Ghaznavid Dynasty – Sultan Bahram Shah 1117-1157 AD Billon Jital Lahore Mint Historical Coin

Ghaznavid Dynasty, Sultan: Bahram Shah, Reign: AH 511–552 / 1117–1157 CE, Denomination: Jital, Metal: Billon, Weight: 3.71 grams, Diameter: 14 mm, Mint: Lahore, References: Tye #110, Goron & Goenka GZ47, Grade: About Very Fine, Scarce.

Obverse: Seated bull facing left with the Nagari legend “Sri Sama” above.

Reverse: Persian inscriptions, “Adal Al Sultan Al Azam Bahram Shah”.

Bahram Shah was one of the longest-reigning rulers of the Ghaznavid Dynasty, governing from Lahore after the gradual decline of Ghazni as the empire’s principal center. Although his reign was marked by continuous conflicts with the rising Ghurids and neighboring powers, the Ghaznavids retained control over much of the Punjab and maintained a stable monetary system. The bilingual coinage issued under Bahram Shah continued the well-established tradition introduced by Mahmud of Ghazni, combining Indian religious imagery with Islamic inscriptions. These coins circulated widely in northwestern India and Afghanistan, reflecting the cultural and commercial interaction between the Islamic and Indian worlds during the twelfth century.

Coinage Note: The Lahore Mint Jitals of Bahram Shah are catalogued as Tye #110 and Goron & Goenka GZ47. Their distinctive design features a seated bull with the Nagari legend “Sri Sama” on the obverse and Persian inscriptions naming the Sultan on the reverse. These bilingual billon Jitals represent the continuation of the famous Ghaznavid bull-and-horseman monetary tradition and remain important issues for the study of medieval Indo-Islamic coinage.