DELHI SULTANS, Muhammad Shah II, 1296-1316 AD, billon, 2 gani

DescriptionOn these coins the date would be in the Nagari legend around the Arabic MUHAMMAD SHAH in about the 10 o’clock position, but it is off the planchet on these.Ala Al Din Muhammad Shah II went down south into the Deccan and conducted predatory war, as was the fashion of the time. He stole a lot of money and good and brought them back up north, where he made the economy flourish.Dehli is how Delhi is written in Arabic. The Dehli Sultans, or “slave kings of Delhi,” started out as Turkish slave soldiers (mamluks). As mamluks were often given positions of responsibility by their owners, there was a tendency for them to usurp power and establish dynasties, and that’s what happened in Delhi. The reference used for the coins is “The Coins of the Indian Sultanates,” by Goenka and Goron.The earliest ancient Indian coins were the “bent bar” punchmarked silvers of the Achaemenid Persians occupying Gandhara in northwest Pakistan. By the 3rd century BC coins were in general use in most of India and Ceylon, and in subsequent centuries struck round coins in gold, silver, and copper came into use throughout the subcontinent and beyond to Southeast Asia and Pacific islands to Java and beyond.