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SEPTEMBER, 1921]
ADMINISTRATIVE SYSTEM OF SHIVAJI
256
Some of these coins were of non-Indian origin. Ibhrami, for instance, came from distance Irak.95 Shivaji had his mint at Raiagad. But bis first coins were not probably issued before
1774. A large number of copper coins were issued, and no less than Shivaji's Mint.
25,000 of these were collected and examined by the Rev. Mr. Abbott.96 But very few gold and silver coins of Shivaji are known to-day, probably because they were never struck in any large number. Shivaji had no good mechanic for working the mint. The irregular shape of the coins
and the mis-shapen alphabets of the legends show the crude method in Crude Method.
which they were manufactured. The writer of the Bombay Gazetteer (Nasik volume)o gives the following account of the working of the Chandor mint, closed in 1830—"A certain quantity of silver of the required test was handed over to each man who divided it into small pieces, rounded and weighed them, greater care being taken that the weights should be accurate than that size should be uniform for this purpose. Scales and weights were given to each of the 400 workmen, and the manager examined them every week. When the workmen were satisfied with the weight of the piece, they were forwarded to the manager who sent them to be stamped. In stamping the rupee an instrument like anvil was used. It had a hole in the middle with letters inscribed on it by a workman called batekari, and a third man gave a blow with a six pound hammer. Three men were able to strike 2,000 pieces an hour, or 20,000 in a working day of ten hours. As the seal was a little larger than the piece, all letters were seldom inscribed." The Chandor mint was opened long after Shivaji's demise. But that the description holds good with respect to Shivaji's mint also, can be proved by a simple inspection of Shivrai coins. The small Shivrai Hon in the museum of the Bharat Itihas Sanshodhak Mandal, for example, acks the compound letter "Tra" ( ) in the word Chhtrapati, evidently because the little circular piece had originally been hammered on a seal of much larger size. The goldsmiths in charge of the mint could evidently boast of very little learning. In
the copper coins only we find no less than eight different spellings Variation in spelling of the word Shri Raja Shiva Chhtrapati. of Shivaji's name.
The Rev. Mr. Abbott gives the following eight variations in the spelling of this word on
Shivarai pice :1. ob. श्री राजाशिव
R. Sa श्री राजाधिव
, अषपती श्री राजाचीव
57970 4. ob. श्री राजाचीव
R. 579at श्री रामासिव
छत्रपति 6. , श्री राजासिव
, svet श्री राजासीय
, TOP श्री रामासीव
, पती 96 Fryer p. 210.
* Bombay Maseltsr, Nasik Vol. p. 429. J. B. Br. 4. 8., XX, p. 109.
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