Indian Antiquary Vol 27

SR No.: 032519
Original Sutra Author: N/A
Author: Richard Carnac Temple
Publisher: Swati Publications
Publication Year: 1984
Total Pages: 404
Language: English
Classification: Book_English
File Size: 15 MB

Page 179

JULY, 1898)
CURRENCY AND COINAGE AMONG THE BURMESE
173
This scalo is preserved in modern times thus : 28
4 cowries are 1 ganda 20 ganda 1 pag 16 par » 1 kabawan
2,280
Now both the kahuman and the dramma of the Lilavali nre quarter tölas i. o., they are the equivalents in cowries to the quarter rupee, and therefore by this scale the rupee would be equal to 1,280 X 4= 5,120 cowries.
Both Eliot ard Beames have long ago explained that the yardá of account and the ganda of practice have never coincided ; nor, as a matter of fact have any other account and bullion denominations nominally the equivalents of each other. It is so with the sel. Sel, in practice as coins, havo hnd no fixed exchange with rupees, but the exchange has variod with the quantities of silver coin in the market from time to time. Thus in 1673 Dr. Brown, Manipur, p. 89, tells us that sel ran 428 to the rupee, so the usoal variation lying between 420 and 450 to the rupee. The nomenclature of the intermediate cenominations of the quartettes of 881 also shows that at one time, it is not so now, as will be explained later on, there must have been the same divergence between practice and account as regards sél as there is as regards gandds of cowries. That is, the wel of account was one half the coined sél, a fact which affects the mode of enameration throughout, thus: - In account " one sél" is called malih dio amá,91 i. e., "a half”: *two sél" are cnlled selama, ie, “sél one": "three sél" are called silamu malhai, i. e.,“ sél one and a half," and so on through all the minor denominations of each quartette. The full scale of enumeration is a combination of the names of the quartettes of fifties and of the just explained habit of counting the sel of account as half the coined sol, thus: -
Method of Enumerating sel.
Engliska.
Maniport.
Sense of the Manipiri.
fifty
makbâi-ami. ... ... ..
1 lugl selama3s and phaigak-am % 1 sel and 1 phaigak selama makhai ..
1 sél and a half yangklrai... ... yang khai makhai
fifty and a half selahům ... ...
3 sel l, ... ... Selaham makhai ...
... 3 sêl and a halt * Beames' Ea. of Elliot's Glossary, Vol. II. p. 515.
75 Op. cit. Vol. II. p. 816. + That is, the British rupee. Brown says that Burmese (peacock) rapoos were also current, but I was asuvad that it was considered a swindle to pass Burmero rupees in Mapipur.
ocording to Primrose. P. 30 n., but this expression would be, I gather, incorrect. » Also simply makhas. If it be necessary to prefix to makhdi for the sake of dearnce, the term becomes xnma thải.
* The words atlant, aflahom, and senmanga (sél + manyl) are treated as one word, i. e., as separate terms in the language
* Also simply phaigak. Kak is a term for the quarter gandd of India, = one in the scale of quartettes, whenon possibly phaigak. Bermes' Ed. of Elliot, Glossary, Vol. II. p. 316.