The Sikh coinage of Lahore
An overview on how Sikh coinage evolved through the coin-mint of Lahore
History of Lahore
According to local legend, a town called Lahawar, a predecessor of the later city of Lahore, was founded by Luv, a son of Rama, the Lord of Ayodhya. Lahore fell in 1014 AD to Mahmud of Ghazni. Later, beginning with Babur, the Mughals struck coins in Lahore. The coinage struck in Lahore in effect reflected the various rulers and empires that ruled Lahore, and can give tangible proof of these transitions of power.
During the reign of Jahangir, Guru Arjan Dev was imprisoned in Lahore where he, according to Sikh tradition, had disappeared into the River Ravi after experiencing brutal torture. In 1738, the Persian invader Nadir Shah captured Lahore in December which was followed by his evacuation in the following year, which reverted Lahore's control back to the Mughals. A decade later, Lahore was captured and occupied by Ahmad Shah Abdali. After a cycle of turmoil in which Afghans invaded and captured Lahore, abandoning control to the Mughals and then reinvading again, the Sikhs eventually agitated towards attempting to gain control of the region.
During the 4th invasion of India, Ahmad Shah plundered and retreated to Afghanistan leaving Lahore to his son, Taimur Shah, as Viceroy of Lahore. Taimur Shah, whose control over Punjab had always been uncertain, was driven out of Lahore and India by the Marathas in 1758. Briefly Sikhs controlled Lahore, before being expelled by the Marathas anticipating them plundering the city. After the loss of Punjab, Ahmad Shah returned in 1759 and reoccupied Lahore and sacked Delhi, resulting in the complete annihilation of the Maratha army. Sikhs participated in guerilla warfare due to their lower numbers and thus did not engage in all out war with the Afghans, resulting in less success in the Afghan attempt in eliminating the Sikhs. Despite this tactic, Ahmad Shah managed to launch a surprise attack against the Sikhs in 1762, which resulted in what Sikhs called the ghallughara or Great Disaster.
In 1765, Sikhs were able to take Lahore from the Durrani Governor, Kabula Mal. Later, Shah Zaman invaded Punjab twice and retook it in 1797 and 1798 respectively, without meeting serious opposition. During Shah Zaman's last stay in Lahore, he came to an agreement with Ranjit Singh on the future of Lahore and left in 1799. Six months later, the young Sukerchakia sardar, Ranjit Singh, took Lahore from the three Bhangi Sardars: Chet Singh, Sahib Singh and Mohar Singh. It was said Ranjit Singh struck coins in his own name in Lahore, which in this case necessarily did not mean literally his own name. In this case, for political and economic reasons, the coins bore the name of another ruler.
Ranjit Singh made Lahore his capital and remained the seat of the government of the Sikhs until Punjab was annexed by the British in 1849. The Sikh rupee of Lahore was struck at a mint outside the Taksali Gate, which was south of the Badshahi Mosque. According to British reports in 1846, the mint had the capacity to strike 8,000 rupees a day. The Sikh rupees of Lahore followed the same standard of weight that the Mughals and Durrani coins until the introduction of the Nanakshahis, which led to an increased proportion of copper instead of good silver.
The Jassa Singh Ahluwalia rupee
Jassa Singh Ahluwalia took over the Lahore mint in 1758 and struck his own rupee. Unfortunately, although no examples exist today, there are two versions of the couplets that these now lost coins bore: ‘Coined by the grace of the Khalsaji in the country of Ahmad, conquered by Jassa Singh Kalal’ or another version of the same couplet: ‘Sikka zad dar jahan ba-fazl Akal Mulk-i-Ahmad Giraft Jassa Kalal’ - [Coins struck by the grace of the Timeless (Akal) at the gate of the world [in] the realm of Ahmad Shah Durrani captured by Jassa Kalal. ] Although not a single rupee of Jassa Singh survived the test of time, Griffin recorded in 1870:
It is very doubtful whether they were ever struck in large numbers at all. The Raja of Kapurthala, the head of the Ahluwalia clan, has none in his possession, nor do I know any one who has seen one.
It is theorized the rarity of these coins can simply be explained by the coin itself. The coin was a direct challenge to Ahmad Shah Durrani. There is also a theory by Ganesh Das that only 21 of these rupees were coined and sent to Kabul by Muhammadan Qaliz and Mullahs who were attempting to provoke Ahmad Shah against the Sikhs.
The Gobindshahi and Nanakshahi coins
When the Afghans lost Lahore in 1765, three Sikh chiefs occupied the capital of Lahore. After this period, many variations of the Gobindshahi and Nanakshahi coins were minted. It is believed that the subsequent rupee patterned coins with Guru Nanak Dev and Maharaja Ranjit Singh were not circulated, partly due to the religious imagery, and thus contributing to how rare these coins are.
The Gobind Shahi Couplet variation 1
The later Nanakshahi coin had changes that included a unique leaf emblem on the coin that coincided with the start of Maharaja Ranjit Singh’s rule. For this reason, many historians theorized this was a unique symbol of Ranjit Singh. In an account by Surinder Singh published in Oriental Numismatic Society in 1990, he notes that Sohan Lal Suri’s Umdat-ut-Tawarikh confirms Baron Hugel visited Punjab in 1836 AD, or Sambat 1893, to meet Ranjit Singh and received coins. This coincides with the year the coin with Guru Nanak Dev and Ranjit Singh was made. The account, however, does not specify any details on these coins. What is known though is that these rupees were likely so rare that they were not distributed to the public, potentially due to their religious nature.
The Ahluwalia rupee
This rupee was struck by Sardar Fateh Singh, the leader of the Ahluwalia misl and the grandnephew of Jassa Singh Ahluwalia. These coins were struck during the Treaty of Lahore with Ranjit Singh and Fateh Singh.
Part of the reason may have been to assert Fateh Singh, as a sovereign figure of the Ahluwalia Misl. Shortly after this coin was struck, Fateh Singh had fled to the British due to suspicions of Ranjit Singh, which he later abandoned and returned to Ranjit Singh and was given the post of governor of Lahore.
Conclusion
These few coins struck by Sikhs in Lahore are just a small glimpse into the many different variations and types of coins just from Lahore. What each one of these coins that were minted by Sikhs represent are a very tangible glimpse into our history, depending on the region and time they were minted in. Each coin, depending on the era and region it was minted in, coincided with the struggles of our ancestors and thus holding such a coin or even reading about it helps connect us to the past. Within the wider Sikh historical cannon, many other coins were minted, some rarer than others. Hopefully this short synopsis of coins struck in Lahore by Sikhs spurred our readers' curiosity into further connecting to our very tangible and real Sikh history.