Empire of the Sikhs (27 page)

Sikka Zad Bar Har Do Alam Fazl Sachcha

Sahib Ast Fath-I-Gur Gobind Singh

Shah-I-Shahan Tegh-I-Nanak Wahib Ast

(‘Coin struck in the two worlds [spiritual and secular] by the grace of the true Lord, Nanak, the provider of the sword [power] by which Guru Gobind Singh, King of Kings, is victorious.')

On the reverse:

Zarb Khalsa Mubarak Bakht

Ba-Aman Ud-Dahr

Zinat At-Takht

Mashwarat Shahr

Sanah – 2

(‘Struck at the Refuge [presumably Lohgarh] of the world, the Council City, the Ornament of the Throne, of the Blessed Fortune of the Khalsa, year 2 or 3.')

Banda Bahadur's victory at Sirhind on 14 May 1710 inaugurated a new calendar starting with the year 1, and the regnal years 2 and 3 pertain to this new era. There is no mint name, but from the honorific names assigned to cities at the time Lohgarh seems to be the most probable location. The verse on the obverse would later come to be known as the Nanakshahi couplet.

The Sikh coins were minted in the names of Guru Nanak and Guru Gobind Singh to further emphasize the message of Sikhism. They also served as symbols of defiance against the religious persecution which the Mughals relentlessly carried out against the Sikhs in their ongoing efforts to force them to convert to Islam. Thousands of Sikhs were killed because they refused to renounce their faith. So the first Sikh coins were struck to send a clear message to their Mughal oppressors that the Sikhs, with the help and blessings of their Gurus, would never succumb or be vanquished. After Banda's execution in 1716 these coins were accorded great reverence by the Sikhs. This was anathema to the Mughals, who confiscated them and put to death anyone caught possessing them.

Some Mughal coins from Lahore also dated 1710, in the name of Emperor Shah Alam Bahadur (1707-12), have a
khanda,
emblem of the Khalsa, on them. The
khanda
symbol was perhaps put on a few
of the coins quietly, unbeknown to the Mughals, by a few daring Sikhs, an act which elated all Sikhs, who were thrilled at seeing a Mughal coin with a Sikh symbol circulating in Punjab. By late October 1710 the Sikhs had taken most of Punjab east of Lahore, and Banda had even reached the outskirts of Lahore.

When the
misls,
leaderless after Banda's death and banded together to achieve their common goal of annexing the cities in Punjab which were under Afghan and Mughal rule, emerged victorious after taking Lahore in 1765 they minted coins as a mark of their sovereignty. The couplet used on these coins was taken from the official seal of Banda Bahadur, which he used on
hukamnamas
and
farmans
– edicts and orders – and patterned after Guru Gobind Singh's seal. The legend on these coins, too, was in Persian. On the obverse:

Deg Teg O Fateh Nusrat Be-dirang

Yaft Az Nanak Guru Gobind Singh

(‘Abundance, the sword, victory and help without delay Guru Gobind Singh obtained from Nanak.')

The Kanahiya and Bhangi
misls
kept a steady flow of coinage through the years after 1765 even while having to defend Lahore against the Afghans. In 1772, after taking Multan, the Sikhs issued silver rupees from there until 1779 when the city was taken back by the Afghans. In 1775 coins were issued for the first time from the sacred city of Amritsar. Once they had achieved paramountcy in Punjab the Sikhs kept the mints at Amritsar, Lahore and Multan fully employed in striking coins in praise of the Gurus. The legend used was taken from Banda Bahadur's coins. In addition it had on the reverse:

Sri Ambratsarjio zarb [VS … year]

Maimanat Julus Bakht Akal Takht

(‘Struck at the blessed Amritsar [VS … year] during the tranquil reign of the Akal Takht.')

The history of the major
misls
can be traced through their coins. Although the coinage from Amritsar, Lahore and Multan is attributed to the Bhangi
misl,
there is enough evidence to believe that other
misls,
too, minted coins in these cities, especially Amritsar. Because the couplets were in praise of the Gurus, the coins came to be known as Gobindshahis and Nanakshahis. The
misls
played a significant role in propagating the Sikh faith and continued to mint coins till the ascendancy of Ranjit Singh. Starting with the messages on the coins, they rallied Sikhs from far and wide to join together to throw the Afghans out of their cities, reclaim their lands and to look forward to a period of consolidation and growth.

