Old Mamluk or Slave Dynasty Coins and Iltumish

Qutbuddin Aibak was the first Sultan to set up his capital at Delhi; but no coin bearing his name has been found so far. Mostly, no coins were issued in his name. The next ruler, Iltumish (1211-1236AD), issued silver coins with various legends. Some of them contain kalimah, but the most important bear the name of the Abbasid caliph-al-Mustansir on one side, with or without a kalimah. It bears witness to the investiture Iltumish received from the Caliph in 1228 AD. This style was followed, sometimes with minor variations, by seven sultans - Rukhnuddin Firoz Shah (1235AD), Jalaluddin Razia (1236-1240AD), Muizuddin Bahram Shah (1240-42AD) Ghiyasuddin Balban (1266-87AD), -90 AD) and Shamsuddin Qaimara ( 1290AD). When Caliph al-Mustasir died in 1242 AD his name was replaced by the name of the next Caliph al-Mustasim. A remarkable feature of Jalaluddin Razia's coins is that he did not put his name on his coins but retained his father's name. The only indication that the coins were issued by her is the date and the word Nusrat in the last line on the reverse. Gold coins of the silver type were minted only by Alauddin Masud Shah, Nasiruddin Mahmud and Balban and were not common.

A few gold and silver coins were issued from Bengal (Gaur) under the name of Ildumish, as were the gold horseman type coins of Muhammad bin Sam. They belong to the period 614 and 616AH. Here the Kalima and the date are seen in Arabic words around the horseman. The reverse bears his name as Al-Sultan al-Azzam Shams-ud-Duniya wa al-Din Abu-Muzaffar Iltumish al-Qutbi Burhan (or Nasir) with the title Amir-al-Momin.

Iltumish issued three types of coinage in the billion. One type of coin has a bull on the front and a horseman on the reverse. According to inscriptions they can be divided into different groups. The most common coins are the Suridhana Sri Samasatin on the bull side and Sri Hamira on the horse side, both in Nagari. Some of the coins bear the name of the Caliph. They keep Mustanseer Amirli Momin on one side and Sri Khalifa on the other side again in Nagari; A few have Sri Khalifa on one side and Sri Hamira on the other; On one side the horseman is Sri Hamira in Nagari or Sultan Iltumish in Arabic and an Arabic legend on the other. The third category consists of Nagari Purana which has an Arabic Purana and on the other hand a Vikharama Samvat. None of his successors issued the third type of coinage. One of the first two types was released after the other. But during Balban's time the series was completely dropped. He rejected pictorial devices once and moved around it and issued coins bearing his name in Arabic in a circle with the legend Sri Suridan Katasadin. On the other side was his usual Arabic legend. Copper coins of all rulers have legends on both sides. Name and title on one side and the name of the mint on the other are found in some cases; otherwise, the name and title are split between the two parties. Sometimes only the word Adl in is found on a page.