Indian Antiquary Vol 60

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

Page 252

222
THE INDIAN ANTIQUARY
[DECEMBER, 1931
terms of the coin current in his time, gave this ser as 28 dám, the nearest whole number, and possibly the exact equivalent. Under Akbar, when the Bahloli had given way to the dam, the figure 28 was thought to be unsuitable, and he ordered it to be raised to 30, the nearest round and suitable multiple. This, however, is not proved: the facts we possess are that the customary maunds in this region were in round figures 33 and 40 lb.; and that they were replaced by a maund of 52 lb., which under Akbar was raised to 55 lb.
That the customary maunds in Central India were in fact somewhat larger than those of Delhi and of the Deccan may be inferred from the records preserved in Useful Tables (i, 80 ff.), which show customary maunds of 40 lb. in Indore, Rutlam, and Malwa generally, 34 lb. in Mandasor, 333 lb. in Ujjain; these figures agree closely with those calculated from the Ain-i Akbari; and there is no doubt that Malwa was ordinarily in commercial relations with Bayâna as well as with Gujarat. It will be noted that the smaller Agra unit was identical with the Gujarat commercial maund, the range of which can thus be extended northward to the neighbourhood of the Jumna.
Turning to the literature of the period, I have found no illustrative passages for the Lodi dynasty; but a notice (Elliot's History, iv, 529) of Ali Khawas Khân, one of Sher Shah's distinguished officers, speaks of his allowing 2 sers of corn daily to the religious mendicants whom he maintained in large numbers. If this is the 40 lb. maund, the allowance works out at just 2 lb.; if it is the 52 lb. maund, the allowance is about 24 lb. The former would be a little low, and even the latter would scarcely justify the unkindly phrase ' obese vermin' used of the recipients by Sir Henry Elliot in his discussion of the passage. The reference is more probably to one of these Agra maunds than to the Delhi unit, which would give less than 1 lb., a very meagre ration.
The Emperor Babur recorded 16 the scale of weights used by the people of Hind,' but he did not mention the locality where he learned this scale, and he had been in various parts of Hind when he wrote. Both the lower and the upper portions of the scale given by him are familiar: the tola contained 96 ratti; the unit called by him mánbán, which is rendered man in the Persian version and is obviously the maund, contained 40 sers; and 20 maunds made a máni. According to the text, 14 tolas made a ser; and this would give a maund of about 15 lb., taking the tola as 186 gr. This maund is much smaller than those which have so far come under review; and the question naturally presents itself whether the figure 14 a very unusual multiple-is correct. It recurs in the Persian version, and I can hear of no variations in the MSS.; there may be a mistake somewhere, but there are no grounds for proposing an emendation, and we must admit this as a maund existing somewhere in northern India-where, we cannot say, but known in the Mogul Palace.
Gulbadan Begam,17 writing many years after the event, told (p. 12) a story of one of Babur's jokes, which incidentally contains a very puzzling equation. Presents were about to be given, and one man was informed, to his great disgust, that he was to receive only a singlo gold coin. A special coin had been prepared for the purpose, which was hung round the recipient's neck after he had been blind-folded; and we are told that "he was quite helpless with surprise at its weight, and delighted and very very happy," so that the coin must have been altogether out of the common run. The Begam described it as weighing 3 badshahi (i.e., royal) sers, making 15 sers of Hind; and the problem is to know what she meant by s royal ser. Writing, as she did, late in Akbar's reign, it is natural to suppose that she meant the Akbarf ser of 30 dám: in that case the coin would have weighed a little over 4 lb., and the maund of Hind' would be just 11 lb., a unit not recorded elsewhere. Professor Hodivala proposed 18 to read 11 for 15 sers in this passage; accepting this correction, the maund of
16 Báburnama. Tr. A. S. Beveridge. London, 1921; p. 517.
17 Gulbadan Begam. History of Humdyûn. Text with translation by A. S. Beveridge. London, 1902. 19 Historical Studies in Mughal Numismatics. Calcutta 1923; p. 62.