It was accepted practice for a monarch on attaining power to mint coins in his own name, so that with their circulation throughout the realm not only his subjects but neighbouring kingdoms and other countries would come to know who was the current ruler of the kingdom. Coinage was considered an important part of governance, as necessary then as it is now, and has been for millennia. India and Greece, in fact, were the first two civilizations to mint their own coins. What is rare about Ranjit Singh is that when he became monarch of Punjab at the age of twenty the coins he struck on Baisakhi Day in 1801 were in the name of the Gurus, not his own. Even though a monarch, he believed that he was but a servant of the Gurus and hence the coinage should bear their names, not his. Even his official seals reflect his deep humility and the reverence in which he held the Gurus and his faith.

Brilliant administrator that he was, Ranjit Singh knew the importance of a monetary system. His contemporaries, the Marathas, Durranis, Mughals and others, all had their own to collect revenues, pay soldiers' salaries and for barter and trade, all of which took place in the currency of the reigning monarch. Now for the first time among the Sikhs Ranjit Singh developed a complete
and comprehensive currency system which consisted of the gold mohur, silver rupee, half and quarter rupees and two, one and half paisas in copper, a system which remains the basis of India's currency today. The gold mohur was not used as currency but on special occasions as
nazaranas
(gifts and tributes). The gold coins in circulation were the Dutch and Venetian ducats, which were called
buttkis.
The copper paisas introduced by Ranjit Singh were minted at Amritsar, in Gurmukhi script, and had the legend ‘Akal Sahai Guru Nanakji' – ‘Help from God and Guru Nanak'.

Since Ranjit Singh was a secularist all his life – in his choice of ministers, generals and administrators, in matters of religion and of wives – his coinage reflected his secularism. The script was in Persian, the legend was of the Sikh faith, the dates followed the Hindu calendar established by King Vikramaditya, the Vikramditya Samvat, in which VS year 57 corresponds to AD 1 and New Year is defined by the vernal equinox. The rupee (10.7-11.1 g) had the highest purity of silver and was much in demand for its intrinsic value, as opposed to the other currencies in circulation – Mughal, Durrani and East India Company. It was in Ranjit Singh's reign that the rupee coins of the Sikhs came to be known as Nanakshahi rupees.

With his eye for detail, Ranjit Singh took a keen interest in his coinage, especially as he associated it with the Gurus. While the
misl
coins were rather crude in material and style, Ranjit Singh's currency exhibits a refinement in terms of both artistry and workmanship. Embellished with
chand
and
sitara
– moon and stars – little flowers, beads and chevron and dotted borders, their calligraphy was of superb quality, especially those minted in Peshawar. A variety of symbols appear from time to time. In 1802 a hand
(punja)
is seen on the coins of Amritsar – the year Ranjit Singh took it over. A royal umbrella, fish,
kartar
(dagger), and the Hindu god Ram can be seen in different years. Significantly, all Ranjit Singh's coins have one symbol in common: a leaf; because of its
stylistic variations it is difficult to trace its botanical origins. It has been speculated that it could be a
pipal, ber
or lotus leaf, but whatever its origin it is always very prominent and easily recognizable. The intention was most probably that the people of Punjab should be able to identify their own coins easily, and so the mints wisely continued to put the leaf on all coins.

As his dominions increased, Ranjit Singh set up mints in Multan (1818), Kashmir (1819), Derajat (1821) and Peshawar (1834), with Lahore (1801) and Amritsar (1802) remaining the Durbar's main mints. Between 1801 and 1849 it was estimated that the amount of rupees struck from Lahore and Amritsar alone was in the region of 65 million. Amritsar's annual output was over one million rupees, and there between 1830 and 1840 one Nanakshahi rupee could buy 82.5 lb of wheat, 17 lb of rice, just over 8 lb of cotton, two rupees a sheep, 40-50 rupees a cow and 100 rupees a milk buffalo.

Eleven successive governors held office in Kashmir during Ranjit Singh's time, and only coins from this province carry an initial or symbol of each individual governor. Bhim Singh (1830-31) had
Bha
in Gurmukhi, Sher Singh (1831-34) a small tiger. Hari Singh Nalwa (1820-21) had
Har
in both Gurmukhi and Nagri scripts on the coins issued during his governorship. So deep was the impression left by his rule that the Nanakshahis of Kashmir came to be known as Hari Singhjis, and the term continued long after Punjab's annexation in 1849.

