Memorial Lecture at the Chittagong Centre for Advanced Studies, University of Chittagong, explored the numismatic heritage of Chittagong as a mint city that sat astride the fault-line between Indian and Southeast Asian monetary systems. In addition to acting a clearing-house for the great trade in silver bullion flowing into medieval Bengal, Chittagong was often an active coinage producer. As well as minting its own local coinage, Chittagong also appeared as an occasional mint-name on coins of the neighbouring kingdoms of Bengal, Tripura and Arakan, until absorbed into the Mughal empire in the seventeenth century.
Paper presented at the workshop on ‘Monetary history and cultures of money use in pre-modern Sout... more Paper presented at the workshop on ‘Monetary history and cultures of money use in pre-modern South Asia, 1000 – 1800 CE.’ at the University of Pennsylvania, Friday, May 3, 2019. Conveners: Daud Ali and Sudev Sheth. It reviews work undertaken over the last decade in the field of Indian monetary history.
This was a presentation at the Kochnev Memorial Seminar at Hofstra University, made on 10 March 2... more This was a presentation at the Kochnev Memorial Seminar at Hofstra University, made on 10 March 2018. Based on new analyses of precious metal content in coins, it revisits the monetary history of the Shansabanid (Ghurid) conquest of northwestern India in the late twelfth century.
International Association of Buddhist Studies - XVIIIth Congress, University of Toronto, August, ... more International Association of Buddhist Studies - XVIIIth Congress, University of Toronto, August, 2017. Release of A. K. Narain Commemoration Volume: From Local to Global - Papers in Asian History & Culture. Buddhist World Press, Delhi, 2017.
Bahen Centre, University of Toronto.
18:00-19:00 pm, Wednesday, August 23, 2017.
Professor Awadh Kishor Narain (“AK” to his contemporaries), a noted Indian historian, chaired the founding meeting of the International Association of Buddhist Studies in Madison, Wisconsin, in 1977. He subsequently served as our President and Chief Editor of our Journal. He devoted his lifetime to exploring Buddhism and offering leadership to our academic community, until his passing in 2013. He focussed on India but often stretched it to other areas of Asia reflecting a broader interconnectedness. Buddhism, an international aspect of Indian and of Asian culture and beyond, is a constant topic in all his endeavours. He sees cultural areas, not nation states and boundaries, and Buddhism was a focus of his considerable activities, both organisational and in the field of academic contributions.
This brief panel will formally release two publications celebrating his life:
• a book entitled From Global to Local: Papers in Indian History and Culture – Prof. A.K. Narain Commemoration Volume, edited by Kamal Sheel, Charles Willemen & Kenneth Zysk (Delhi: B.R. Publishing, 2017); and
• a special issue of the Indian International Journal of Buddhist Studies, edited by Roger Jackson.
The event is hosted by John Deyell (independent scholar), Monika Zin (Saxon Academy of Sciences), and other contributors.
This Md. Habib Memorial Lecture at Aligarh Muslim University explored how two medieval Indian sul... more This Md. Habib Memorial Lecture at Aligarh Muslim University explored how two medieval Indian sultanates, both sustained largely by agricultural revenue, established different monetary systems, and struggled to maintain their viability despite lacking indigenous sources of precious metal. Two different public policy approaches were examined: those of inland Delhi and coastal Bengal. The Delhi sultanate early on floated a trimetallic coinage, but progressively lost its capacity to sustain precious metal coinage, coincident with its loss of sovereignty over coastal connections. This is contrasted with the monetary system of the Bengal sultanate which began with a modest system of monometallism and commodity money that it maintained for almost four centuries, based on imports of silver and cowry shells.
This address argued that the determining factors in each case were trade linkages: in the first instance, the horse and silver trade between Central Asia and North India; in the second instance, the cowry shell and silver trade of the eastern Indian Ocean.
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This book explores the production and circulation of these coins, probes the question of who really minted them, and explores their economic and cultural functions in early medieval society.
It is the first major update of the gold coin listings of Living Without Silver (1990). Retaining the original catalogue numbers, it expands them to accommodate many new discoveries.
Since coin usage has been well studied in the past, these essays flesh out our consideration of societies that used money but struck no coins. Absence or shortage of coining metals was not the causative factor: some of these societies had access to metal supplies but still remained coinless. Was this a strategic choice? Does it reflect the unique system of governance that developed in each kingdom?
