In his tumultuous reign, Humayun lead several expeditions, one such being to the Kingdom of Malwa. In the early 16th century, Humayun conquered the fortress of Mandu, inside which the Sultan of Gujarat Bahadur Shah had shut himself. Humayun’s soldiers scaled the fort walls through ropes and ladders in the middle of the night and… Read more »
Ujjain has been a prominent urban centre stretching back to 600 BCE. In ancient India, it was one of the most important hubs connecting all the major trade routes, including those from Pataliputra (Bihar), Shravasti (Near Sopara in present-day Maharashtra) and Bharuch in Gujarat. Ujjain was the capital of power and learning, from where the… Read more »
“It was not the British government that began seizing great chunks of India in the mid-eighteenth century, but a dangerously unregulated private company headquartered in one small office….” In his 2019 book ‘The Anarchy’, this is how William Dalrymple describes the East India Company—the only trading company in the world to mint its own currency.… Read more »
This is a X kas or 10 Cash coin of Indo-Danish extraction. Relic of an empire we don’t often mention when we talk about colonial rule in India. The Danes made an official appearance in these parts after the monarch of Denmark, King Christian IV signed a charter for the establishment of the Danish East… Read more »
The Chera dynasty ruled in southern India during the Sangam age between 3rd Century BC and 9th Century AD. During this time, the biggest empires in the region were the Cheras, Cholas and Pandyas. The Cheras, who controlled the west Malabar coast, were the first powerful dynasty from Kerala and hence given the moniker Keralaputras,… Read more »
The Kushanas or Kouei Shuang were the descendants of the ancient Central Asiatic clan of Yueh-chi. They ruled parts of the Bactrian region (Afghanistan and Tajikistan) in the early 1st Century CE. What makes this coin special is that it shows the syncretic spirit of this empire and offers evidence of the king’s assimilation with… Read more »