Thread by @veekay_jain

#EastIndiaCompany_Coins
This little piece of history may do some good to them, who on social media are circulating images of fake coins, apparently issued by East India Company, with images of Hindu & Jain gods.

1. East India Company estb their 1st factory in India in 1611
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at Masulipatnam on east cost. In 1639, they took on lease some land around Chennirayapattinam, from the Raja of Chandragiri, a feudatory of Vijayanagar Empire, & built there Fort St George, which subsequently grew into Madras town.

2. Since they first landed, they had felt
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the need of minting their own money, that would be acceptable to Indian traders in payment for the goods being sold by them. There was very little demand for British goods that EIC could bring & sell here to get Indian money required for their purchases. So they had to
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mainly bring bullion from England to pay for the goods they wanted to buy & export from here. But buying against bullion was not convenient & restricted operations it involved issues of purity of the metal.

3. So, when they acquired land on lease from Raja of Chandragiri
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in 1639, they also obtained from him a permission to mint "Indian" coins, using their own bullion, but against a payment of royalty, to the Raja of Chandragiri, @ 1.5% of total value of coins minted.

4. It may be kept in mind that it was no use for the Co. to mint coins

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in their own name & design since there would be no takers for such money in India (in those days). They needed "money" that would be easily acceptable to India traders.

5. So they had no choice but to convert their bullion, in their own mints, into coins that had same

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same weight, shape, designs, and bore the name, seal etc of the then reigning king / monarch. And if the king demanded a royalty for using his name & seal/design, they had to agree to pay that too.

6. It was under this arrangement that East India Company first

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minted coins in India. They chiefly comprised of a gold "Pagoda" & a silver "Fanam" as per weight, design & seals of coins issued by the Raja of Chandragiri & Vijayanagar kings.

7. Since coins of Indian kings bore images of Hindu gods, the coins issued by East India Co.
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under this arrangement do bear images of Hindu gods (Venkateshwara, flanked by Sridevi & Bhudevi, in case of gold Pagoda; &, Vishnu, in case of silver Fanam) but they also bear names of Indian kings only. None of these coins bears name of East India Company.

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8. On the west coast, company's first factory was set up at Surat in 1612, which was under Mughal empire. The currency in use there were gold Mohurs & silver Rupias issued under seal of the Mughal emperors. The company could not get any permission to mint Mughal coins

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until after the death of Aurangzeb, the last powerful mughal emperor.

9. It was only 105 years later (in 1717) that company could obtain permission from the then mughal emperor, Farrukhsiyar, to mint Mughal coins in its own mints, using its own bullion. Until then,

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it had to take its bullion to the Mughal mints at Surat, Ahmedabad etc. and exchange it for Mughal coins on payment of charges that remained negotiable.

10. In the meantime, in 1661, the Portugese princess, Catherine, got married to the English king, Charles II, & brought

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with her in dowry a group of 7 islands located near Indian shores in the Arabian Sea. Charles II, didn't have much use for these islands & gave it to East India Company on perpetual lease at an annual rent of 10 Pound Sterling.

11. These islands were of great strategic

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importance to the company who proceeded fast to develop them into the city of Bombay, which soon became the centre of their operations on the western coast.

12. In the charter of 1677 granted to EIC by the king of England, Charles II, it was also granted authority to

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mint its own money for use within the realms controlled by it. The company then set up a mint at Bombay and, for the first time, produced it's own coins - Carolina (gold coin), Angelina (silver), Copperoons (copper) & Tinny (tin).

13. These coins had the company's

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coat of arms embossed on one side and the name East India Company, along with the denomination, embossed on the other side. None of these coins ever carried any image of any god or king or anyone else.

14. These coins, however, did not find any acceptance among Indian

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traders and the company had to soon stop their production. It reverted back to the practice of carrying it's bullion to Mughal mints and exchange it for Mughal coins.

15. Forty years after this experiment, and ten years after the death of Aurangzeb, the company managed

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to extract from the then Mughal emperor, Farrukhsiyar, in 1717, a permission to mint Mughal coins in its own mints using its own bullion.
Thereafter, it started minting Mughal coins in its own mints at Bombay & elsewhere. Clearly, these coins also never carried any image

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of any god or human. They carried the name of the reigning Mughal emperor, all legends in Persian, and the year of issue as per AH (Al Hijri) era. The first such coin was minted by the company in 1719 in the name of Shah Jahan II.

16. In Bengal, the company's first

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factory was set up in 1633, but it was not until 65 years later in 1698, that they could build their first fortification at Fort William. Bengal also was then under Mughal rule and mughal coinage only was in use there also. The company had to carry it's bullion to Mughal

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mints and exchange it for Mughal Mohurs & Rupayas to get the required money for its operations.

17. Even though Mughal emperor, Farrukhsiyar, granted permission to the company in 1717 to mint Mughal coins in company's mints, this permission could not be used in Bengal

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since in the same year, the Mughal subedar of Bengal, Murshid Quli Khan, declared himself independent Nawab of Bengal, remaining only nominally under Mughal empire, and he didn't allow the company to mint Mughal coins in his territory.

18. It was only in January 1757,

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a little before the famed Battle of Plassey, when company forces led by Robert Clive, retook Fort William from the Nawab forcefully, that the Nawab agreed, as part of the peace treaty, to allow the company to mint Mughal coins in its own mints.

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19. Even after Battle of Plassey (1757) & Battle of Buxur (1764), when company acquired substantial political authority in Bengal, it didn't venture to mint coins in it's own name for the simple reason that these woundn't find acceptance with Indian traders, and continued

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minting coins in the names of Mughals & other indian kings as per their standards & designs.

20. By 1835, a large part of India had come under control of East India Company ruled by it directly or indirectly, & it's authority had come to be generally accepted. However,

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it's 3 administrative units, the Presidencies of Bengal, Bombay & Madras, were still using different coinages issued in names of Mughal & other local kings. It was then that the company decided to use it's own coinage uniformly across all territories controlled by it.

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21. Between 1835 to 1857, the company issued coins bearing its own name 'East India Company' alongwith denomination on one side and the bust of the British monarch with name & title, ("William IIII King", "Victoria Queen" & "Victoria Empress") on the other side.

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22. Coins issued by the company in this period were in 4 units : Mohur (gold), Rupee (silver), Pice (copper) and Pie (tin). All these carried the words "East India Company" alongwith denomination & unit inscribed in English. Mohurs & Rupees carried bust of British monarch.
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23. After 1857, all the company's territorial possessions came under direct rule of the British monarch. In the coins issued thereafter, the words "East India Company" were replaced by "India".

24. In 1877, Queen Victoria took upon herself the title of "Empress of India"
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and therefore, in coins issued after 1877, the words "Victoria Empress" were replaced with "Victoria, Empress of India" (and, after her, "Edward VIII, Emperor of India").

25. Thus, no coin was ever issued by the British, under their name, with images of any Hindu or Jain

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gods. Coins with image of Vishnu & Venkateshwara were minted at Madras mint of the company but these were issued in the name, and under authority, of Hindu kings only. They don't bear co.'s name.
Coins carrying images of Hindu/Jain gods and name of East India Co. are fake.
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