History of the Qaraunah Turks in India c8.141

c8.141

The failure of the scheme, however, well intentioned, was inevitable in the India of the 14th century. To the people at large in those days brass was brass and copper was copper, however urgent the needs of the state, which required a large amount of circulating media to facilitate transactions in the wide dominions of the Sultan and to enable him to put his grandiose plans into execution. The Sultan made no allowance for the conservative character of the people of India, who are always distrustful of change, and whose acceptance of a paper currency even in modern times is more in the nature of a submission to an inevitable evil than a willingness to profit by the use of a convenient circulating medium. The mint was not a state monopoly, and the unfettered coinage of money by private individuals, prevented the token coins from being of the same design, finish and quality. Nothing was done by the state to detect fraud and forgery, and the indiscriminate exchange which took place at the treasury was due to the desire of the Sultan confounded by an unforeseen situation to make full amends for his mistake. Probably he wished to obliterate all memory of the unfortunate experiment, and hence chose a course of reckless generosity. Modern writers have condemned the measure in unequivocal terms, and having followed Firishta they have shared the errors into which he had fallen. The judicious Elphinstone wrongly attributes the failure of the scheme to the ‘king's insolvency and the instability of his government, which destroyed the credit of his tokens from the first.’ This assumption is not warranted by facts which point to a different conclusion. Not only was the Sultan able to withdraw all the token coins that he had issued, but he had enough money in his treasury, which modern writers have erroneously supposed to have been completely denuded of specie, to give genuine coins of gold and silver in exchange for those of copper and brass. The credit of the government stood as high as ever, and no bankruptcy followed, for the Sultan did not abandon his expeditions. From the accounts of Barani, Ibn Batūṭah and the author of the Masālik it is clearly established that after the year 735 A.H. the Sultan spent vast sums of money in administering famine relief and in making presents to foreigners, who visited his court, and there is not even a casual hint to suggest that he ever experienced financial stringency.