When coins speak of history ….
Syed Badrul Ahsan rediscovers heritage in a new form
History is part of the larger story of life. It is a truism that has once more come into focus through Coins From Bangladesh. Given that the Indian subcontinent has for centuries been home to a diversity of cultures, which again has been a result of indigenous social forces at work as well as periodic invasions by ambitious men from outside the region, this work is yet one more testament to the march of history in our part of the globe.
If history is a record of men and events and their overall impact on a land and its people, it is served rather well through certain concrete manifestations of it. Among such manifestations are of course old, often decaying monuments, of which there are many in Bangladesh. And Bangladesh having been an integral part of the larger Indian matrix until the later 1940s, it makes sense to argue that symbols of history are as much a part of its heritage as is its continuity of political tradition.
And ancient coins, discovered over various phases of time in the modern era, are what come alive in this work. As the various chapters in the work suggest, the coins which are dwelt upon are not merely representative of the periods they once defined but are also important as emblems of the sense of history upon which the many dynasties in the subcontinent worked. Numismatics is, therefore, a strong foundation which gives Bangladesh's history a degree of substantiveness that has served it well.
Coins From Bangladesh is thus a record of history in a pretty unusual way. It is a record of successive times, those through which the fortunes of this land were shaped and reshaped and consequently affected the rise and fall of not just the dynasties which governed here but also the fluctuating nature of thoughts in a developing, transformative society. The story of coins begins with an enumeration of ancient times. With the subcontinent segmented into a number of janapadas or small states, it was quite natural that some of these janapadas would seek to stamp their independent identity on the region. That explains the Lauhitya Janapada coins which, notes the record here, have been obtained from the Wari-Bateshwar region in present-day Narsingdi. Powerful janapadas such as Magadha had their fiat run all across the subcontinent, which is one reason behind the punch-marked coins that are now a record of that bygone age. The era of the punch-marked coins was also the time when copper cast coins first made their appearance in the subcontinent, and especially in what is today Bangladesh.
The images of the coins which circulated in Bangladesh at different stages of its history and which accompany the narrative here surely are a boon for students of history, for the good reason that they speak of well-ordered and well-organised civilizations whose writ ran in such places as Narsingdi, Bogra, Gaibandha, Mainamati and other spots in the country. The historical affluence which once defined Bangladesh as also the larger subcontinent has in this study been adequately recorded through a segmentation of the periods when coins defined the state and the intricacies of social life. Observe the details: apart from the ancient period, the work takes scrupulous and detailed note of the coins produced and given wide currency through the Sultani, Afghan and Mughal periods. And then the historical legacy of numismatics proceeds to a detailed observation of the coins that depicted the authority of Hindu rulers in the times of Muslim dominance of the subcontinent. And, of course, the narrative moves on to modern times ---- the British colonial period, Pakistan and, after 1971, Bangladesh.
That is history in a something of broad nutshell for you. Take the times of Muhammad Ghauri (1173-1206 AD). He refrained from abolishing local coins when he came to India. Additionally, though, a new coin made through a combination of silver and copper elements and known as Bilun, was issued during his times. And then, of course, there is Muhammad bin Tughlaq, whose financial transaction system involved the use of gold, silver and copper coins. A good number of coins in the Sultani period had on their obverse side the Islamic Kalima. However, Sultan Iltutmish saw to it that in his time the Kalima was replaced by the rather pompous sounding title of the Caliph of Islam, namely, Fi Ahdil Imam al Muntasir Amir-al Muminin. The Kalima was not to be reintroduced on coins until the arrival of the Afghans. Sher Shah also saw to it that the ruler's name on the coins was inscribed, for the first time, in the Devnagri script.
The arrival of the Mughals through the defeat of Ibrahim Lodhi by Zahir Uddin Muhammad Babar at the Battle of Panipat in 1526 heralded the beginning of a dynasty that was to leave a lasting impression on the history and psyche of India. Where matters of currency were concerned, it was during the period of the Mughals that mints were established in Murshidabad and Jahangirnagar. It effectively meant an end to the coinage system as it had so long developed in Bengal. Emperor Humayun issued gold coins of the Shahrukhi pattern from Agra. Eventually, however (and this was after the death of Aurangzeb), numismatics under the Mughals fell into chaos as the empire began to show early signs of a decline.
The tradition of coins was taken a step further by the Jaintia kings, whose authority was exercised over the region of the Jaintia Hills, now in the Indian state of Meghalaya, and the Jaintia Parganas in the Surma Valley, now in Bangladesh. The coins discovered from the era of the Jaintias encompass the times of such rulers as Bargosain 1 (1548-63 AD), Vijaya Manik (1575-? AD), Yasmatri (1640-60 AD), Bijay Narayan (1785-90 AD) and Ramsimha II (1785-90 AD).
Coins are history in the making. And history continued to be made, as it must, all the way through British colonial times, going beyond it to bring into focus the nature of the numismatics which underlined the state of Pakistan for close to a quarter century in these parts before Bangladesh emerged as a new state with its own take on matters of a monetary nature.
Coins From Bangladesh is more than a coffee table book. It is easily a point of reference, deserving of a place of prominence on the shelves in your library. Bulbul Ahmed and AKM Shahnawaz have done a splendid job of repackaging heritage in all the wrapping of novelty.
Syed Badrul Ahsan is Executive Editor, The Daily Star
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