The Foundation of Muslim Rule in India: A History of the Establishment and Progress of the Turkish Sultanate of Delhi, 1206–1290 A.D. c18.38

c18.38

In gold coinage also, distinctive features of the new regime did not become regular until the reign of Mahmud. Of the three known pieces of Muizzuddin two are mere imitations of the Gahdvala issues, with even the figure of the goddess Lakshmi reproduced exactly, the only identifying element being the sovereign's name inscribed in Indian characters⁴. Even the third one, a unique piece and obviously based on the Islamic dinar type current in his northern dominions⁵ and meant to be a commemorative issue, bears a Devnagri legend and the figure of a horseman, much in the tradition of the Chauhana coins¹. Gold pieces of this latter type were struck by Iltutmish in 608, 614, and 616, but except the Arabic legend, the *kalimah* and the caliph's names, they bear little resemblance to the Ghazni *dinar*². Presumably because of the lack of a weight standard for which the native silver currency does not appear to have supplied a recognised model, the gold coin did not become regular until half a century later³ when, the silver coinage having in the meantime come into general use, it became possible to fit the gold piece into the currency scheme.