1867.] The Initial Coinage of Bengal. 7 



However, these silver coins of Altamsh, let their primary static 

 ideal have been based upon a duplication of the dirhams of Grhazni, 



had once belonged to Ala-ed-dm (Khilji). I also was led to suppose that the 

 diamond Tavernier saw at the Court of Aurungzebe was the same, and that he 

 had confounded it with one that Meer Jumla gave to Shah Jehan, and that had 

 been recently found at Golconda. I would here observe that Tavernier' s weights 

 can be very little trusted ; I can give you my reasons for this assertion, if you 

 wish for them. 



Baber, in his memoirs, says the weight of Humayun's diamond was about 8 

 mishkals. In his description of India, he gives the following ratios of the 

 weights in use there : — 



8 rati s = 1 mashah. 

 32 „ = 4 „ =1 Tang (Tank). 

 40 „ = 5 „ = = = 1 mishkal. 

 96 „ = 12 = = = 1 Tola. 



Jewels and precious stones being estimated by the tang. Furthermore he states 

 14 tolas = 1 sir, 40 sirs = 1 man etc. Thus, then, the 8 mishkals would be 

 320 ratis. 



Tavernier says the diamond he saw weighed 319J ratis. The Koh-i-Nvir, in 

 1851 (and, I believe, in Baber's day also), weighed 589.5 grains troy. The 

 theory that it was Ala-ed din's diamond, would demand — 



a mishkal (8) weight of 73.7 grains. 



a tola (3i) „ 176.S5 „ 



a tank (10) „ 58.95 „ 



a masha (40) „ 14.745 „ 



a rati (320 of 8 to the masha) 1.8425 „ 



(240 of 6 „ ) 2.533 „ 



Now, as to the mishkal — the Mahommadan writers speak of it as not having 

 altered from the days of the Prophet. Doubtless, it has been a pretty perma- 

 nent weight, and very likely, in Makrizi's time, was but slightly various in 

 different places. At present, the following table represents the different mishkals, 

 so far as I have been able to ascertain them. 



The gold and silver mishkal of Bassorah = li dirham =72 grains. 



The „ „ mussal or mishkal of Gomroon (71,75 miscals 



= 100 mahmoudias = 5136 grains) .. =71.6. „ 



The gold and silver miscal of Mocha =z24< carats = 24 7 i 5 vakya 



(of 480 grains, nearly) =72 „ 



That of Busliire = T ^ of a maund of 53784 grains = 74.7 „ 



The metical of Aleppo and Algiers =73 „ 



The „ of Tripoli =73.6 „ 



In Persian, the demi mishkal = T q^o oi> the batman of Chessay ") 



(of 8871 grains) " £ =73.96,, 



The taurid batman and mishkal = half the above ) 



The mishkal corresponding to the (i) dirham used for gold and 



silver, in Persia =74.5 „ 



The abbasi corresponding to 1 mishkal, Marsden says =72 ,, 



The modern debased mishkal of Bokhara , =71 „ 



Baber, in speaking of the mishkal, may either mean his own Bokharan mishkal, 

 or, as seems more probable, the current mishkal as existing at that time in India, 

 in short, the " Indian or Syrian mishkal " of the Mahommadan writers — which 

 was the Greek mishkal + 2 kirats. The modern debased mishkal of Bokhara 

 we may leave out of our comparisons. It is surely a degraded weight in a 

 country that has undergone an eclipse. 



The old " Greek Dinar " is of course the Byzant, or solidus aureus — the 

 denarius of Byzantium. It was nominally coined 72 to the Roman lb. The 

 Byzantian Roman lb. in the British Museum weighs 4995 grains, so the solidus 



