Indian Antiquary Vol 56

SR No.: 032548
Original Sutra Author: N/A
Author: Richard Carnac Temple, Charles E A W Oldham, Krishnaswami Aiyangar
Publisher: Swati Publications
Publication Year: 1986
Total Pages: 286
Language: English
Classification: Book_English
File Size: 13 MB

Page 243

Novice, 1927)
MISCELLANEA.
213
of imitation syoso, cut in the centre exactly like the piece in fig. 15, plate II, but stamped on the back thas:
These words must stand either for some such words as By (rab Dogs ....) Doss [BhairavdAs....das), after the fashion of the Bombay nomenclature of firms, or for “..... Does [dAs) Byculla."
On Plate VI, figs. 4 and 5, are shown two pieces of Burmese silver of the sycee type, though not aycee, from the Horniman Museum at Forest Hill, London.
And then as to the eighteenth century in Burma we read in Sangermano, The Burmese Empire, ed. 1853, p. 167: "The Burmese have no coined money, but in their commercial transactions they make use of gold and silver bullion. Hence they are obliged to employ scales in all payments. The principal weight that they have, and to which all others are referred, is the ticale [tickal]; it is equal to about half an ounce. The gold and silver used is sometimes quite pure, but ordinarily it is mixed with some alloy; and of course its value depends on its degree of purity. But the inferior money of Amarapura and Rangoon is lead. Its value is not by any means fixed, but varies according to its abundance or scarcity. Sometimes a ticale of silver with a portion of alloy, is equal to 200 ticali14 of lead, sometimes to a thousand, and even to more. In Tavai und Merghi pieces of tin with the impression of a cock, which is the Burmese arms,15 are used for money."
The system of currency which culminated in gold and silver sycee is very old, as Yule's remarks show, 16 that the sommo of Pegolotti was worth 5 ducats = 918.5 4718. = say Rs. 24 at par about the value by weight of an ordinary piece of sycoe silver. Again in the above quoted passages the fixed alloy works out at 11 oz. 17 dwt., or 12 oz. fine silver, per sommo, and the varying weight therefore makes it practically certain that by the sommo the old travellers meant a lump of syoee silver.
I also gather that the pieces of gold mentioned by Goes (1605), in Yule's Cathay, vol. II, pp. 582, 583, 586, must have been stamped lumps of gold, i.e., gold syoce, and that the silver measured out to him in hulk must have been sycee silver.
(To be continued.)
MISCELLANEA. DISCOVERY OF AN ANCIENT INSCRIPTION shows what the original workmanship was like. The IN THE JHALAWAR STATE.
supporting pillars have each # "Bajra Ghanta" This. Inscription of Vikram Samvat 748 was fastened to chains engraved in stone. Before the discovered by the Curator, Darbar Archeological
idol of Shiva Nandi is seated, and a number of Museum, in the temple of Chandra-manli Mahe- statues of various gods and godden stand in the dava on the banks of the river Chandrabhaga,
corners. Nour by, the river Chandrabhagha flows Jhalrapatan, in the year 1916. It belongs to the
from weet to cast. It is held sacred and is visited time of Raja Durag-gan of the Maurya family.
by thousands of people who come to bathe in its This temple now bears the name of Shitleshwar
holy waters in the month of Kartik, a fair being also Mahadeva. The supporting pillars are cylindrical
held on that consion. This place is some 18 miles in shape and are beautifully engraved. The roof of the
from the Railway. The nearest station is Shriporch seems to have been repaired lately, although
chhatrapur on B. B. & C. L. Railway. # mall portion of it has been left alone, which
8. CHERN 14. Ticake, ticali are Italian forms of tickel. 16 I wonder what Sangermano's authority for this statement was. 16 Oathay, I, p. 117, n. 123 : IL, PP. 289, 293, 298 : and also Introd., vol. I, pp. cxxv-vi.