Book Title: Indian Antiquary Vol 50
Author(s): Richard Carnac Temple, Devadatta Ramkrishna Bhandarkar
Publisher: Swati Publications

Previous | Next

Page 264
________________ THE INDIAN ANTIQUARY SEPTEMBER, 1921 his government. But Fryer seems to have dipped his brush in the black colour too frequently while painting a picture of Shivaji's country. Grant Duff 91 says-The Muhammadan writers, and one contemporary English traveller, describe his country in the worst possible state; and the former only mention him as a depredator and destroyer; but those districts taken by him from Bejapoor which had been under the management of farmers and direct agents of government, probably experienced great benefit by the change. 254 Besides land-revenue and customs-duties, a small income was derived from mints. The Peshwas did not permit free coining but the goldsmiths usually obtained license for mints under certain restrictions. This must have been the practice in the pre-Peshwa period also. Shivaji never tried to control the currency and plainly told the English Ambassador, that he "forbids not the passing of any manner of coins, nor on the other side can he force his subjects to be losers; but if their coin be as fine an alloy and as weighty as the Moghul's and other princes he will not prohibit."93 The result was that all sorts of foreign coins were current in Shivaji's kingdom and even in his own treasury could be found few or no coins of the Raiagad Mint. Sabhasad says, that Shivaji had no less than 400,000 of Shivarai Hons at the time of his death, but these Shivarai Hons were in all probability of Bijayanagar origin, for only 2 or 3 Shivaji Hons have yet been discovered. Sabhasad enumerates no less than 32 different kinds of gold coins and 6 different kinds of silver coins while giving an account of Shivaji's treasures. These were : GOLD COIN Licensed Mints. 1. Gambar. 2. Mohar. 3. Putli. 4. Padshahi Hon. 5. Satlamis or Satramis. 6. Ibhrami. 7. Shivarai Hon. 8. Kaveripak. 9. Sangari Hon. 10. Achyutrai Hon. 11. Devrai Hon. 12. Ramchandrarai Hon. 13. Guti Hon. Dharwari Hon. 14. 15. Falam (Fanem). 16. Pralkhati Hon. 1. Rupees. 2. Asrafis. 3. Abashis. 83 Fryer. 17. Pav Naiki Hon. 18. Advani Hon. 19. Jadmal Hon. 20. Tadpatri Hon. 21. Afraji Hon. 22. Tribaluri Hon. 23. Trisuli Hon. 24. Chandavari (Tanjori) Hon. 25. Bildhari Hon. 26. Ulaphkari Hon. 27. 28. 20. Mahamad Shai Hon. Veluri Hon. Katerai Hon. Devajvali Hon. 30. 31. Ramnathpuri Hon. 32. Kungoti Hon. SILVER COINS 4. Dabholi Kabri. 5. Chonli Kabri. 6. Bassora Kabri. 92 Grant Duff, Vol. I, p. 188. Sabhasad, p. 96.

Loading...

Page Navigation
1 ... 262 263 264 265 266 267 268 269 270 271 272 273 274 275 276 277 278 279 280 281 282 283 284 285 286 287 288 289 290 291 292 293 294 295 296 297 298 299 300 301 302 303 304 305 306 307 308 309 310 311 312 313 314 315 316 317 318 319 320 321 322 323 324 325 326 327 328 329 330 331 332 333 334 335 336 337 338 339 340 341 342 343 344 345 346 347 348 349 350 351 352 353 354 355 356 357 358 359 360 361 362 363 364 365 366 367 368 369 370 371 372 373 374 375 376 377 378 379 380 381 382 383 384 385 386 387 388 389 390 391 392 393 394 395 396 397 398 399 400 401 402 403 404 405 406 407 408 409 410 411 412 413 414 415 416 417 418 419 420 421 422 423 424 425 426 427 428 429 430 431 432 433 434 435 436 437 438 439 440 441 442 443 444 445 446 447 448 449 450 451 452 453 454 455 456 457 458 459 460 461 462 463 464 465 466 467 468