Islamic Calligraphy on Medieval Indian Coins: An Artistic Perspective

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Islamic Calligraphy on Medieval Indian Coins: An Artistic Perspective traces the origin and development of art of Islamic Calligraphy in general and its impact and progress in India as reflected through Medieval Indian coins, in particular. The art of calligraphy was one of the leading forms of art of Medieval India.
The present book focuses on different styles of calligraphy used on coins of this period, covering coins of the Amirs of Sind (8th-9th centuries AD) to the Nizams of Hyderabad (19th-20th centuries AD). About a dozen styles of calligraphy have been discussed, among which the Naskhi and Nastaliq were the most popular on medieval coins of India. The former is mostly noticed on the coins of Sultanates while the latter is represented on the coins of the Mughals and their successors. The book includes brief description of coin types of the Delhi Sultanate, the Provincial Sultanates, the Mughals, Asaf Jahi and Maratha Peshwas with over 150 beautiful illustrations

Danish Moin is well-known for his contributions in the field of Medieval Indian Numismatics. Currently he is Associate Professor and Head of the Dept. of History, the Maulana Azad National Urdu University, Hyderabad. He started his academic career at Indian Institute of Research in Numismatic Studies, Nasik where he served for twenty-three years in various academic positions.
He has to his credit two books, Coinage of the Delhi Sultanate and Coins of Haider Ali and Tipu Sultan-A Typological Study; and a coin catalogue, Catalogue of Medieval Coins in Assam State Museum, Guwahati He has also contributed more than sixty articles on Indian Numismatics that have been published in various journals and books.

The present book was originally authored as a project entitled
Art of Islamic Calligraphy on Medieval Indian Coins from a grant received from the Nehru Trust for Indian Collection at the Victoria and Albert Museum, New Delhi. The project was submitted in 2015. Keeping the importance of the work in understanding coin inscriptions and calligraphy, which have always been in demand from the students of medieval Indian numismatics, I have decided to bring it in the form of a book for a wider readership. In the process, the original manuscript was reviewed, and some changes were also made wherever required.
Medieval Indian coins, mainly coinage issued on Islamic pattern with Arabic calligraphy are inter-related and the coin legends inscribed on these coins have adopted one or another form of calligraphy. The calligraphy or art of writing has been commonly known in all the scripts but calligraphy in Arabic script developed tremendously and is regarded as the most famous art of Islamic world. The art of calligraphy has generally been noticed in the medieval texts and on the walls of medieval monuments, both in religious and non-religious places. Monuments apart, calligraphic art has also witnessed on the other objects such clothes, utensils, etc. Coins are one of the important objects which represent various styles of calligraphy.
This book was carried out to understand the calligraphic development in medieval India with the help of coins. It explores various styles of Islamic calligraphy used on Indian coins, primarily medieval Indian coins covering from the Amirs of Sind in the 8 century to the Asaf Jahs of Hyderabad in the 20" century AD Interestingly, the numismatic evidence has enough and regular findings to understand the growth and development of Islamic calligraphy in India in the period under discussion. The study includes coins of more than a dozen dynasties bearing distinct styles of calligraphy.
The study has been divided into seven chapters beginning with the Introduction followed by Understanding the Calligraphy and Coins; Medieval Indian Coins and Islamic Calligraphy: Artistic Importance; Development of Arabic Calligraphy in India as Reflected through Coinage; Mughal Coins Development and Growth of Nastaliq Calligraphy; Successors of Mughals: Continuity of Nastaliq Calligraphy and finally, Conclusion. All the sections and sub-sections of the chapters have been profusely illustrated with beautiful photographs of coins with elaborate captions. And in the end, an exhaustive bibliography is appended for cross reference and further readings.