It is surely time to unravel this puzzle. This book examines money use in the Bay of Bengal world, using the case of medieval Bengal as a fulcrum. Situated between mountains and the sea, this region had simultaneous access to both overland and maritime trade routes.
How did such ‘cashless’ economies function internally, within their regions and in the broader Indian Ocean context? This volume brings together the thoughts of a range of upcoming scholars (and a sprinkling of their elders), on these and related issues.
Silver coins became debased in content and anonymous or abbreviated in message. Copper coins were replaced by cowrie shells.The nature, form, and quality of coinage changed, but it did not diminish in quantity.
Prior to 1200, many of the major empires and kingdoms of India derived the majority of their state revenue from agricultural taxes, and often relied on intangible moneys of account to administer this system. Notable was Bengal, which was ‘cashless’ under the successive Palas and Senas (eighth to late twelfth centuries). In these monetary systems, tangible circulating media, where they existed, often comprised huge quantities of cowries.
Increasingly after 1200, as the Central Asian model of centralized state formation expanded in India, this indigenous mixed monetary system was replaced by a coin-based one. Hence the Indian demand for coinage metals rose progressively and sharply from the thirteenth to the sixteenth centuries.
The Indian demand for monetary commodities was shaped by the internal logic and dynamics of each of the sub-continent’s multiple monetary systems, all oriented towards domestic concerns, with considerable variation. Silver was by far the dominant precious metal in the north of India and the Deccan. Gold was mined in southern India, although the level of demand could not be met locally and gold was frequently imported. Copper was in great demand, being the basis of low-value coinage in the Delhi, Gujarat and Bahmanid Sultanates. In contrast, in Bengal there was no demand at all for copper for monetary purposes prior to 1538 because cowries served that function.
The dual demand for silver and copper especially, set the pattern for the succeeding “early modern” period, when Indian coinage systems developed a voracious appetite for both metals.
For these reasons, the recent scientific interest in the metallic composition of Bengal Sultanate silver tankas, is most welcome. In the 1990s, and again in the past decade, metallurgists in Bangladesh have explored new technologies for the chemical analysis of these silver coins. This interest is to be congratulated, as it helps develop scientific methodology for the study of the physical characteristics of the coinage.
Unfortunately the initial findings of these studies are still not reliable. The published results to date of various non-destructive analytic techniques of coin surfaces, vary considerably from the well-established record of destructive analysis by mint laboratories. As the attached paper shows, the mint laboratory assays consistently find a silver content in the range of 95-99% for these coins. The mean silver content of 63 specimens dating from 1301 to 1561 CE, is 97.5%. Since the mints’ destructive technique samples both the surface and the interior of each coin, it is far more trustworthy than modern scanning techniques which sample only the coin surface. Metallurgists exploring these new techniques need to keep the established wet-technique benchmarks in mind when calibrating their equipment or interpreting their results.
Note: The layout of this attachment is not precisely as published.
This book explores the production and circulation of these coins, probes the question of who really minted them, and explores their economic and cultural functions in early medieval society.
It is the first major update of the gold coin listings of Living Without Silver (1990). Retaining the original catalogue numbers, it expands them to accommodate many new discoveries.
Since coin usage has been well studied in the past, these essays flesh out our consideration of societies that used money but struck no coins. Absence or shortage of coining metals was not the causative factor: some of these societies had access to metal supplies but still remained coinless. Was this a strategic choice? Does it reflect the unique system of governance that developed in each kingdom?
It is surely time to unravel this puzzle. This book examines money use in the Bay of Bengal world, using the case of medieval Bengal as a fulcrum. Situated between mountains and the sea, this region had simultaneous access to both overland and maritime trade routes.
How did such ‘cashless’ economies function internally, within their regions and in the broader Indian Ocean context? This volume brings together the thoughts of a range of upcoming scholars (and a sprinkling of their elders), on these and related issues.
Silver coins became debased in content and anonymous or abbreviated in message. Copper coins were replaced by cowrie shells.The nature, form, and quality of coinage changed, but it did not diminish in quantity.
