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Hindu Shahi jital 850-1000 obverse
Reverse: Horseman with lance and pennon

Jital: Medieval coin of the Indian subcontinent

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The jital (uncertain etymology) was a silver coin introduced by the Kabul Shahis around 750 CE. The term jital is used by numismatists for coins derived from the Shahi bull-and-horseman by one or more evolutionary steps.[1] Silver jitals were accompanied by copper coins of lower denomination, often struck with the same die. The bull-and-horseman design (see images below) was copied and adapted by subsequent Hindu and Muslim Medieval authorities in the territories corresponding to Afghanistan, Pakistan, North West India and eventually beyond. [2] The jital, issued in vast numbers by the Hindu Shahi, is credited with expanding the geographic reach of a monetized economy in Medieval India.[3]

After the Shahi period, the silver jital gave way to the Rajput billon jital of silver mixed with copper, an alloy with continued use in the early coinage of the Muslim rulers of Delhi based on the silver taka or tanka currency. At the time of the eighth Mamluk sultan, Mahmud I (1246-1266), the average billon jital contained 14.4 grains of silver, leading Wright (1936) to conjecture that these early jitals of the Delhi sultanate were worth 1/12 of a tanka.[4] Later, the jital was variously valued at 1/48, 1/50, 1/60 and 1/64 of a tanka, and the jital, in turn, was made up of a variable number of lower denomination gani. The number of gani that made up a jital also varied, in some cases based on the silver content of the jital.[5][6][7][8] Wright reports larger denomination coins of 2, 3, 4, 6, and of 12 jitals (a quarter tanka).[9] The unstable value of the tanka currency system was brought to a crisis by Sultan Muhammad bin Tughlaq (1321-1351) when he introduced representative coins of copper and brass that could be exchanged for fixed amounts of gold and silver from the Sultanate treasury. This created conditions for rampant forgery that led him to withdraw the system within eight days.[10] Jitals were also issued in the south of the subcontinent. An early 15th century Ilkhanid ambassador to Vijayanagar (Karnataka) reported three types of coin in use there: gold alloy, pure silver and copper jital.[11]

Jital
Span of issue c.750 — c.1450 CE
Composition Silver, Billon (alloy), Copper
Manufacture Die-struck
Mass Variable including 4.32, 3.6, 3.4, 3.3, and 2.2 gram standards
Origin Kabul and Gandhara
Legend scripts Bactrian, Sharada, Nagari, Arabic, Persian

Visual elements of the jital

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On the Shahi prototype, the obverse face of the coin shows a seated humpbacked Zebu bull with a Sharada script legend above with a dotted border. There is a horse and rider on the reverse. The bull is draped with a jhula (saddle-cloth) and has a trishula on its rump. The jitals of Chandela ruler Sallakshana- Pala-Deva, Tomaras Ananga-Pala-Deva and others feature a variety of marks on the jhula.[12] The horse is caparisoned and the rider holds a lance with a waving pennon. The legend above the bull features formulaic language such as Sri Spalapati Deva (Radiant Spalapati the God) or Sri Samanta Deva. Spalapati means "war-lord" (from Persian spala, army + Sanskrit pati, master) and Sāmanta, "feudatory lord," thus the coins reference generic titles rather than specific persons, despite the existence of a Hindu Shahi king called Sāmand (c. 850-870 CE). [13][14] The image of the sacred bull, communicating virility and power, amplifies the imputed divinity of the issuing authority and may have meant to assert Hindu sovereignty over their Turk Shahi predecessor or against the encroachment of neighboring Muslim rulers.[15] A war elephant sometimes takes the place of the bull. Jitals issued by Muslim authorities featured bilingual Nāgarī/Persian language inscriptions or used Persian or Nāgarī alone. The skillful execution of images of the early high silver content jitals gave way to coins of cruder make and lower or no silver content both over time and when issued by mints at the geographic margins.[16] The reverse sometimes names the issuing ruler and may contain a single nāgarī letter such as A, Gu, K, Bhi, or M or other device beside the horseman that may indicate, per Bhatia (1973) the proper names of the Shahi rulers, or per Tye (1995), the badge of minting cities.[17][18][19][20] The motif of the armed horseman extended beyond jitals to other denominations such as the gold tankas and quarter tankas of Muhammad of Ghor, who also issued jitals (see Ghurid jital below). The horseman on these tankas wields a mace, axe, or sword rather than a lance. The mace (danda) is an ancient symbol of sovereignty in India. Singh argues that the choice of weapons depicted on the coins held a propaganda function, to validate new Turkic rulers and their Islamic regime to the subjugated population.[21]

Identifying jital coins

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Weight and visual assessment can identify basic categories of jital. MacDowall (1968) has organized the jitals of Kabul and Gandhara into three major groupings with the following characteristics:

I. Silver coins with Šrí Spalapati Deva, struck between 3.1 and 3.5 gm. with a remarkably uniform content of 70 per cent gold and silver with the types in good style, and a reverse legend in cursive script which is faithfully copied but progressively misunderstood.

