Past Programmes

'Firanghee Fortunes: A Numismatic Perspective on the French in India, c. 18th - 19th centuries'

The French presence in India dates back to the 17th century after which they dominated political theatres in many parts of the country in the 18th and early 19th centuries. A numismatic insight into their activities can be seen through many tropes - the coining activities of the French East India Company which led to one of the most standard currencies of 18th century India, the coins issued by some French 'mercenaries'/officials and lastly, and most importantly, the impetus that the French savants and antiquarians functioning in India gave to Numismatics and Archaeology as disciplines of History. The lecture will describe and analyse these tropes in some detail, drawing upon newly discovered and lesser known data from the collections of Bibliotheque Nationale de France in Paris.

Shailendra Bhandare

Shailendra Bhandare is Assistant Keeper, South and East Asian coin collections and Paper Money, Ashmolean Museum, and a member of Faculty of Oriental Studies, University of Oxford. He has several research papers and conference presentations to his credit - including the latest, 'Felicitas: Essays in Numismatics, Epigraphy and History in Honour of Joe Cribb' (Mumbai 2011), of which he is an editor and 'The Marathas in Delhi in the 'Panipat' Year: a Numismatic Insight' in 'Journal of Oriental Numismatic Society', 2009.