Problems of Reconstructing Mughal Monetary History: A Study of the Correlation Between Numismatic and Textual Evidence

What is offered below is a study of the Mughal currency system during the reigns of Akbar (1556–1605) and Jahāngīr (1605–27). The stream of gold and silver coming to India through the Spanish exploitation of the New World enabled the Mughal Empire to shift from a copper coinage under the Lodis to a monetary system based on the silver rupee under Sher Shah and Akbar. The silver rupee now replaced the copper dām as the main unit of currency though copper coins (dām and tanka) still continued to circulate widely in low monetary transactions. This article traces the story of the evolution of Mughal monetary systems till Jahāngīr’s death (1627). It studies in detail the different problems that beset Mughal monetary policy in the successive stages of its evolution.