IN SOUTHERN INDIA. 
165 
India date back to the time when Mahomed bin Taghlak 
ruled the destinies of Delhi, about the middle of the eighth 
century of the Hijrah era (A.D. 1324-51). This king, the 
nineteenth of his dynasty, at once " the most eloquent and 
accompKshed" and the most cruel and merciless prince of his 
race or time, extended his conquests in every direction and 
eventually incorporated in the kingdom of Delhi nearly the 
whole of the southernmost parts of India, and even at one 
time meditated the conquest of China. Over each portion 
of the more distant parts of his enlarged dominions separate 
rulers were set, the most southerly of all, that of Malabar 
falling to the lot of Ahsan Shah (4^ e-^^), the father-in- 
law of the famous traveller Ibn Batutah ; while in the ap- 
pointment of Hussain Grango was laid the foundation of the 
Bahmani dynasty of the Dekhan, whose line extended well 
into the sixteenth century of the Christian era. So extensive 
became the kingdom of Delhi at this time and so distant from 
the seat of the supreme government its outlying provinces, 
that the governors, over whom merely a nominal sovereignty 
could be exercised, soon cast off even the semblance of alle- 
giance to their royal master and promptly undertook, what 
to the Mahomedan mind represents the first act of an inde- 
pendent ruler, the issue of coins in their own name. At the 
same time Mahomed bin Taghlak, undeterred by the fate 
of his Persian predecessor Kai Khatu Khan, introduced a 
" forced " currency, in which copper tankahs were made to 
pass current for silver coins of identical weight. The intro- 
duction of this system rendered Mahomed bin Taghlak so 
unpopular as to encourage each discontented sirdar in pro- 
vincial charge to raise the standard of revolt.* 
* Ferishtah's narrative of the issue of this currency has been thus trans- 
lated : — 
"The Sultan's means did not suffice to satisfy his desires ; to gain his 
ends, therefore, he created a copper currency, ordering coins of that metal to 
be struck in his mint after the manner of gold and silver ; he then ordained 
that this copper money should pass current as gold and silver, and so should 
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