50 Journal of 



[N.S., XIII, 



tor remained sitting, that the collector should place his hand 

 over that of the payer, and take the money out of it. The 

 Ghani (Rich) were at liberty to pay the whole amount at once, 



t,VlA "M lltfl .11V? QQrti (A\\AA\\Y\f*\ rv^rrVtl **«»••« 44- :« 4- : 4-~l.~rv^4-r. 



Mutawassat (Middling) might pay it in two instalments, 

 and the Faqir (Poor) in four. It is also provided that the tax 

 should be remitted on conversion to Islam and it was to cease 

 also in case of death. 



These statements are so explicit, and the explanation they 

 furnish of the origin of these coins is so satisfactory, that it is 

 scarcely necessary to say much by way of comment. It is 

 clear that these dirhams were not current when this Farman 

 was issued about Safar 1090 a.h., as the Madsir-i- 1 Alamgiri 

 expressly tells us. (Bibl. Indica Text, p. 174. Elliot and 

 Dowson VII, p. 296 note). It is also plain that they were 

 first coined some time afterwards, in fulfilment of the promise 

 made in the Farman, and with the object of making it easy 

 for the Zimmis to pay, and the officers to receive, the tax 

 as it had been paid and levied in the days of the Khalif 

 of old. We know that "the Caliph Omar, during his time, 

 taxed those who were not of his faith, at the rate of 48 



*«„ *L f 7o? ra S n8 i° f cond ; itiorl > 2 4 for those of the middle 



This was called the Jaziyah 





and 



trans 



See also the Hedayat, Book IX, Cap. II and VIII. 



After having seen how closely Aurangzeb followed the 

 example of 'Urnar in this and other instances, let me now 

 say a few words about the equivalent weight in silver of twelve 

 dirhams. This is expressly stated to be 3 tolas, 1 masha and 

 three-fourths and one-twentieth of a masha. With the tola 



£L i* a ?7i f m58ha 0f 15 g 18 - this wou] d amount to 

 540 + 15 + 114 + f . 567 grs. Divided by 12, this would fix the 



gross weight of the dirham at 47-25 grs.-a result which approxi- 

 mates very closely the actual weight of the specimens in 

 our Museums (Whitehead, P.M.C. Nos. 1950 and 2271) and 

 private cabinets, and also the theoretical limit arrived at by 

 tue most recent continental authorities on Earl V Musalman 

 Metrology. « The most probable weight," savs Zambaur, " is 

 ^7 grammes, which best agrees with the extant coins and 

 glass-weights as well as with the coin-weights of the time of 

 lwU • J** . 295 - 32 ^ = 908-932 a.c), discovered by E. T. 

 fvXTJ?- < ^ iyUm ' (E ' V - Zambaur, in Houtsma's En- 

 arrivS r^u 0f fl Islam ' article Dirham). Decourdemanche has 



cXkHnn! ,T g T £ 83 gramme8 b ? a seri * s of in g eni0US 

 £1? (J * ^ ^ecourdemanche, Etude Metrologique et 

 xNumismatique sur les Misqals et Dirhams Arabes, 1908?. 



2 97 grammes = 45-8 grains; 2-83 grammes = 43-8 grains. 

 «nfWK question is, had these dirhams any connection 



h ,L htrr Smen i ° f Z ? Ui also ' In other ™rds, were they 

 issued by Aurangzeb with the object that his " subjects might 



