Indian Antiquary Vol 57

Author(s): Richard Carnac Temple, Charles E A W Oldham, Krishnaswami Aiyangar
Publisher: Swati Publications

Page 25

JANUARY, 1928)
CURRENCY AND COINAGE AMONG THE BURMESE
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should be punished by the confiscation of their property and the loss of a hand and foot. The merchants, though, were equal to the occasion. When an intending purchaser inquired about the price of an article, the vendor asked him in what coinage ho intended to pay; and the merchant then knew what price to ask.
"As the silver dollars gradually disappeared, the few remaining ones went up enormously in value, until in the end they were valued at fifty to sixty of the Baitu'l-Mal coins : so that ar: article, which could be bought for one silver dollar, could not be purchased under fifty to sixty copper dollars. And, although a rate of exchange was forbidden, the Baitu'l-Mal took advantage of the state of affairs by buying in the copper dollars, melting them up, recasting them, and then striking from a different die. These coins would be again issued at the value of a silver dollar and the remaining copper dollars in the town put out of circulation by the Baitu'l-Mal refusing to receive them. To make matters worse, the die-cutters cut dies for themselves and their friends, and it was well worth the while of the false coiners to make a dollar of better metal than the Baitu'l-Mal did, for these were accepted at a premium. The falee coinage business flourished, until Ilyas al-Kurdi, one of the best die-cutters, was permanently incapacitated by losing his right hand and left foot. And this punishment-for a time at least acted as a deterrent to others, leaving the Baitu'l Mal entire monopoly of coinage.
“Sovereigns might at any time be bought for a dollar, for the possessors were glad to get rid of them. Being found in possession of a gold coin denoted wealth, and many people attempting to change a gold piece returned home to find their hut in the hands of the Baitu'l-Mal's officials, who would be searching for the remainder of the presumed gold hoard, and failing to find one, they would confiscate the goods and chattels of the indiscreet person. The trade with the Egyptian frontier, Suakim and Abyssinia was carried on through the medium of barter and the Austrian (Maria Theresa) trade dollar."
Tampering with the coinage and currency by monarchs and governments is, of course, a very old trick in the East and elsewhere. The proceedings of Muhammad Taghlaq of Dehli in 1330 A.D., were very like those of Bôdò p'ay& and equally futile, for the reason that & grossly depreciated bullion currency cannot be endured by any people.28 It was tried in Burma not only by Bódóp'aya, but also by Pagan Min in the Thayetmo District, and also by Thibò Min as regards his brass coinage. Indo-Chinese governments would indeed seem to be incorrigible in this respoct, for we find proceedings almost identical with those detailed above in the middle and end of the nineteenth century in Siam.
Holt Hallett in his Thousand Miles on an Elephant in the Shan States, pp. 164-65, says that up to 1865 cowries were in use in Siam as currency imported from Bombay. He then proceeds to tell us that "the late King of Siam determined to stop the use of cowries as currency and floated a token lead money. As he could place what value he liked upon the lead coins, he resolved that 14 large stamped pieces, or 128 small stamped pieces, should go to a tickal of silver, although the lead in them would cost less than half that amount. The monetary transactions in lead would bring 100 per cent. profit to his treasury, and likewise which he does not seem to have counted on to the treasury of any one who thought fit to forge the coins. For some time the Government made a splendid profit, but some domestic and foreign forgers filled the market with their bogus issue. A great panic ensued among the people : the lead pieces were gradually refused and the Government had to stop coining them.
"Before the collapse of the lead coinage, the King determined further to replenish his treasury by another device. He issued copper coins. To ensure their being taken by the people, he declared cowries to be no longer current. As he did not call in the cowries and
28 Bee Ridgeway, Origin of Currency, p. 138 n., for an instance in the fourth century B.C. See sloo Terrien de Lacquperie, Old Numerals and the Swan pan in China, p. 14, for vory early attempt to make bullion exchangeable regardlops of weight.
29 The idea was that the royal stamp would increase the value of the coins in the eyes of the public. See JASB., Proc. for 1887, p. 148.