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



"As the Jam had not performed the homage which it 

 was incumbent upon zamindars to make, 'Azam Khan made 

 an advance with the intention of teaching him his manners 

 .... 4 Azam Khan sent a message to him that until a tribute 

 (plshkash) was fixed and the mint of Navanagar, in which 

 Mahmudis were coined, abandoned, his safety could not be 

 guaranteed. The Zamindar, who had no choice but obedience, 

 agreed to give a hundred Kachh [ horses and three lakhs of 

 Mahmudis by way of tribute and to abandon the mint. . . • It 

 is quite certain that for a time the mint there was suspen- 

 ded, but up to the present day (ad. 1756) Mahmudis are 

 being struck in the name of Sultan Muzaffar. As the mo- 

 dern coin bears the name of the Jam on one side in Hindi, they 

 also call it a Jaml. In the Zilla of Baroda, it used to be called 

 ChangizI because it had been coined in the time of the domination 

 of Chang Iz Khan, the Habshl. In that zilla the currency, trade 

 transactions, valuations of tribute and fixed revenue and 

 (the assessments) of the parganas are in that coin. And in 

 Ahmadabad, even to this day transactions in ghi are cal- 

 culated in Mahmudis. The Mahmudi weighs four and a half 

 mashas. 2 Sometimes two and a half Mahmudis and sometimes 

 three are reckoned to the rupee. A sacred and sublime (i.e. 

 imperial) decree was issued on the subject of the foundation of 

 a mint in Junagadh for the melting of Mahmudis, but it 

 was not satisfactorily carried into effect and the merchants 

 with an eye to their convenience and to economy had the silver 

 and gold that came from the ports of Dlu and elsewhere 

 into the Ahmadabad territory minted on the spot. So in 

 consequence of a request from Mir Sabir, the divan of the 

 Subah, an order for the suspension (of the mint) there had 

 the honour of issuing. " 



We have in this translation evidence of 



(1) The use of the name Mahmudi for the Navanagar kori in 

 a.h. 1050, a.d. 1640 (two years after de Mandelso's visit to 

 Surat). 



(2) The extent to which the coin was current as shown 

 in the payment of three lacs of Mahmudis as plshkash to the 

 Mu gh al Governor. 



(3) The use of the Mahmudi under the name of ChangizI 

 in the Baroda Zilla. 



* 



(4) Its use as a coin of account in Ahmadabad about A.H. 

 1170 (a.d. 1756). 



(5) Its weight. 



(6) Its exchange value, which corresponds closely with 



1 Following the spelling of my text. 



* Taking the rati with Thomas Numtsmata Orientalia p. 68 at 1.937^ 

 grains and calculating 8 rat is to the masha, the result comes to about 

 70 grains. 



