Felicitas Essays in Numismatics, Epigraphy and History in Honour of Joe Cribb Editors Shailendra Bhandare Sanjay Garg2 The Raj and the Rajas: a Tale of Numismatic Diplomacy Sanjay Garg ‘The Mughal rulers of India held the right to strike sikka (coin) as inter jura majestatis (the exclusive prerogative of the sovereign). However, the disintegration of the Mughal empire during the eighteenth century and the simultaneous ascendancy of rival centres of power resulted in redefining not only the political spaces but also other insignia of royalty. By the beginning of the nineteenth-century the Mughal king at Delhi was reduced to the state of a virtual pensioner of the British East India Company and the once mighty Mughal Empire became confined to the fore walls of the royal palace. In this struggle for power the coin-inscription became the most manifest proclamation of the new balance of power and the minting prerogative, an assertion of de jure sovereignty. ‘The nucleus of this paperis drawn from the records of the East India Company housed in the National Archives of India, New Delhi (India). The evidence culled out from the archival sources is then reconciled with the available numismatic evidence. The main argument that has been put forth inthe successive pages is that while changes in the coin-inscription and coin-design were symbolic expressions of power and authority, the minting rights exercised by various princely states of India had wider economic considerations. The East India Company, therefore, not only launched a diplomatic offensive against the numismatic subordination that the inscriptions on the coins of the princely states exhibited for the Mughal ruler, but also matched its territorial expansion in India with the establishment of its own coinage and abolition of the native mints. This paper, thus presents the story ofthis conflict that ensued between the princely states and the colonial power in the matters of coin-inscriptions as well as the minting rights. Part I of the paper discusses the changes in the inscriptions appearing on the coins of various princely states of India, many of which chose to pay rumismatic tributes to the emerging political power the British. At the same time it also analyses the strategy followed by the East India Company to induce the princely states to change their coin inscriptions. In Part If the objectives of the colonial power and the process adopted by it for successively depriving the princely rulers of India of their minting rightsis discussed. Part “The majority of the breakaway provinces of the Mughal Empire had continued to pay their numismatic homage to the titular Mughal King. Thus, ‘coins were struck by a varied group of regional resurgent regimes like the Jats, the Marathas, the Nawab of Awadh and the various Rajput States continued to bear the name of the (Mughal) emperor as the sovereign for a long period, even during the years when his real authority had become entirely nominal,’(Bhandare 2006: 85). Even 155 Felicitas: Essays in Numismatics, Epigraphy and History in Honour of Joe CribbFelicitas: Essays in Numismaties, Epigraphy and History in Honour of Joe Cribb when the Mughal King Shah Alam II died in 1806 and was succeeded by his son Muhammad Akbar Shah II (1806-37), only a few ruling chiefs like those of Alwar, Bharatpur, Jaipur, Gwalior, Baroda and Hyderabad, replaced his name on their coins. A large majority of the remaining princely states ritualistically continued to inscribe the name of the dead Mughal king on their coins. ‘Numismatic Homage' to the British: However, by the late 1840s 'the race to win British favours had begun and ... a few princes showed the “practicality” of acknowledging the British supremacy in lieu of the Mughal emperor through their coins’, (Bhandare 2006: 89). As early as in 1846 Desalji I (1819-1860) of Kuteh had suggested that ‘she British Government as the paramount power in Hindoostan should have its name super-inscribed on coins and... resolved to strike his coins in Her Majesty's name." However it was left to his son and suecessor Pragmalji II who succeeded on the gaddi (throne) of Kutch in 1860, to put this resolve of his father into action (see below p. 162). Nevertheless, a few instances may be cited as a numismatic evidence of the changing loyalties of the Indian Princely States in the pre- 1857 era. Rewa, a small princely state in the Central India, enjoyed the patronage of the Company through a treaty concluded in 1812, In 1849, George Alexander Bushby was appointed the Agent to the Governor-General in the 'Saugor and Nerbudda Territories’. His name is found inscribed on certain copper coins of Raghraj Singh Ju Deo (1843-80). These coins display the legend Agent Bushby Saheb in torturously executed Roman letters on one side and an effigy of a lion along with thename ofthe rulerand the mint in Persian, inscribed around it. (Fig. 1) (Fig. 1) In the same year (1849), another tiny state of the Central India paid its numismatic tribute to the Company. This was Datia, a British protectorate since a treaty signed in 1804. Ona presentation piece of 5-Rupee, the ruler Vijay Bahadur Ju Deo (1839-57) calls himself Kampani Mitra (Friend of the Company). The legend on this coin isas follows: Oby.: | Sri Mahda/rajadhiraja Sri/ Mah Rev... Samvat Muni/ Nabha Anka Sasi Ma/ra(n)g Doja Vichitra/ Datiadhipa Raviku/la Tilak Bhiipa Kam/pant Mitra ja SrTRdo/ Raja Vijaya Bah/dur Bahadur Jii/ Deo The first hemistich of the reverse legend contains a chronogram which gives the year 1906 in Vikrama Samvat (=1849 Ag), while the second one hails the ruler of Datia as the ‘glory of the Sun dynasty’ anda Friend of the Company. (Fig. 2) Sanjay Garg 156