II. Silver coins with Šrí Sāmanta Deva, struck to a slightly lower weight standard between 2.9 and 3.3 gm. with good metal but more variety in purity ranging from 61 to 70 per cent, gold and silver. The reverse legend merely survives now as a stylized design, and other features of the types have been copied and progressively misunderstood.

III. Billon coins with Šrí Sāmanta Deva struck to a good weight standard but now merely billon with a gold and silver content of 25 to 30 per cent. There is a further sharp deterioration and progressive stylization of design. [22]

The exact coin is usually identifiable by matching the legend and design to a cataloged coin type. Robert Tye's 1995 Catalog includes images and attributions of 418 jital types that collectors can consult to match and identify coins. A particular challenge is that the legends are often partially off flan, (beyond the edge of the coin), leading collectors to make educated guesses based on visible parts of the legend.[1]

The Jital in History: The Shahi Problem

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The coinage of India, dating back about 2500 years, provides material evidence of the abundance or scarcity of various metals, the names and sometimes dates and mint locations of ruling authorities, of written languages in use, of religious affiliation, the state of metallurgy, systems of weight, currency systems and cultural values.[23] In the Indian subcontinent, indigenous coinage practices were interrupted by a series of invaders—Greek, Turkic, Mongol, and Persian—who variously imposed their own coinage practices, adapted to, or influenced indigenous coinage practices, establishing what can be seen as an enduring dialog in metal coin.[24] Where textual sources are contradictory, incomplete or lacking, as is often the case in the early history of India, coins can be the primary or only evidence of historical facts.[25] In the case of Shahi jitals, the inscriptions taken for the names of kings do not correspond to lists of kings known from literary sources. These discrepancies constitute what has been called the "Shahi problem."[26]

Al-Bīrūnī's list (c. 1030) of the Hindu Shahi kings below bears few commonalities with names or titles on the coins. Sāmand (which could be a name or a title) may correspond to Samanta Deva and Bhīm may correspond to Šrí Bhima Deva but the rest do not appear represented on any coins. The names Šrí Khudavayaka and Šrí Vakka Deva appear on coins but not on the list. Historians and numismatists have not been able to resolve these discrepancies.[27]

Hindu Shahi Kings
Name Known dates
Kallar -
Sāmand -
Kamalū Rai of Hindustan at time of 'Amru Lais (878-90 CE)
Bhīm Ruling in period 950-958 CE
Jaipāl -
Ānandapāla -
Tarojanapāla Killed 1021 CE
Bhimapāla Killed 1026 CE

Disputed duration

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According to Cunningham (1894), the jital denomination and coin form was used for 750 years, continuing as late as the reign of Raja of Kangra, Triloka Chandra (1420-1450), who Cunningham mistakenly claims as a contemporary of Jahangir (1605-1627).[28] Other scholars report that Akbar's zabt land revenue system was assessed in dāms and jitals.[29] Having adopted the rupee currency system introduced by Sher Shah during the Sur Empire interregnum, Akbar did not issue jital coins, but retained the jital as an account value representing 1/25 of a copper dām and 1/1000 of a rupee.[30][31] Sher Shah's copper paisa was a direct representative of the billon jital.[32] Robert Tye published a catalog and account of Jital coins in 1995 which documents the latest jitals as those of Mahmud of Jaunpur 1440-1457 CE.[1] By this reckoning the jital as a coin was in use about 600 years, and continued to be used as a notional value in the Mughal period.

