Korā Mint
Coins were issued from the Korā (كورا) mint by:
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Shāh
‘Ālam II (See Marathas or Awadh) |
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Moghul
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History
See Nelson Wright
Dear Admiral Sahib, Satya
and Barry
Korā is a tricky
attribution indeed. As rightly pointed out by Admiral Sahib, Shāh
‘Ālam II was resident at Allahābād during the early part of his
reign and it was not until the Marathas installed him at
Shāhjahānābād in 1772 that he was able to regain control of
his rightful capital. However, the fact that he was 'around' at
Allahābād does not automatically preclude other issuing authorities
to strike coins at Korā in his name. The emperor was so weak, that ALL
coinage in his name at this point (except some rare issues of
Allahābād mint, with a 'tree' symbol) must have been struck by
someone else's authority. The question is, WHO is the authority that struck
those enigmatic Korā coins which Satya asked about?
If the coins themselves are
to be believed, one might presume there is some Maratha connection with their
issue. The symbols are evidently of Maratha affinity - the pennant, the trisul
and the 'quatrefoil' mark that appears next to the RY, are all known from other
Maratha mints like Kālpī, Kunch, Srināgar, Sagar etc (However,
except Kālpī, all these post-date the occurrence on the Kora rupees).
When we turn to historical details, there is not much evidence that the
Marathas had anything much to do with Kora. This is where I'd agree with what
Barry has contended. But (and this is a major 'but'), there is evidence to the
effect that an agreement had been reached between the Marathas, the Emperor and
the Nawāb of Awadh (to whom the subah of Kora, or 'Kura-Jehanabad' as it
was called, technically belonged) that the subah was to be handed over to the
Marathas, as part of the deal to oust Shāh Jahān III and his mentor
the Wazir. The office of the Wazir and also that of the 'Mir Bakshi' were
coveted at this point by Shujā ud-Dowla, who had recently taken over from
his father Safdar Jang as the Nawab of Awadh. These were to be restored to
Shujā, to which end Shujā had agreed to transfer the subah to the
Marathas. On a wider political canvass there were other players in such intrigues
apart from the Marathas and Shujā - namely Surajmal Jat of Bharatpur and
Najib ud-Dowla, the Rohilla warlord and protégé of Ahmed Shāh
Durrānī. Whether the Marathas actually took control of Korā at
this juncture is not known as the tumult of politics soon culminated in the 3rd
battle of Panipat (January 1761) in which the Marathas lost heavily to Ahmed
Shāh Durrānī. Shujā, initially wavering between the
Rohilla-Durrānī and the Maratha-Jat factions, ultimately sided with
the former and this to a certain extent precipitated the Maratha debacle. The
next major political development in the region came in 1764 and this was the
battle of Buxar, fought between the combined armies of the Nawābs of Awadh
and Bengal and their nominal overlord, Shāh Ālam II on one hand and
the British on the other. British victory at Buxar resulted in the virtual end
of the Bengal Nawābs and the temporary stationing of Shāh Ālam
II at Allahābād. Shujā at this time chose to transfer the subah
of Allahābād to Shāh ‘Ālam II for his 'maintenance'
So as far as I can see,
there are two contenders for the said issues of Korā - the Marathas and
the Nawāb of Awadh. The province belonged to the Nawāb and he had
agreed to transfer it to the Marathas, but whether the transfer was effected or
not is not known clearly. So far as the coins go, and if the symbols are to be
interpreted in any inferential manner, Maratha control would seem logical.
However, this is only a conjecture at this moment and we will have to wait for
further evidence to this effect.
Kora again comes in
numismatic picture in the mid-1770's when the mint there becomes operational
under the authority of Mirza Najaf Khan, an Irani or 'Mughalia' statesman in Shāh
‘Ālam II's court constituted after his re-instalment at
Shāhjahānābād in 1772. After the fall of the 'Mughalia'
faction in late 1770's-early 1780's, the Nawābs of Awadh, this time under
Asaf ud-Dowla, took over Korā.
cheers,
Shailen
Dear Satya, Barry et al
While Barry has rightly
quoted me on attributing coins for what they are ("proof of the
pudding" sort of logic), in this particular case of Kora I would like to
exercise some caution in conclusively attributing them to the Marathas. This is
primarily because in the period they were struck (1760 - 1765), it is equally
likely that Awadh could have employed similar symbols. Awadh is also
politically the most likely authority to have struck these coins, because the
province belonged to Awadh in the first place. Indeed, at least one of the
symbols, the Trisul, appears first on the coins struck in the name of Alamgir
II and in this period the Marathas certainly had nothing to do with the region.
These observations are irrespective of the supposed 'Maratha' nature of the
symbols and whether or not the Marathas took over Kora, as promised to them in
the treaty.
The other known Maratha
mints that employ similar symbols (Kunch, Kunar, Sagar, Jalaun, Kalpi,
The Kora issues of RYs 1
(Ahd) - 5, even though struck only for a few years, seem to have exerted a
certain influence on the design of coins of Bundelkhand region. It is evident
that they acted as prototype for the Maratha mints listed above. They acted as
prototype for a non-Maratha mint in the region, too - namely Chhatarpur. Also,
it is interesting to note that when Awadh finally takes over the Kora mint in
the 1780's, the coins struck there bear an overall similarity in design terms
with the Maratha issues from the Bundelkhand mints. This is evident in the
employment of the word 'Hijri' after the mint-name on the reverse and also
'Mutabiq', a word denoting 'correspondence' between Hijri and Julus years,
after 'Manoos' in the top line on the reverse. The legend on the reverse of
these coins therefore reads as 'Zarb Kora Hijri Sanah....Mutabiq Julus
Sanah....Maimanat Manoos'. The differentiating symbol - the fish - is confined
to the obverse.
It is thus evident that the
symbolic program and the 'style' initiated on coins of Kora in 1760-65, ended
up creating a wide range of coins related in design terms with each other
across and around Bundelkhand. The mints that struck such coins are - Sagar,
Garha,
While we are on this topic,
attention may be drawn to a half rupee offered in the forthcoming 'Todywalla
Auctions' no. 15 (lot 140). Although listed in the catalogue as 'Awadh', it
does not have the fish as a differentiating mark. Neither does it have the
so-called 'Maratha' symbols, nor the horizontal sword symbol for Najaf Khan. It
bears RY 10 and it is therefore likely that this coin must have been struck in
the period between the two successive authorities, whichever they may have
been. As such, it is worth a note as a possible 'space-filler'
cheers,
Shailen