Ranjit Singh also put coinage to a more personal use. Bibi Moran, as we have seen, was the love of Ranjit Singh's life, and at the beginning of their relationship he could deny her nothing. Moran, a romantic, had heard stories of how Emperor Jahangir loved his legendary wife Nur Jahan so much that he had coins minted in her name; Moran, too, wanted her name engraved on the coins of the realm and even laid a wager to this effect. Not wanting to give offence to his subjects, yet wanting to indulge his favourite, Ranjit Singh found a way out.

Although
moran
generally means ‘peacock' in Punjabi, it also has a secondary meaning, ‘a long dry branch with twigs'.
¹⁵
So Ranjit Singh gave orders that the rupees issued from Amritsar between 1804 and 1806 should have highly stylized branches and berries, replacing the leaf on the reverse side. These charming rupees were called Morashahis and were kept as curiosities after the fall of the Sikh empire.
¹⁶
The 1805-6 Arsiwalashahis – mirror rings worn by brides and dancing girls – were also associated with Bibi Moran. A century later, these coins and rings were still known as Morashahis and Arsiwalashahis, immortalizing Moran and Ranjit Singh's love for her.

Although Ranjit Singh's successors continued the monetary system he had established, the turmoil that followed his death was reflected in the coinage of that period. With the Dogras in the thick of the battle for power and intrigues and chaos in and around the Durbar, it is no wonder that different types of symbols began appearing on the Nanakshahis. During the turbulent rule of Kharak Singh (1839-40) Rani Chand Kaur had an om, a Hindu chant, put on the obverse side of the coin where the couplet to the Gurus had been imprinted earlier. During Sher Singh's reign (1841-3) a
trishul
or trident and a
chhatra
or royal umbrella appeared on the coinage, signifying strife and a fight to keep the throne. There are some disturbing designs on the rupees of the minor Dalip Singh (1843-9) in which religious and martial marks or symbols tell their tale of the changing times:
chhatras,
flags, the word
sat
or truth in Gurmukhi, Shiva the Hindu God of destruction in Nagri and so on.

The most intriguing Nanakshahi of this period belongs to Multan, the setting for the rebellion in 1848 which brought on the Second Sikh War. Mulraj, the Diwan of Multan, had a war forced on him by the British who wished to annex it. During the first siege of Multan on 15 and 16 September 1848 Mulraj possessed no silver to pay his troops but had a quantity of gold
rupees. A letter of 24 May 1864 from the financial commissioner in Punjab, D.F. McLeod, to the finance minister in India, Sir Charles Trevelyan, throws light on this: ‘I send you one of Mulraj's gold rupees, which you particularly wished for. It was some time before I succeeded in getting it, as they are now very rare. He had in Multan some 40 lakhs (4 million) of rupees hoarded in gold, and, being short of cash wherewith to pay his troops, he is said to have coined the whole into these pieces, which passed for one rupee. On one side, the legend is
Sat-Gur-Sahai
[Sahai Sat Guru] and on the other an emblem which I suppose is intended for a spearhead [it is a leaf], with the Sumbut year 1905 [AD 1848] above it, and a legend below, which reads like
Sundar Kal
[Mandar Ka].'
¹⁷
Mulraj, a Hindu Khatri, desperate for help, inscribed
Sahai Sat Guru
– ‘Help from the True Lord' – on one side and
Mandar Ka
– ‘Belonging to the Temple' – on the other. This was an invocation to inspire and provide his troops with hope.

These little gold rupees weighing 0.65 g are a fascinating rarity, since an Indian rupee coin is usually made of silver. The British certainly thought so. In a letter to the editor of the
Numismatic Circular
dated 18 December 1895 Oliver Codrington of Clapham wrote: ‘My old friend Major Benett, formerly of the Bombay Fusiliers, who gained his commission from Sergeant at the siege of Multan for gallantly leading the storming party and placing the British Colours on the walls, told me that they found sacks full of these little coins in the treasury of the citadel when they took it, and that he remembered soldiers looting them and bringing them out off guard stowed away in their boots.'

On 22 September 1848 a Sikh document fell into the hands of a Major Edwards, who sent it from his camp to the resident at Lahore with a covering note: ‘This letter is one out of the many incendiary proclamations, with which Raja Shere Singh Attareewala and his accomplices, ever since their own desertion to the
enemy, have been endeavouring to seduce those troops in my camp, which are still faithful to the real interests of Maharajah Duleep Sing.'
¹⁸
The following is a literal translation of the proclamation, which expresses the sentiments of the Sikh Sardars and soldiers who were fighting to retain the homeland their fore-fathers had so desperately fought for.