Buying power of the jital

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Alauddin Khalji (1296-1316) regulated the prices of essential commodities to prevent famine, increase tax revenue, and eliminate bribery. The Delhi market prices during this period of economic and poltiical stability appear below:[33]

Delhi market prices c. 1300
Commodity Weight Price
Sugar candy 1 seer 2 jitals
Raw sugar (gur) 1 seer .5 jital
Lamp oil 3 seers 1 jital
Ghee 1 seer .5 jital
Salt 5 seers 1 jital
Onions & garlic 1 seer 1 jital

During the Tughluq dynasty (1320-1413), seven varieties of grapes were grown in Delhi that sold for 1 jital per seer (c. 25 lbs/9.3 kg).[34] During the reign of Muhammad Tughluq (1325-1351), prices rose considerably due to drought, famine, mismanagement and constant rebellion.[35]

Delhi market prices c. 1350
Commodity Weight Price
Sugar candy 4 seers 8 jitals
Sugar 5 seers 8 jital
Barley per maund 8 jitals
Wheat per maund 12 jitals
Rice per maund 14 jitals

Changing coin weight and weight systems in political context

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Kushano-Sasanian coin types struck to Persian weight standards dominated Medieval Indian circulation after the fall of the Gupta Empire in the 6th century. The ancient Hindu weight system, dating to Mohenjo Daro, was based on the ratti, the poisonous bright red seed of Abrus precatorius. This weight system appears to have become extinct, at least with respect to coinage. After Kallar founded the Hindu Shahi dynasty (c. 843) in present day Afghanistan with Muslim caliphs at the border, the jital resurrected the ancient weight system at 3.4 grams, the same weight last used as the Mauryan dharana of a thousand years earlier as the weight of the silver punchmarked Karshapana.[36][37] The early Shahi bull-and-horseman jitals have a consistent weight and high silver content over hundreds of years demonstrating a sound economy and stable political power.[38] By about 1000 CE, the Shahi had lost some of their territory and silver mines and bull-and-horseman jitals had fallen in weight to about 3.2 grams. This coin weight standard with minor variance would persist another 400 years into the colonial period of British rule. The incursion of Mongol armies in the early 13th century impacted coin weight systems. Coins struck by the Khwarezmian Empire under Ala-ud-din Muhammad, (1200-1220 CE) and the jitals issued by Genghis Khan appear based on the mithqal, the Persian standard silver weight unit of 4.32 grams. When the Ghorid armies captured Delhi and Bengal at the end of the 12th century, they established the silver tanka weighing about 10.5 grams. Versions of the bull-and-horseman jitals continued to be issued as subsidiary coinage, having been increased in weight to about one-third of the tanka at 3.6 grams. The dueling Hindu and Muslim weight systems, the use of billon (alloy) with varying degrees of silver content and attempts to manipulate economic behavior led to shifting weights and values of the jital for the remainder of its circulating life.[39] This confusing state of affairs ended with the reign of Akbar who systematized weights and currency as follows:

Akbar's currency and weight system
Denomination Metal Value Weight
Jital - 1/25th dām -
Damri Copper 1/8th dām -
Dam Copper 1/40th rupee 1.8 tola
Rupee Silver 40 dām 1 tola = 11.66 grams
Mohur Gold 10 rupiya -

The dām and rupee coins were also used as weights. The 11.66 gram tola persisted as a unit of mass, eventually adopted as standard under British rule, and while replaced by metric units in 1956, is still in current use in bullion markets and in the measurement of charas (hashish).[40]

Kabul Shahi jital c. 850-1000 CE. Obverse: Recumbent bull with jhula, trishula on rump. Sharada legend Sri Samanta Deva (Radiant Samanta the God). Reverse: Lance bearing rider on caparisoned horse. Legend: Bhi. Silver 3.21 grams, 18.5 mm diameter. Gandhāra-Ohind mint. Tye #14
Ghurid jital. Muhammad of Ghor 1173-1206. Obverse: Bull with trishula, Sri MaHaMaDa SaMe above. Reverse: Horseman, Sri Hammira (Sanskritized form of Arabic title, "Amir"). Leaded copper (apparent from whitish color) 3.54 grams. 16 mm. Tye #185.
Delhi Sultanate jital (4 gani). Giyath ud-Din Tughluq 1320-1325. Obverse: Al-Sultan-ul-Ghazi Ghiyath ud-Dunya Wal Deen. Reverse: Abul Muzaffar Tughluq Shah al Sultan. Billon 3.48 grams. 16 mm diameter.

