Vol. VI, No. 11.] Numismatic Supplement. 687 



[N.S.] 



issued did not fall within this range of weight. Of these a 

 notable example is Mr. Thfmawala's beautiful specimen struck 

 in the reign of Muhammad Shah and weighing 267 grains. Too 

 few coins are yet known to warrant a detailed statement as to 

 the metrology of the Bijapur coinage, but for the present the 

 100-rati weight (or about 180 grains) may be held to have been 

 the standard for the normal heavy coin. The normal light 

 coin was only one- third as heavy ; and the intermediate coin 

 was in weight the arithmetic mean of the other two. 



Geo. P. Taylor 



Ahmadabad : 

 20th October, 1910 



91. — On the Bijapur Labi or Larin. 



That silver coins of a type similar to the copper were 

 current in the territories of the 'Adil Shahi monarchs seems 

 every way probable, but no specimens are as yet forthcoming. 

 A silver currency of quite a different, and indeed of foreign, 

 pattern was, however, in existence, the curious Larin currency, 

 which, originating in the district of Lar at the head of the Persian 

 Gulf, and thence deriving its name, was adopted by the kings 

 of Bijapur, and, in a somewhat variant, the fisJi-hook, form, 

 by the kings of Kandy in Ceylon. Describing this coin Pietro 

 della Valle (1614—1626) writes : 



u The lari is a piece of money that I will exhibit in 

 "Italy, most eccentric in form, for it is nothing but a 

 "little rod of silver, of a fixed weight, and bent double 

 "unequally. On the bend it is marked with some 

 "small stamp or other. It is called Lari, because it was 

 " the peculiar money of the Princes of Lar, invented by 

 "them when they were separated from the kingdom of 

 "Persia." 1 



Jean Baptiste Tavernier indicates the district in which, at 

 his time (1640 — 1667), this currency obtained. 



" The Larins are one of the ancient coins of Asia ; and 

 " though at this day they are only currant in Arabia and 

 " at Balsara, nevertheless, from Bragdatt to the Island 

 "of Ceylan, they traffick altogether with the Larin, and 

 " all along the Persian Golf. 5 ' % 



As the territory of the monarchs of Bijapur embraced a 

 large portion of the Konkan littoral, it was probably with a 



1 Quoted in Yule and Bunnell's " Hobson-Jobson,' ' s.v. Larin. 

 * Tavernier : Travels in India : Made English by J. P., K>78, pages 

 1, 2. 



