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Nur al-Din Muhammad Jahangir, AH1014-1037/AD1605-1627, Zodiac Rupee Aries (month: Farwardin), mint: Ahmadabad, date: AH1027/Ry.13.
Beginning April 1618 (Julian calendar), Jahangir entered in his diary an innovation in coinage “Prior to this, it has been the rule that one side of gold coins my name has been engraved, and on the other side the name of the minting place, the month, and the regnal year. Around this time it occurred to me that instead of the month a figure of the constellation representing the month should be depicted. For example, for the month of Farwardin a figure of Aries could be made, and for the month of Ardibihisht the figure of Taurus, and so on for every month in which a coin was minted one side would bear a picture of the constellation in which the sun rose. This method is peculiarly my own and has never been used before.” Ref.: The Jahangirnama, translated, edited and annotated by Wheeler M. Thackston, Oxford University Press, 1999.
Jahangir was at that time residing at Ahmadabad, where his innovation was put immediately in practice and silver rupees with the figure of Aries [month Farwardin 10th March to 11th April (Julian calendar) or 21st March to 22nd April (Gregorian calendar)] were struck.
For the next four months rupees where struck with the figure of Taurus (month: Ardibihisht), Gemini (month: Khurdad), Cancer (month: Tir) and Leo (month: Amardad).
Despite that Jahangir left Ahmadabad on the 21st of Shahrewar (2 September 1618, Julian calendar) for Agra, no rupees with the image of Virgo has ever been traced. Probably because Jahangir appointed his son prince Khuram (future emperor Shah Jahan) a staunch Muslim, as viceroy of the Subah of Gujarat and governor of Ahmadabad. By the orders of the governor and future emperor Shah Jahan, the coining of the Zodiac rupees at Ahmadabad seems to have been forbidden.
The next issue of a zodiac coin, however, is a gold mohur struck at Fathepur (Sikri). Jahangir, on its way from Gujarat to Agra, stopped for three months at Fathpur Sikri, as a plague had broken out at the capital Agra. During this short stay the very rare zodiacal coin of Aries, dated AH1028/Ry.14, was struck at Fathpur mint.
The zodiacal coins of Ahmadabad are all struck in silver, most other zodiac coins are of gold and the majority struck at the capital Agra. See coin #13777
The gold zodiac mohurs attracted already in the middle of the 17th century the fancy of collectors and as the demand could not meet the supply, they got imitated. Consequently original zodiac mohurs are rarely offered for sale these days.
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