2025-04-29 Tue

Tipu Sultan had a short reign of 16.5 years, from December 1782 to May 1799. During this period, he introduced distinctive coinage with unique mint names, his own Mauludi year, and features like elephants and special symbols, making his coinage particularly fascinating. Each denomination had a specific name. This series on Tipu Sultan's coinage begins with the lowest known denomination.

Tipu Sultan, also known as the "Tiger of Mysore," was born in #Bangalore in 1750 CE to Hyder Ali, a military officer in the Kingdom of #Mysore.

Tipu became ruler of Mysore upon his father's death in 1782 CE during the Second #AngloMysoreWar. He introduced several administrative reforms, reflected in his innovative coinage. Initially, his coins used the AH (Anno Hijri) dating system, which he replaced with the AM (Mauludi era) in the fifth year of his reign. He reformed the coinage system, introducing unique names for coins of different denominations, mints, and the dating system.

He assigned distinct names to all denominations. Gold and silver coins were named after Muhammadan saints, Khalifas, and Imams, while copper coins were named after Planets.

The smallest denomination coin issued by Tipu Sultan was the one-eighth paisa, or Qutb, weighing 1.3–1.5 grams.

The obverse features an elephant facing either left or right with the Mauludi date above, while the reverse bears the mint name. These coins were minted in Pattan, Bengaluru, Farrukh-yab-Hissar, Salamabad, and Nagar.