Prior to 1200, many of the major empires and kingdoms of India derived the majority of their state revenue from agricultural taxes, and often relied on intangible moneys of account to administer this system. Notable was Bengal, which was ‘cashless’ under the successive Palas and Senas (eighth to late twelfth centuries). In these monetary systems, tangible circulating media, where they existed, often comprised huge quantities of cowries.
Increasingly after 1200, as the Central Asian model of centralized state formation expanded in India, this indigenous mixed monetary system was replaced by a coin-based one. Hence the Indian demand for coinage metals rose progressively and sharply from the thirteenth to the sixteenth centuries.
The Indian demand for monetary commodities was shaped by the internal logic and dynamics of each of the sub-continent’s multiple monetary systems, all oriented towards domestic concerns, with considerable variation. Silver was by far the dominant precious metal in the north of India and the Deccan. Gold was mined in southern India, although the level of demand could not be met locally and gold was frequently imported. Copper was in great demand, being the basis of low-value coinage in the Delhi, Gujarat and Bahmanid Sultanates. In contrast, in Bengal there was no demand at all for copper for monetary purposes prior to 1538 because cowries served that function.
The dual demand for silver and copper especially, set the pattern for the succeeding “early modern” period, when Indian coinage systems developed a voracious appetite for both metals.
For these reasons, the recent scientific interest in the metallic composition of Bengal Sultanate silver tankas, is most welcome. In the 1990s, and again in the past decade, metallurgists in Bangladesh have explored new technologies for the chemical analysis of these silver coins. This interest is to be congratulated, as it helps develop scientific methodology for the study of the physical characteristics of the coinage.
Unfortunately the initial findings of these studies are still not reliable. The published results to date of various non-destructive analytic techniques of coin surfaces, vary considerably from the well-established record of destructive analysis by mint laboratories. As the attached paper shows, the mint laboratory assays consistently find a silver content in the range of 95-99% for these coins. The mean silver content of 63 specimens dating from 1301 to 1561 CE, is 97.5%. Since the mints’ destructive technique samples both the surface and the interior of each coin, it is far more trustworthy than modern scanning techniques which sample only the coin surface. Metallurgists exploring these new techniques need to keep the established wet-technique benchmarks in mind when calibrating their equipment or interpreting their results.
Note: The layout of this attachment is not precisely as published.
This paper reviews evidence published by researchers to date on the temporal sequencing and evolution of these two series, and compares the results to treasure trove hoard records, in order to determine the geographic distribution of the coins in circulation, and identify possible minting places. Reference to the few available metallurgical findings rounds out the picture of denominational structure and the coins’ monetary function.
In addition to acting a clearing-house for the great trade in silver bullion flowing into medieval Bengal, Chittagong was often an active coinage producer. As well as minting its own local coinage, Chittagong also appeared as an occasional mint-name on coins of the neighbouring kingdoms of Bengal, Tripura and Arakan, until absorbed into the Mughal empire in the seventeenth century.
Bahen Centre, University of Toronto.
18:00-19:00 pm, Wednesday, August 23, 2017.
Professor Awadh Kishor Narain (“AK” to his contemporaries), a noted Indian historian, chaired the founding meeting of the International Association of Buddhist Studies in Madison, Wisconsin, in 1977. He subsequently served as our President and Chief Editor of our Journal. He devoted his lifetime to exploring Buddhism and offering leadership to our academic community, until his passing in 2013. He focussed on India but often stretched it to other areas of Asia reflecting a broader interconnectedness. Buddhism, an international aspect of Indian and of Asian culture and beyond, is a constant topic in all his endeavours. He sees cultural areas, not nation states and boundaries, and Buddhism was a focus of his considerable activities, both organisational and in the field of academic contributions.
This brief panel will formally release two publications celebrating his life:
• a book entitled From Global to Local: Papers in Indian History and Culture – Prof. A.K. Narain Commemoration Volume, edited by Kamal Sheel, Charles Willemen & Kenneth Zysk (Delhi: B.R. Publishing, 2017); and
• a special issue of the Indian International Journal of Buddhist Studies, edited by Roger Jackson.
The event is hosted by John Deyell (independent scholar), Monika Zin (Saxon Academy of Sciences), and other contributors.
Convener: Kamal Sheel (Banaras Hindu University)
This address argued that the determining factors in each case were trade linkages: in the first instance, the horse and silver trade between Central Asia and North India; in the second instance, the cowry shell and silver trade of the eastern Indian Ocean.