The Foundation of Muslim Rule in India: A History of the Establishment and Progress of the Turkish Sultanate of Delhi, 1206–1290 A.D. c18.34

c18.34

As Thomas remarked, the Turkish conquerors did not at once introduce a new monetary system, but adapted the existing one to their use. The older currency of mixed metal, known as *dehliwala*, was continued with variations that were slow and very gradual. The design and device of the Hindu coin were retained, more or less, uniformly on the Muslim currency issues. It was Balban, more than sixty years after the conquest of Delhi, who finally replaced the Hindu device of the "bull and horseman" with the sovereign's name inscribed in Devanagari characters¹. In the early years of the occupation, this mixed metal *dehliwala* was therefore the ordinary money. Minhaj, however, almost always uses the term *jital*, the new name which, some years later, came to be applied to a debased adaptation of the *dehliwala*². This *jital* henceforth became the normal billon issue and the *dehliwala* went out of use. Pieces of this type were also coined by Yalduz and the Qarlugh princes during their brief rule in India³.