464 Journal of the Asiatic Society of Bengal. [December, 1914, 



de Mandelslo (a.d. 1689) 1 . writes: "And the silver (of Su- 

 ratt), which is the same all over India, outdoes even the 

 Mexico and Sevil dollars and has less Allay than any other 



in the world 'Tis rare if either the Gold or Silver be 



falsified." 



Next de Mandelslo confines the distribution of the Mah- 

 mudi, to the country between Surat andCambay. Terry states 

 that it was current in Gujarat and Herbert in ' * Indostan * ' , 

 which means, it may be supposed, that part of ''Indos- 

 tan" in which he travelled. Looking to the extraordinary 

 mixture of currencies to be found at that time in every 

 country of the world 2 and to the political unity of Gujarat, 

 both as a kingdom and a province, we may take de Mandelslo' s 

 statement merely to mean that the Mahmudi was the stan- 

 dard currency in South Gujarat and not that it was to be 

 found nowhere else in Gujarat. By supposing de Pylandelslo 

 to be guilty of a slight overstatement, we are able to re- 

 concile the apparent inconsistency of the various accounts. 



II. 



The identification of the coin of Gujarat Fabric with 

 the Mahmudi depends upon the exclusion of 



(1) The Persian Mahmudi, 



(2) the Korl, 



(3) the coins of the Gujarat Saltanat. 



(1) The Persian Mahmudi is, as Dr. Taylor has clearly 

 shown, quite out of the question. 



(2) The Kori.—I would first venture to question the asser- 

 tion in section III, para. 2 of the article that the trade be- 

 tween Gujarat and Cutch (Kachchh 8 ) or Gujarat and Kathia- 

 war (Kathiavad 3 ) was more land than sea borne. But as it 

 is not material to my argument, which has tried to show 

 that the Mahmudi must have been to some extent current 

 in north Gujarat, I shall reserve discussion of the matter for 

 a separate paper, if occasion should arise. 



In favour of the korl, w.e have the fact that it wa~ 

 "originally called Mahmudi". The passage, which I think 

 the author of the article had in mind as the authority for 

 this statement, comes from the Tarikh-i-Sorath of Divan 

 RanchhodjI of Junagadh. 



1 Fryer 1672-1681. as quoted in section II of the article discussed, 

 shows that the Mahmudi was current in Burst a few years previously. 



* French, Spanish and Venetian moneys were accepted by the money- 

 changers of Surat ; vide section 1(c) of the article, which quotes from de 

 Mandelslo. 



3 Following the usual transliteration of the Gujarat! ^^ *&d 



