268 Journal of the Asiatic Society of Bengal. { December, 1905. 
“sometimes nine Ropias, Surat-money, accord- 
“ing to the change and the rate set on the 
‘“¢ money.’’”! 
Reckoning the French crown (écu), the Spanish real, and 
the German rixdollar (veichsthaler) each at 4s. 6d., and the 
Italian sequin and Venetian (gold) ducat each at 9s. 4d., we arrive, 
according to the above passage, at the following values: The 
““Ropia Chagam ” 27d.; the Mahmtdi, or ‘ Ropia, Surat-money,” 
12d., or 13d. or 10 8d. or 12°4d. It thus appears that, while the 
“Ropia Chagam,” which is evidently the full Imperial rupee, 
stood fairly constant at 27d., the value of the Sarat Mahmiudi 
fluctuated between a minimum of 10°8d. and a maximum of 13d. 
We should also bear in mind that the silver of the Mahmiudi is 
here stated to have been inferior to that of the rupee; also that 
the district in which the Mahmidi passed as current coin was 
limited to the southern part of the province of Gujarat, say from 
Stirat to Cambay. 
Il. With what coin may we identify this Strat Mahmtdi? Is 
it the same as the well-known Mahmidi of Persia ? 
That any Persian money should have been current in Gujarat 
and restricted there to merely the southern districts is certainly 
very improbable. 
Moreover the value of this Persian Mahmidi is given by 
Tavernier as one-sixteenth of the Venetian sequin, 1.e., 7d. or 
one-eighth of the Spanish dollar, 7.c., 6$d.2_ Also in the Table of 
Equivalences prefixed to J. P{hillips]’s English Translation of 
Tavernier’s “Six Voyages” (1636-1667) the Persian Mahmidi is 
entered as 8°05d. This, then, is plainly a considerably less valuable 
silver piece than the Strat Mahmidi ranging from 10°8d. to 13d. 
When treating of the Persian coins, Fryer, whose eight 
letters were written from India or Persia between the years 1672 
and 1681, states — 
“3 Shahees is 1 Mam. Surat ; 
2 Shahees is 1 Mamood. Persia.””® 
When Fryer thus definitely distinguishes between the Surat 
Mahmidi and the Persian, we may safely conclude that the two 
coins are not identical. 
III. Can the Strat Mahmidi have been a silver coin of one 
or other of the various types that were current in Cutch and 
Kathiawar (Navanagar, Jimagadh, and Porbandar) ? 
The trade between Gujarat and Cutch, or Gujarat and 
Kathiawar, was for the most part carried on by land and not by 
1 Mandelslo: “Voyages and Travels”: English translation by John 
Davies, edition of 1662, p. 85. 
Ball’s edition of “Travels in India by Jean Baptiste Tavernier,” 
Vol I., p. 26, n. 4. 
3 Fryer: “A New Account of East India and Persia’’: edition of 
1698, p 211. 
