By Nilosree Biswas
Earlier this month, a humble one hundred-rupee note from India (the equivalent of $1.15) fetched an astonishing $63,314 at a private London auction.
And last year, two 10-rupee currency notes from the World War I era – recovered from a 1918 shipwreck of an Indian ship carrying British Indian currency, marmalade and ammunition – sold for $7,987 and $6,714, respectively.
The sale of the 100-rupee currency has brought to the forefront a rare numismatic delight, which provides invaluable insight into the history of the sacred Hajj pilgrimage in modern India.
Not to be confused with the Gulf Rupee that present-day Gulf countries relied on when they were British protectorates, this particular 100-rupee note is marked with a serial number HA 078400 and has the word HAJ inscribed.
The currency is fondly known as the La'l Note (or red note), and derives its name from its distinctive brick-red hue.
This special note was issued by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) in the late 1950s, during the tenure of Jawaharlal Nehru, a secular leader who prioritised preventing gold smuggling over fostering improved relations with the country's Muslim community.
Officially termed the "HAJJ Note," this special batch of currency was issued exclusively for use in the Gulf States of Qatar, Kuwait, Bahrain, the Trucial State (present modern-day United Arab Emirates) and Oman, to facilitate Muslim pilgrims on their journey to Hajj.
While in circulation, the currency was only valid for use during the pilgrimage. It was designed in two distinctive colour schemes – red and blue – with illustrations of elephants and sailing boats, the latter symbolising the journey of the pilgrims.
Upon departure from the port of Bombay (now Mumbai), the pilgrims were provided with blue ₹10 notes and red ₹100 notes to cover their expenses during the travel. The issuance of this special currency was a thoughtful arrangement by the state to assist pilgrims in their religious journey. Fascinatingly, as recently as 1995, pilgrims from India still travelled to Hajj by sea - as it was more affordable - sailing aboard the MV Akbari, which was later scrapped.
Hajj trips and their patronage have long been an important aspect of South Asian Muslim history, a region that is home to a third of the world’s Muslim population.
India and Hajj
Muslims have been travelling to Saudi Arabia from South Asia to perform Hajj for centuries, forming a significant cultural and religious connection between the two regions.
In a sparkling account of the history of the Hajj pilgrimage from earlier times, scholar Rishad Chowdhury in his book Hajj Across Empires: Pilgrimage and Political Culture after the Mughals, 1739-1857 notes: "Pilgrim vessels from the subcontinent would set sail from Surat, a West Indian entreport once known as the Bab al-Makkah (Gate of Makkah). It was a cosmopolitan city with reports of Arab, Persian and Turk traders and emigres being there into the late 18th century.
"The Mughals built lodgings and infrastructure to help pilgrims in the city. Later, during British rule, Surat lost its status to other port cities like Mumbai and Kolkata. During the Mughal rule in India pilgrims from South Asia were an important source of revenue in the Hijaz, and the Ottoman bureaucracy even referred to the Hajj as 'Mevsim-e-Hindi,' the Indian Season."
Mughal emperor Akbar is often credited as the first ruler to organise pilgrimage trips for Hajj from northern India. As Mughal rule declined and the British East India Company took over, the English too got involved in supporting Hajj, albeit after initial hesitation.
For the East India Company, this served as a strategy to uphold their territorial supremacy and control over the Indian Ocean and fend off other European powers like the French and Dutch.
Interestingly, many of the pilgrims were aristocratic Muslim women. Surat, a port city on the western shores of India, was eventually replaced by Bombay as the primary port for embarking on the journey to Saudi Arabia.
In 1927, the first ship carrying pilgrims sailed for Jeddah. But at that time, there were no special coins or British Indian currency minted exclusively for Hajj. Notably, all Arab Gulf states used the Indian rupee as legal tender until 1959, underscoring the historical economic connections between the regions. It was finally phased out when Oman adopted its own currency in 1973.
After the Partition of India in 1947, which led to the creation of Pakistan and, eventually, Bangladesh (after its independence in 1971), the Indian state continued to play a role in facilitating the pilgrimage in various ways.
In a little over a decade after independence, the RBI decided to issue this special currency. One of the reasons for this was to curb the illegal buying of gold using regular Indian currency.
But by the 1970s, Gulf countries had introduced their own currencies, with Kuwait leading the way. As a result, the Hajj Note was gradually phased out, and media reports confirm that, after its withdrawal, pilgrims were issued bank drafts that could be exchanged upon arrival in Saudi Arabia.
Today, the specially issued Indian rupee is a rare collectable from South Asia, contributing to the material history of this sacred journey. Other related objects include a rare Hajj map of the holy city of Mecca and Medina, commissioned by A‘isha Gül, daughter of al-Hajj al-Sayyid Hasan Riza, a calligraphy teacher in the Musika-i Hümayun Mektebi, the first music school of the Ottoman Empire.
The map serves as a Hajj certificate and is designed with an inscription from the Quran's third chapter, verse 97. It features an ariel view of the four Islamic holy sites Makkah, Medina, Jerusalem and Najaf – along with depictions of the port of Jeddah. It is signed by Indian-origin painter Sayyid Muhammad Chisti, though the exact location of the illustration is not marked as either India or Makkah.
Objects such as this, linking India with Hajj, are few and far between, especially compared to the wealth of items from other cultures and countries, like the Safavid or Ottoman empires, which have a larger variety of pilgrim-related objects, from flasks to Hajj certificates and maps.
This makes the humble "La'l note" a historical artefact unlike any other – a gateway to understanding Islamic culture and the shared history between India and the Gulf countries. Beyond the religious significance of Hajj as the ultimate gathering of Muslims worldwide, the pilgrimage has long served as a site of cultural exchange, trade, and business between the Middle East and the rest of the world. The significance of the La'l Note lies precisely in this context.
Nilosree Biswas is an author and filmmaker who writes about history, culture, food and cinema of South Asia, Asia and its diaspora.
Disclaimer: The views expressed by the authors do not necessarily reflect the opinions, viewpoints and editorial policies of TRT Afrika.
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