The Coins of India

Mewar (Udaipur) – 19 gun state

Important dates in the history of Mewar Udaipur

c.530 AD. Mewar state founded.

1818 AD. British protectorate.

Rulers (title Maharana)

1698 - 10 Dec 1710 AD. Amar Singh II

1710 - 11 Jan 1734 AD. Sangram Singh II

1734 - 5 Jun 1751 AD. Jagat Singh II

1751 - 10 Jan 1753 AD. Pratap Singh II

1753 - 3 Apr 1761 AD. Raj Singh II

1761 - 9 Mar 1773 AD. Ari Singh

1773 - 6 Jan 1778 AD. Hamir Singh II

18 Jun 1778 - 30 Mar 1828 AD. Bhim Singh

31 Mar 1828 - 30 Aug 1838 AD. Jawan Singh

30 Aug 1838 - 14 Aug 1842 AD. Sardar Singh

4 Aug 1842 - 16 Nov 1861 AD. Sarup Singh

27 Dec 1861 - 7 Oct 1874 AD. Shambhu Singh

30 Oct 1874 - 23 Dec 1884 AD. Sujan Singh

4 Mar 1885 - 24 May 1930 AD. Fateh Singh

(power curtailed by British from 28 Jul 1921)

24 May 1930 - 15 Aug 1947 AD. Bhopal Singh

(granted ruling power from 28 Jul 1921)

British Political Agents

1818 – 1822 James Tod

1822 - Apr 1823 AD. Waugh

Apr 1823 - Jan 1831 AD Cobbe
1831 – 1834 AD. Spear

1834 – 1839 AD. ?

1839 – 1845 AD. Robinson

1846 – 1849 AD. Sutherland

1849 – 1850 AD. John Low

1850 – 1857 AD. Henry Montgomery Lawrence

1857 – 1860 AD. Showers

1860 – 1862 AD. Taylor

1862 – 1865 AD. Eden

1865 – 1867 AD. Nixon (1st time)

1868 – 1869 AD. Alexander Ross Elliott Hutchinson (1st time)

1869 – 1872 AD. Nixon (2nd time)

1872 – 1874 AD. Alexander R. E. Hutchinson (2nd time)

1874 AD. Bradford

1874 – 1875 AD. Wright

1875 – 1876 AD. Herbert

1876 – 1878 AD. Impey

1878 – 1879 AD. Cadell

1879 – 1881 AD. Walter (1st time)

British Residents

1881 – 1882 AD. Stratton

1882 AD. Euan Smith (1st time)

1882 – 1885 AD. Walter (2nd time)

1885 – 1886 AD. John Biddulph

1886 AD. Wingate

1886 AD. Euan Smith (2nd time)

1886 – 1887 AD. Walter (3rd time)

1887 – 1889 AD. Miles (1st time)

1889 AD. Peacock (1st time)

1889 – 1890 AD. Fraser

1890 AD. Peacock (2nd time)

1890 AD. Abbott

1890 – 1893 AD. Miles (2nd time)

1893 AD. Martelli

1893 – 1894 AD. Wyllie (1st time)

1894 AD. Prideaux

1894 – 1896 AD. Wyllie (2nd time)

1896 – 1897 AD. Newill

1897 – 1899 AD. Revenshaw

1899 – 1900 AD. Yate

1900 AD. Thornton

1900 – 1902 AD. Alexander Fleetwood Pinhey (1st time)

1902 AD. Blakesley

1902 – 1906 AD. Alexander Fleetwood Pinhey (2nd time)

1906 AD. Drummond (1st time)

1906 - 1907 AD. Claude Hamilton Archer Hill (1st time)

1907 AD. Chevenix Trench (1st time)

1907 – 1908 AD. Claude Hamilton Archer Hill (2nd time)

1908 AD. Chevenix Trench (2nd time)

1908 – 1911 AD. Holme (1st time)

1911 – 1913 AD. Kaye (1st time)

1913 AD. Holland

1913 – 1914 AD. Kaye (2nd time)

1914 AD. Glancy

1914 – 1915 AD. Kaye (3rd time)

1915 AD. Drummond (2nd time)

1915 – 1916 AD. Kaye (4th time)

1916 AD. Russell

1916 – 1919 AD. Holme (2nd time)

1919 – 1920 AD. Spence

1920 AD. Macpherson

1920 – 1924 AD. Wilkinson

1924 – 1925 AD. Pritchard

1925 – 1927 AD. Ogylvie

1927 AD. Bisco

1927 – 1928 AD. Mackenzie

1928 AD. Grabier

1930 – 1931 AD. Lothian

1931 – 1933 AD. Macnabb

1933 – 1935 AD. Garstin

1935 – 1938 AD. Batham

1938 – 1939 AD. Barton

1940 – 1941 AD. Todd

1941 – 1942 AD. Trevelyan

1942 – 1943 AD. Williams

1943 – 1947 AD. Kirkbridge

The tributory distrct of Shahpur.