Jital-issuing authorities

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Robert Tye's 1995 Jitals: A catalogue and account of the coin denomination of daily use in Medieval Afghanistan and North West India identifies the following issuers.[41]

References

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  1. ^ a b c Tye, R., & Tye, M. 1995. Jitals: a catalogue and account of the coin denomination of daily use in Medieval Afghanistan and North West India. R. Tye.
  2. ^ Coins of India Through the Ages. 1953. Government Museum, Madras. See VIII Coins of the Rajput Dynasties, p. 4.
  3. ^ Kalra, M. 2019. Ancient Indian Monetary Systems and Minting Techniques c. 600 BCE c. 1200 CE. In History of Ancient India: Volume VII: Economy, Agriculture, Crafts & Trade ed. Dilip Chakravarti. p. 4.
  4. ^ Wright, N. 1936. The coinage and metrology of the Sultans of Delhi incorporating a catalogue of the coins in the Authorʼs Cabinet now in the Delhi Museum. Government of India, Delhi. Central Secretariat Library, Government of India Source URL: http://192.168.1.42:8080//handle/123456789/6208 p. 398.
  5. ^ Thomas, E. (1873). Art, XIII.—The Initial Coinage of Bengal, under the Early Muhammadan Conquerors. Part II. Embracing the preliminary period between A.H. 614–634 (A.D. 1217–1236–7). Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society, 6(2), 339–376. doi:10.1017/S0035869X00016269
  6. ^ Whitehead, R. B. (1938). The Coinage and Metrology of the Sultans of Dehli. By H. Nelson Wright, F.R.N.S., I.C.S. (retd.). pp. xx + 432. With 24 plates and map. Published for the Government of India. Delhi, Manager of Publications, 1936. 45s. net. Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society of Great Britain & Ireland, 70(2), 331–335. doi:10.1017/S0035869X00088353
  7. ^ Jital: coin of medieval Northern India (king Prithviraj III). n.d. DCC Numismatic Catalog. https://www.dema-coins.com/2022/11/jital-coin-Chauhan-dynasty-India.html
  8. ^ Wright, N. 1936. The coinage and metrology of the Sultans of Delhi incorporating a catalogue of the coins in the Authorʼs Cabinet now in the Delhi Museum. Government of India, Delhi. Central Secretariat Library, Government of India Source URL: http://192.168.1.42:8080//handle/123456789/6208 pp. 167, 292.
  9. ^ Wright, N. 1936. The coinage and metrology of the Sultans of Delhi incorporating a catalogue of the coins in the Authorʼs Cabinet now in the Delhi Museum. Government of India, Delhi. Central Secretariat Library, Government of India Source URL: http://192.168.1.42:8080//handle/123456789/6208 pp. 109, 167.
  10. ^ Daniyal, S. 2016. History revisited: How Tughlaq's currency change led to chaos in 14th century India. Scroll.in. https://scroll.in/article/821406/demonetisation-lessons-how-tughlaqs-unplanned-currency-change-in-14th-century-india-led-to-chaos
  11. ^ Deyell, J. 2019. Hard Money and ‘Cashless’ Economies: Medieval Bengal and the Greater Asian World, in Deyell & Mukherjee, eds. From Mountain Fastness to Coastal Kingdoms: Hard Money and ‘Cashless’ Economies in the Medieval Bay of Bengal World. Routledge. p. 197
  12. ^ Shortt, H. 1956. A Bull-and-horseman hoard from India. The Numismatic Chronicle and Journal of the Royal Numismatic Society, Sixth Series, 16: 313-325. https://www.jstor.org/stable/42678397. p. 314.
  13. ^ Rehman, A. 1976. The Last Two Dynasties of the Śāhis: An analysis of their history, archeology, coinage and paleography. [Doctoral Dissertation, Australian National University]. doi:10.25911/5d74e50054bb9
  14. ^ Cunningham. A. 1894. Coins of Medieval India: From the Seventh Century Down to the Muhammadan Conquests. Indian Institute.
  15. ^ Tye, R. 2022. Coin Weight and Historical Metrology (Third Revision). https://independent.academia.edu/RobertTye/Books
  16. ^ Plant. R. 1973. Arabic Coins and How to Read Them. Spink.
  17. ^ Bhatia, P. 1973. Bull/Horseman coins of the Shahis, c. AD 650-1026. Proceedings of the Indian History Congress, 34(I):50-61. https://www.jstor.org/stable/44138589. p. 51.
  18. ^ Cunningham. A. 1894. Coins of Medieval India: From the Seventh Century Down to the Muhammadan Conquests. Indian Institute. pp. 63-64.
