Latest / Aurangzeb: The Emperor Who Expanded and Broke the Mughal Empire — Fexingo History / Aurangzeb's Coinage: The Imperial Mint
Transcript
- Lucas: So we've talked about Aurangzeb's armies, his spies, his gardens, even his elephants. But there's one thing that touched every single person in the empire, from the emperor himself down to the humblest farmer, and we haven't touched it yet: his coins. Luna: Oh, I love a good coin episode. What's the story there? Lucas: Well, for starters, Aurangzeb didn't just inherit a currency system. He reshaped it. When he came to the throne in 1658, he had coins struck in his own name almost immediately, which was standard, but he also made some deliberate choices about what those coins would look like and what they'd say. Lucas: The most famous of his coins is the gold mohur. It's a beautiful piece, about the size of a small coin, but it's heavy with meaning. On one side, you'd have the kalima, the Islamic declaration of faith, and on the other, the emperor's name and titles, all in elegant Persian calligraphy. Luna: So the coin itself is a statement of both faith and power. Lucas: Exactly. And it wasn't just gold. He issued silver rupees and copper dams, each with its own design and purpose. The silver rupee was the workhorse of trade, while the copper dam was the everyday coin for small transactions. Lucas: But here's the thing: minting coins was a huge logistical operation. Aurangzeb had mints all over the empire, from Delhi and Agra in the north to Aurangabad and even in the Deccan, which he'd conquered. Each mint had to maintain the purity and weight standards, or the whole system would collapse. Luna: That sounds like a nightmare for quality control. Lucas: It was, but they had a system. The fatawa e alamgiri, the legal code Aurangzeb commissioned, even had rules about coinage, about who could mint, what the standards were, and how to deal with counterfeiters. Lucas: And the maasir i alamgiri, the court history, gives us glimpses of the mint in action, like when Aurangzeb ordered new coins to be struck for his coronation or for major victories. Lucas: Now, you might think that's all pretty dry, but think about it: every time someone held a coin with Aurangzeb's name, they were literally holding a piece of his authority. Luna: That's a good point. Coins are like the original social media of power. Lucas: Ha, exactly. And that's part of what makes them so fascinating. They were a daily reminder of who was in charge, and they also facilitated trade across an empire that stretched from Kabul to the Deccan. Lucas: We talk a lot about the grand monuments and the battles, but the coinage is what made the whole thing work on a practical level. Lucas: And you know, we're able to share these stories with you because of listeners who support the show. We don't run ads, and that's a choice we make. If you value that, the link is buy me a coffee dot com slash fexingo. Luna: Yeah, it's a small way to keep these conversations going. Lucas: So, back to the coins. One of the most interesting episodes in Aurangzeb's coinage happened in the Deccan, when he was campaigning against the Marathas. He set up a mint right in the heart of the conquered territory, at a place called Alamgirpur, named after himself, of course. Luna: He named a city after himself and put a mint there? That's very on-brand. Lucas: It was a statement. He was saying, this land is now Mughal, and here's the proof. The coins struck there would have circulated among the local population, a constant reminder of who was in charge. Lucas: But it wasn't just about symbolism. The Deccan mint was strategically important for paying his soldiers. You can't have an army in the field without money to pay them, and shipping coins from the north was slow and risky. Lucas: So he brought the mint to the army, so to speak. Luna: Makes sense. So the coins were also a tool of war. Lucas: Absolutely. And the maasir i alamgiri records that Aurangzeb took a personal interest in the coinage. He corresponded with his governors about mint outputs and purity standards. He even issued orders about the exact weight of the rupee, which was supposed to be about 11.6 grams of silver. Lucas: But maintaining that standard across the empire was tough. There were reports of mints issuing coins that were slightly underweight, which created problems for traders and tax collectors alike. Luna: So even Aurangzeb couldn't fully control his own currency. That's a nice reminder that these grand emperors weren't all-powerful. Lucas: Exactly. And that's what makes history so interesting. The reality is always more complicated than the propaganda. Lucas: There's also the question of what the coins didn't say. Unlike his predecessors, Aurangzeb didn't put his portrait on his coins. That was a deliberate choice, reflecting his more orthodox religious views, which frowned on images. Luna: Right, so the calligraphy was his portrait, in a way. Lucas: Yes, and the calligraphy on his coins is really stunning. The Persian script is so intricate and beautiful that some coins are considered masterpieces of Islamic art. Today, they're highly prized by collectors. Lucas: So when you hold one of those coins, you're holding a piece of that world, a tangible connection to the seventeenth century. Lucas: And it makes you wonder, what would our coins say about us, if they could talk? But that's a question for another episode.