1845 – 1853 AD, AH. 1261 – 1270 Jagat Sinh

1853 – 1870 AD AH. 1270 – 1287 Lachman Singh

1870 – 1932 AD. AH. 1287 – 1351 Nahat Singh

History [1]

Mewar, later known as Udaipur, after its capital of that name, is the forst among the Rajput states, and once occupied considerably more territory than it does now. Nevertheless, it still occupies YYYY square miles in the middle of Rajasthan, between 00° 00’ and 00° 00’ N. and 00° 00’ and 00° 00’. It is bordered on the Ajmer to the north, Marwar (Jodhpur on the northwest, Sirohi and Marwar on the west, Danta and Idar, Dungarpur and Banswara on the southwest and south, Partabgarh, Gwalior, Tonk, Indore, Jhalawar, Kotah, Bundi and Jaipur on the southeast and east. Certain portions of Gwalior, Tonk, Gowad and Merwara once belonged to Mewar.

The ruling family are Rajputs, descendants of a family which is the highest ranking among Hindus, held to be heirs to the throne of the god, Rama. This genealogy starts with Ikshvaku, king of Ajodhya, son of Manu, progenitor of the Sun-born race, whose descendants include a host of illustrious princes. Lava was the eldest son of Rama, and he ruled the Punjab from his capital of Lahore. A decendant of Lava, a chief called Kanak Sen, moved with his family to Gujarat, and in 144 AD. He usurped the throne of a Mori Paramar and made himself master of a large tract of land in the vicinity. The country grew and prospered under their chiefs until, in 523 AD, under Shiladitya, it was invaded and plundered by foreigners. One of Shilyaditya’s consorts was away in Danta state, and she was the only member of the royal family to survive the destruction of her land and capital. She was pregnant, and gave birth to a son, who was brought up by a Brahmin lady at Vadnagar. He was named Goha (Cave-born), and grew up wandering among the Bhils of the jungles in Idar. He impressed the Bhils with his martial prowess, and was installed as king of Idar, and became the father of the Gehlote Rajputs. A successor of Goha, named Aparajit, was killed in a hunting accident. His infant son, Bappa, survuved the subsequent chaos, was carried to safety in Nagda, close to modern Udaipur.

Bappa grew in favour with his contemporaries, and, in 734 AD, led a successful attack on the fortress of Chittor, which he captured from Man Singh, s Mori chief who owned it. Afterwards he increased his holdings and died in 753 AD.

The next 300 years of history of this family is lost in the mists of time, and we do not hear anything concrete about them until the twenty-fifth generation after Bappa, when the ruler was one Samarsingh, who ruled from 1274 to 1284 AD, and was succeeded by his son Ratan Singh. During his reign Chittor was attacked twice by Ala-u-din Muhammad Khilji, the second time successfully. The Rajputs were slaughterred and their women committed jauhar rather than be captured alive and be dishonoured. Ratan was followed by Karan Singh, then his son, Rahap. Seventh in line after Rahap was Bhuvan, who succeeded in retaking Chittor, which was held until 1326 AD, when Muhammad bin Tughlaq attacked and the king, Laxman Singh was killed, along with all his sons except Ajai, who escaped to the hills. Ajai’s nephew, Hamir Singh, followed him to the chieftaincy. Hamir married the daughter of Maldeo, Raja of Jalore, whom Tughlaq had made viceroy at Chittor. Through this liaison, Hamir was able to take Chitorgarh back, which infuriated the Muslim emperor, who, vowing revenge on the Rajputs, set out with a large army to effect his intentions. Hamir set out to meet him, and the forces were fairly evenly matched, and the fight was hard and bloody. Tughlaq was captured and imprisoned in Chittorgarh, only buying his release by handing over three important towns, rupees three lakhs and 100 elephants to Hamir.

The state remained in Rajput hands for a number of generations, being strengthened and consolidated as time went by. It reached its zenith under Sabgram Singh, who became chief in 1508 AD. The Mughal invasion under Babur was the next big challenge to Rajput supremacy at Chittor, and a fierce battle took place in 1527 AD. Most of the Rajput chiefs in the area supported Sangram and the mughals were defeated and were forced to retire. The attack was rejoined later the same year, and the Rajputs were beaten when one of their number played traitor, assisting the invaders. Sangram took cover in the Aravali range, vowing to not to re-enter his capital until he had defeated Islam, but he died from poison, administered by a servant.

