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currency use only in Surat, Baroda, Broach, Cambay and the districts round about these places.'
In "Tavernier's Travels in India ", volume I, a mahmudi is definitely stated to be equal in value to 20 pice, while it is valued at 25 or 26 pice in the preceding paragraph. Again " The English Factories in India " ( A. D. 1618 to A. D. 1621 ) speaks on page 269 of one mahmudi as being equal in value to 32 pice. It would thus appear that the value of this coin in terms of pice must be varying at various times. The actual value assigned to the mahmudi in Akbar's time is not definitely known; but it can be easily guessed that during his reign its value must be varying at various times.
2. The lari was another kind of coin current in Akbar's time. It was a Persian coin, It was made of pure silver. It was oval in shape and was valued at Is. 6d.?
In the foot-note on page 227 of "The English Factories in India"( A. D. 1618 to A. D. 1621 ) this coin is referred to as being equal in value to l shilling.
3. The tanka was a copper coin. It is referred to in several Jain works. Vincent A. Smith states [ on page 132 of volume 48 (July 1919 ) of the "Indian Antiquary" ] that the tanka was the same as the dam. This statement of Smith refers to the small tankas, because in the description of coins given on page xc and onwards of "the Catalogue of the Indian Coins in the British Museum "two kinds of tankas are referred to the large and the small. The large tanka is stated to weigh 640 grains and the small tanka 320 grains. The large tanka is stated to equal a double dam (two dams ) while the small tanka is shewn to be equal to one dam. Hence it is clear that Smith's statement has reference to the small tanka. It is stated in Bird's "Mirat-i-Ahmedi" (p. 118 ) that 100 tankas equalled 40 dams (i. e., one rupee). This also lends support to the above-mentioned facts.
1. Vide Bird's "Mirat-i-Ahmedi". pp. 126-127, and "Journal of the Bombay Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society ", A.D. 1907, p. 247.
2. Vide Ozilby's " Description of Asia ". p. 173.
Shree Sudharmaswami Gyanbhandar-Umara, Surat
www.umaragyanbhandar.com
