An offprint from: NUMISMATIC DIGEST Vol. 21-22 (1997-1998) EDITORS Parmeshwari Lal Gupta Ajay Mitra Shastri Associate Editors Sanjay Garg Amiteshwar Jha IIRNS PUBLICATIONSTHE RUPEES OF RAJA WILSON Sanjay Garg” The numismatic imprints of the European adventurers of the18th- 19th century India have attracted the attention of the coin-collectors and the numismatists alike. The names of George Thomas’, Cuillier Perron’, John William Hessing® - all military freebooters, are associated with the minting of their own coins. Similarly, Henry Wellesley, the Lt. Governor of the Ceded Provinces (1801-1803) and the brother of Lord Wellesley, the Governor General of the English East Company, had the initial letter of his surname ( waw or 'w') stamped on the rupees struck at Bareilly between 1801 and 1803*. In all these instances the minting of these coins was sought as an assertion of the sovereign power of the issuer within the area of such issues. However, amongst these European adventurers, there is also a name that - being that of a business entrepreneur, stands apart. He is Raja Wilson of Harsil. F. Wilson, popularly known as ‘Raja Wilson ' or ‘Pahari Wilson’ was one of the nineteenth century pioneers who, by his daring spirit and vision, opened up large tract of India for commercial enterprise and made good fortune. He was a hunter, estate-owner, timber- merchant, bridge-builder and horticulturist, all squeezed into one frame. * 108, Asia House, K.G. Marg, New Delhi - 110 001 1. John Allan, ‘Rupee struck by George Tomas’, Numismatic Supplement, 17, 1911 p. 129. 2. Sanjay Garg, 'Perron’s Coins’, ND, 14, 1990, pp. 67-72. 3. Jan Lingen and Sanjay Garg, ‘History and Coinage of John William Hessing: a Dutch Military Adventurer in India’, ND, 20, 1996, pp. 121-133 4. Sanjay Garg , ‘East India Company's Coins from Bareilly Mint’, Delhi Coin Fair Souvenir, Delhi, 1997.120 NUMISMATIC DIGEST, vol. 21-22 (1997-98) Raja Wilson of Harsil Wilson was a native of Wakefield, England. Nothing is known of his early life, but it seems that, like most of the English youths of his times, he took up the military service under the English East India Company and came to India. He is believed to have deserted the army during the First Anglo-Afghan War (1838-39). Hé escaped with his gun and wandered on foot, until, in early 1840s, he arrived in the Shivalik mountain ranges of Tehri Garhwal. For fear of being detected, Wilson shunned all contacts with his compatriots and started living deep in the forest. Soon “his skill as a hunter enabled him to earn more than a livelihood by preserving and sending to Calcutta the skins of Golden Pheasants and other valuable birds. This traffic soon developed to such proportions that he employed many local people to procure for him skins of birds and other animals"’. As his business grew, he entered into contract with a London firm - Macheville Streel, to supply rare furs, feathers, musk etc. 5. Mady Martyn, ‘Raja Wilson’, Imprint, May 1976, pp. 45-49.RUPEES OF RAJA WILSON 121 By about 1850 Wilson , the deserter and pauper, established himself as a great lord. In the same year he obtained from the Raja of Tehri, an unrestricted lease of many square miles of virgin forest for an annual fee of Rs. 400. Wilson now turned a forest contractor. He purchased large tracts of land from the Pandits of Mukhbah village after placating them by building a temple, which stands to this day. On this estate, he established his headquarters at Harsil. Harsil (also spelt as ‘Hursil’), is a small village in the Uttarkashi district of Uttar Pradesh, lying on the road to Gomukh - the mouth of the river Ganges (see map). Here Wilson built a magnificent mansion, which still stands, now converted into a Forest Rest House.122 NUMISMATIC DIGEST, vol. 21-22 (1997-98) Wilson also built a number of other rest houses between Mussoorie and Harsil, of which the ones at Dharasu and Bhatwari are used today as Forest Rest Houses. He built the lavish Charville chateau at Mussoorie, which at present houses the Lal Bahadur Shastri National Administration Academy where Indian civil servants receive their training. The famous Astley Hall at Dehradun - now a shopping centre, was built by Wilson as his winter residence. The growing power and influence of Wilson alarmed Bhawani Shah, the Raja of Tehri so much so that he cancelled the forest lease to Wilson. Dejected by this move, Wilson, in late 1850s, set sail or England and was away for three years. On his return Wilson soon grew richer than ever before for the Raja of Tehri had by this time realised that there was none more suitable than Wilson to manage his forests. The forest lease to Wilson was renewed, but this time at an annual rent of 200 gold muhrs. Wilson now established himself as a timber-merchant, supplying wooden sleepers for the railway line that was being extended from Saharanpur in big circle around the Shivaliks, to Hardwar, Rishikesh and Dehradun. Wilson's foray into the bridge building was intended to secure and improve the bridle paths to Harsil, and beyond it to Gangotri. The most famous of these bridge was a 350 ft. suspension bridge over the river Bhagirathi or Jadh Ganga at Bhironghati, whose remains could still be seen. Wilson married a local girl - Gulabi, the daughter of the village drummer of Mukhbah village, who lies buried in Mussoorie's Camel back cemetery. He is also said to have penned his memoirs under the pseudo-name ‘Mountaineer’, which were published in 1860°. Wilson never left the Garhwal Himalayas and certainly lived up to 1870s. The Wilson Rupees Like most of the European adventurers, Wilson too amassed huge wealth. Andrew Wilson, who visited Mussorrie in 1875, estimated the worth of Wilson's estate to be more than £150,000’. 6. ‘Mountaineer’, Summer Rambles in the Himalayas, ed. By James Hume, (Hurst & Blackett, London, 1860. 7. Andrew Wilson, The Abode of Snow, London?, 1875?RUPEES OF RAJA WILSON 123 Wilson's was a story of a Pauper to Prince. Palatial mansions at various places, a large retinue of servants and workers, fine horses, hunting elephants, Wilson had all the paraphernalia of being a 'Raja’. It is, therefore, not surprising that he was prompted to issue his own coins. However, Wilson's coins were less of an assertion of his sovereign status but more of a means to facilitate his ever more involved commercial transactions. As late as in 1993, these silver rupees could be seen in the hands of common Garhwalis in the village around Harsil®. One such specimen was collected by J.T.M. Gibson in 1938, and is illustrated by Mady Martyn’. A sketch of this rupee is given below. The weight and the size of this coin have not been recorded. The discovery of any Wilson rupee would open a new vista for the coin collectors. For the numismatists, these coins provide something of a "Lesser Coinage" - more than tokens but still less than a full- fledged coinage. 8. Bill Atkins, Seven Sacred Rivers, New Delhi, 1993, p. 74. 9, Mady Martyn, op.cit