  19. ^ Tye, R. 2022. Coin Weight and Historical Metrology (Third Revision). https://independent.academia.edu/RobertTye/Books
  20. ^ Tye, R., & Tye, M. 1995. Jitals: a catalogue and account of the coin denomination of daily use in Medieval Afghanistan and North West India. R. Tye
  21. ^ Singh, K. 2014. New variety of horseman type quarter tanka of Muhammad bin Sam. Numismatic Digest, 38: 169-180. pp. 175-176.
  22. ^ MacDowall, D. 1968. The Shahis of Kabul and Gandhara. The Numismatic Chronicle, 8: 189-224. https://www.jstor.org/stable/42666553. p. 193.
  23. ^ Kemmers, F., & Myrberg, N. (2011). Rethinking numismatics. The archaeology of coins. Archaeological Dialogues, 18(1), 87–108. doi:10.1017/S1380203811000146
  24. ^ Kalra, M. 2019. Ancient Indian Monetary Systems and Minting Techniques c. 600 BCE c. 1200 CE. In History of Ancient India: Volume VII: Economy, Agriculture, Crafts & Trade ed. Dilip Chakravarti. p. 5.
  25. ^ Gardner, P. 1966. The coins of the Greek and Scythic kings of Bactria and India in the British Museum. Chicago: Argonaut. p. xvii.
  26. ^ Bhatia, P. 1973. Bull/Horseman coins of the Shahis, c. AD 650-1026. Proceedings of the Indian History Congress, 34(I):50-61. https://www.jstor.org/stable/44138589. p.
  27. ^ MacDowall, D. 1968. The Shahis of Kabul and Gandhara. The Numismatic Chronicle, 8: 189-224. https://www.jstor.org/stable/42666553. p. 190.
  28. ^ Cunningham. A. 1894. Coins of Medieval India: From the Seventh Century Down to the Muhammadan Conquests. Indian Institute. pp. 55-67
  29. ^ Moreland, W. H., & Ali, A. Y. (1918). I. Akbar's Land-Revenue System as described in the “Āin-i-Akbari.” Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society of Great Britain & Ireland, 50(1), 1–42. doi:10.1017/S0035869X00051091
  30. ^ Wright, N. 1936. The coinage and metrology of the Sultans of Delhi incorporating a catalogue of the coins in the Authorʼs Cabinet now in the Delhi Museum. Government of India, Delhi. Central Secretariat Library, Government of India Source URL: http://192.168.1.42:8080//handle/123456789/6208 p. vi.
  31. ^ Coins of India Through the Ages. 1953. Government Museum, Madras. p. 7.
  32. ^ Wright, N. 1936. The coinage and metrology of the Sultans of Delhi incorporating a catalogue of the coins in the Authorʼs Cabinet now in the Delhi Museum. Government of India, Delhi. Central Secretariat Library, Government of India Source URL: http://192.168.1.42:8080//handle/123456789/6208 p. 384.
  33. ^ Thind, S. 2003. The Agrarian System Under the Delhi Sultanate 1206 to 1555. [Doctoral dissertation. Department of History, Panjab University.] https://archive.org/details/shdgnga.the-agrarian-system-under-the-delhi-sultanate-1206-to-1555-a-d. p. 192.
  34. ^ Thind, S. 2003. The Agrarian System Under the Delhi Sultanate 1206 to 1555. [Doctoral dissertation. Department of History, Panjab University.] https://archive.org/details/shdgnga.the-agrarian-system-under-the-delhi-sultanate-1206-to-1555-a-d. p. 130.
  35. ^ Thind, S. 2003. The Agrarian System Under the Delhi Sultanate 1206 to 1555. [Doctoral dissertation. Department of History, Panjab University.] https://archive.org/details/shdgnga.the-agrarian-system-under-the-delhi-sultanate-1206-to-1555-a-d. pp. 197-198.
  36. ^ Tye. R. n.d. Coins, Weights and the Arthashastra. https://www.academia.edu/58328743/Coins_Weights_and_the_Arthashastra
  37. ^ Gupta, P.L. & T. Hardaker. 2014. Punchmarked Coins of the Indian Subcontinent: Magadha-Mauryan Series. IIRNS Publication. Mumbai.
  38. ^ Bhatia, P. 1973. Bull/Horseman coins of the Shahis, c. AD 650-1026. Proceedings of the Indian History Congress, 34(I):50-61. https://www.jstor.org/stable/44138589. pp. 52-53.
  39. ^ Tye, R. 2022. Coin Weight and Historical Metrology (Third Revision). https://independent.academia.edu/RobertTye/Books
  40. ^ Nath, R. 2005. The private life of the Mughals of India. Namdhari eLibrary. https://archive.org/details/private-life-of-the-mughals-of-india/page/n97/mode/2up?q=jital p. 97
  41. ^ Tye, R., & Tye, M. 1995. Jitals: a catalogue and account of the coin denomination of daily use in Medieval Afghanistan and North West India. R. Tye
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