Coins Of India - Bull And Horseman Coins And Some Variants

Sultana Razia--1236-40





Ruler's name (with title)-"Al mu azam Razia" on the second line of the legend side.



Her issue that was previously posted here retains the bull side and legend replaces horseman. ( http://www.coincommunity.com/forum/...-1236-40.jpg )

Nasir ud din Mahmud1246-66
After Sultana Razia was executed, Delhi became land of political turmoil. Muiz ud din Bahram was followed soon by Ala ud din Masud. He too proved incompetent. That resulted in inviting Nasir ud din Mahmud to rule Delhi.





Name of ruler - "Mahmu(d)" above horseman in Persian. Nazir ud dunya wa al din is struck on the other side.

Shringar Chandra- ~1375-90
454th in the lineage of Katoch rulers of Kangra.He received the title "Miyan"(equal in status to the sultan) from the Delhi ruler Firoz shah.





Name of ruler - "Sing(ara)" on the second line of legend side. (First line is "Maharaja" ruler's name is preceded with "Sri" on the second line).

Hari Chandra - ~1405-20
Son of Megh Chandra. He is said to have established a new principality. There is an interesting story said about this. Once when Harichanra went out on a hunting expedition into the forests, he got separated from his contingent and could not found in spite of earnest efforts. He was considered dead and his younger brother KarmChandra was placed on the throne. But Harichandra was rescued and he got well. But when he got to know what happened in Kangra, he decided not to return to the capital and founded another city Haripur and started ruling the adjacent areas of Guler. This was with consent of his brother. This could be a story, but Guler is given precedence in ceremonial functions of the state.Strangely it is seen that the rulers of Kangra have mostly ruled for a span of fifteen years consistently one after another. It is possible that this could have been due to some Royal familial custom.




Name of ruler - "Hari" on the second line of the legend side.

Trilok Chandra - ~1610-15
Before Trilok Chandra became Maharaja, local coinage of Kangra had been replaced by the Mughal issues of Akbar. In just a few years he revived the use of local coinage under his own name. This infuriated Jahangir who decided to invade Kangra. He summoned all the hill rajas to Delhi where he planned to arrest Trilok Chandra, but Trilok fled. He was chased and in the attempt to defend, he was killed in A.D. 1615.



Name of ruler - "Trilok" on the second line of legend side.





Hope you enjoyed this thread. There are comparable coins issued in the Khwarazmian Empire. Some are with Horseman to the left. If somebody is in possession of such coins, please share.

@Finn235:)
Thanks for the post. Frankly speaking, I do not have any convincing reply to your question. It is likely that the bull is "Nandi", but I have not so far come across any literature that supports this view. The oldest coins of the "bull and horseman" variety have legend on the bull side reading "spalapati deva" and "samanta deva". Among them, Spalapati coins precede Samanta. Spalapati means " chief of army" and Samanta means " vassal". So it is a wild thought that one who was once the chief of army of a prominent ruler later became semi-independent Samanta. He might have put horseman to symbolise that he is a warrior and use of those symbols could have continued into succeeding centuries spreading over vast area and with many dynasties including rulers of Khawarezm. There is something similar in history where one who was working under the King of Kanauj (after Harshavardhana) later came to rule Delhi on his own. Still this theory is only an inference and does not quite fit with the Ohind theory of its origin. I am still hunting for convincing literature. If I succeed, shall share information. Thanks.