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THE INDIAN ANTIQUARY.
[OCTOBER, 1889.
era, which commenced from the birth of the Prophet in A.D. 571, and which, at that particular point, was 14 years in advance of the lunar era of the Hijra. One year later he invented a series of new names for his gold and silver coins. These names are well-known; but so far as I can ascertain, they have not yet been satisfactorily explained. Most of the explanations which are given belo were suggested to me by a Muhammadan gentleman, Mr. Habibu'd-din, of the Haidarâbâd Civil Service, whose acquaintance I had the pleasure to make on a short holiday-trip to Maisûr and Srirangapaṭṭanam.
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The names of Tipa's series of copper coins, which, with one exception, appear first on part of the issue of his eleventh year, the Maulûdi year 1221 or A.D. 1792-93, present no difficulty. They are nothing but the Persian or Arabic designations of certain stars. Tipu's gold muhr (vulgo, mohar) is called Ahmad1, his half gold muhr Siddiqi, and his pagoda Faruqi. His silver coins are:- The double rupee or Haidari, the rupee or el Imami, the half rupee or
Baqiri, the two-anna piece or
the half-anna piece or
Khizri.
Among the silver coins, the rupee or Imâmi is undoubtedly called after the twelve Imams. This fact gives us a clue to the derivation of the names of the remaining silver coins. Each of them, except the smallest, refers to the name of a single Imâm. The largest coin, the double rupee or Haidart, is derived from Haidar, a surname of the first Imam le 'Ali. The fractions of the rupee are successively named after the 4th, 5th, 6th and 7th Imâms, viz., the 'Abidi after Zainu'l-abidin ore Abid Bimar; the Bâqirî after Muḥammad Baqir ; the Ja'farî after i Jafar Sadiq; and the Kazimi after Musa Kazim. The name of the half-anna piece or Khizri" is derived from Khwaja Khizr, a prophet who is said to have drunk of the fountain of life and is considered as the saint of the waters.
Abidi, the quarter rupee or Ja'fari, the one-anna piece or Kazimi, and
The names of Tipu's gold coins likewise refer to Muḥammadan saints. The gold muhr or Aḥmadî is derived from Ahmad, one of the designations of the Prophet himself; the Siddiqi from Abu Bakr Siddiq, the first Khalifa; and the Fârûqî from 'Umar Faruq, the second Khalifa.
The largest of Tipu's copper coins is the double paisá.3 It bears two names, i 'Usmani and Mushtari. The first of these names is met with on coins of the Maulûdi years 1218 and 1219. It is derived from lielie Usman ibn 'Affan, the third Khalifa, and is thus connected with the above-mentioned series of the names of gold coins. But when, in the Maulûdi year 1221, Tipû had started a series of names for his smaller copper coins, which consisted of the names of different stars, the designation 'Usmânî did not agree with the rest. Accordingly, the double paisás of the Maulûdî year 1222 and of the following years bear a new denomination, viz., Mushtari, the Arabic name of the planet Jupiter. The name of the paisa is 8 or 1, and that of the half paisát. Zuhra and Bahram are the Persian designations of the planets Venus and Mars respectively. The quarter paisa is the Akhtar, which means "a star" in Persian.
Marsden notices "a minute coin intended for a half Akhtar, or eighth part of a paisá, on one side of which is the elephant, with the letter, and on the other, the denomination of the money, being a word that may be read Qatib, but is by no means distinct." My
1 Marsden's Numismata Orientalia Illustrata, Part II. p. 700 f.
A copy of this rare coin is in the Bangalore Museum. It is mentioned in Dr. Buchanan's Journey through Mysore, Canara, and Malabar, Vol. I. p. 128, note.
Moor's Narrative of the Operations of Captain Little's Detachment, p. 475.
The Persian spelling 8 is found on the coins struck at Pattan (Seringapatam), the Hindustan! spelling on those struck at Nagar.
8 Numismata Orientalia Illustrata, Part II. p. 725.