During the reign of Udai Singh, the territory was invaded by Akbar. He attacked Chittor and defeated the Rajputs, who defended bravely. Udai had already left and gone to the hills. Akbar held Chittor, and Udai founded Udaipur, built the Udaisagar lake in 1559 AD, but did not try to recover Chittor. That was left to his son, Pratap Singh, who succeeded to the gaddi in 1572 AD. He made several unsuccessful attempts on the citadel, but died in 1597 AD without making Chittor his. His son, Amar Singh, also made repeated attacks on the fortress, but lost many men in these fruitless attempts. His son, Karan Singh was in favour of peace with the Mughals, and eventually, in 1615 AD, Amar was won over, and sued for peace with Jahangir. Amar died in 1620, and during the chieftaincy of Karan, the country began to recover. That is, until he supported an unsuccessful rebellion by Jahangir’s son, Prince Khurram (later to be emperor Shah Jahan), and brought Jahangir’s anger upon his head again.

Karan was followed by his son, Jagat, then by Raj Singh. He, along with most Rajput princes, supported Dara Shukoh in the war for successionthat followed Jahangir’s death, incurring the hatred of the other princes. He cut of all ties with Delhi and began to rule as an independent ruler.

This greatly offended Aurangzeb, and when Raj Singh protested against the re-imposition of the Jizya tax on non-Moslems, he drew Aurangzeb’s wrath on himself and his people. Aurangzeb sent a large army to chastise the Rajputs. Raj Singh rushed out of his fortress in an attack, but then feigned retreat, drawing the Mughals in hot pursuit. When the Mughal forces were strung out in a narrow defile, he returned to the attack, defeated the Mughals, killing many of them and chasing the remainder, now in disordered retreat, for many miles. He was then able to live out the rest of his life in peace, dying in 1681 AD.

During the reign of his descendant, Sangram, 1716-1734 AD, the Mughal empire was in terminal decline, and Udaipur regained much of her lost territory and recovered much of her prestige.

Not for long. This time, in 1735 AD, it was not the invading Muslim armies that threatened the peace of upper India, it was the marauding, plundering Maratha hordes from the Deccan. They laid waste to much of the area, dividing the loyalties of the Rajput chieftains. The new maharana, Jagat Singh, was forced to come to terms with the plunderers. This did not satisfy the Marathas, who continued their predatory raids in Mewrar and elsewhere, for three decades. This was closely followed by the depredations of Sindhia’s forces which invaded Udaipur in 1770 AD. Eventually Maharana Arsi Singh was forced to buy of the predators by mortgaging large portions of his state. The Maratha attacks continued. In 1818 AD, the then Maharana Bhim Singh could find no other way to rid himself of the menace and misery that followed the Marathas everywhere they went, and he sought an alliance with the British. This was aagreed, and the British sent in a Political Agent to oversee the return to prosperity that was sought by all involved. That prosperity and peace soon started to bear fruit.

Bhim Singh died in 1828ADand was followed on the gaddi by his son, Jawan Singh, then Sardar Singh, then Sarup Singh, who helped the British during the 1857-58 mutiny. He died in 1861 AD and was followed by Shambu Singh, nephew of the previous ruler. He was 17 years old when he succeeded, and took full powers on his reaching 21 yerars of age in 1865 AD. His reign was a great success, and the state grew in resources and financially under him. He died in 1884 AD. The adopted prince Fateh Singh was set upon the gaddi, he oversaw a continuing growth in the revenue and in the institutions of the state, and the land prospered.

Coinage [2]

Like its history, Mewar Udaipur’s coinage has a disjointed and unorthodox appearance to it. At one time or another, official mints were established at Chittor and Udaipur, and there were “Local Issues” at Bhilwara, Chitor, Jawad, Umarda, Bhinda, Salumba and Shahpur. A “new” mint was recently discoveredby a numismatist in India, and read as Mandalgarh, which is about 100 miles north of Udaipur. Like the occupation of the territory itself, occupation of and production from some of these mints was transitory. As related in the history section above, the land became prosperous and peaceful towards the middle of the 19^th century, and in 1932 and 1932, a very high quality milled coinage was produced at Chittor. Apart from the Mughal style silver coinage of the tributory district of Shahpur, bearing regnal year 12 of Alamgir II, no Mewar Udaaipur coins bear dates or regnal years.