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320
THE INDIAN ANTIQUARY,
[DECEMBER, 1897.
usual infinitesimal subdivisions, generally without meaning or use, so dear to the Indian mind. Therefore, for the present purpose we need only consider from the chinywe onwards. We thus get, from Latter be it assumed, a set of weights :
2 chinywê (rati: seed of Abrus precatorius) or small ywe are 1 ywêji (seed of
Adenanthera pavonins) or great ywd. 4 ywêji are 1 pe 2 pe 1 mů 2 mû „ 1 måt 4 måt i kyàt or tickal
100 kyat » 1 pêkbi" or visg65 We are now in a position to follow up the question in a manner that can produce some practical results. Thus, Latter tolls us, following Col. James Low, c. 1833, that the tickal is 252.75 grs. Troy exactly, 46 and goes on to tell us how the indigenous weight denominations had come to be applied to the Anglo-Indian money introduced by the British Government after the War of 182-5. "The Burmese in the English doninions also use the term ywé:47 to express pice; and pe: to express anna;...was to express two annas; mat to express a four-anna piece."
He further makes a statement of great consequence to the present enquiry, as explanatory, of many apparent discrepancies in statements relating to Barmese currency: - "The mús and pe: in the above table severally equal 1/8th and 1/16th of a Tickal. But another denomination of these weights, called the smaller or lesser ma: and pè: severally are the 1/10th and 1/20th of a Tickal." Practically both are in equally common use, and so much is this the case, that ngâm, i. e., 5 w (not 4 mú) is the general expression for "half a rupee" or eight annas. In ordinary parlance also no signs of differentiation exist between the greater (i. e., on the quaternary scale) and the lesser (i. e., on the deoimal scale) mil and pè, either in speech, calculations or documents. For clearness I here give a comparative table of these concurrent systems of reckoning, which must be always borne in mind for the proper comprehension of these pages :
Comparative Tables of the concurrent ordinary Weight Denominations.49
Quaternary Scale of Ma.
Decimal Scale of Ma,
8 ywê are 1 pe 2 pè , 1 mů 2 mû, 1 màt 4 mat » I kyàt 100 kyat ,, 1 pêkba
6 ywête are 1 pe 2 pèl mů 2, mů 1 mat
4 måt 1 kyat 200 kyat 1 pêkba
43 Though not always : see Beames, Memoirs of the N..W.P., Vol. II. p. 816. " This is merely the current pronunciation of a word written properly vissa, and concurrently biasd or pisal.
48 Tbe intermediate 5'(_), 5 tickais or 1/20th of a viss, given by Latter, is not, I think, in practical use. It is most important, however, to get at a relative value for it with the Indian pala or phala. See later on in the text.
16 Mason, Nat. Prod. of Burma, Ed. 1850, p. 196, says on the same authority, 258.75 grs. Troy.
47 of the practice in this respect nowadays, aoo later on: the modern terms are pyd, piece, for pice, and matpy is for pie.
* On the quaternary scale 128 yw 1 kyat : on the decimal scale 120 yiod -1 kyat. Soo Mason, Nat. Prod. of Burma, Ed. 1850, p. 196.
** I.., v wijt. In this scale it is common also to state 12 yw', scil, small ywe, - I pè.
