1865.] • Proceedings of the Asiatic Society. 209 



Ilahi and Lal-Jalali gold mohurs. (Gladwin's " 12 rupees" is a 

 mistake for ten, which is the proper sum. A. A., I. 31. Num. 

 Chron. XV., p. 171.) It seems to have been with the express object 

 of simplifying the conflicting proportions of coin and metallic values 

 and facilitating exchanges, that Akbar introduced many of his reforms. 

 For instance, the old round Rupee was valued at 39 dams, the new 

 Jalali was increased up to the value of 40 dams. The old round 

 mohur was worth 360 dams, the Lal-Jalali was raised to 400 dams. 

 The original round mohurs were estimated at 9 .Rupees. The new 

 Ilahi and Lal-Jalali were designed to pass for the more manageable 

 10 Rs., in the possible design of getting rid of the inconvenient and 

 uneven'sum of about 9 to 1, at which metals and coins alike had 

 approximately ranged. 



But, to dispose of the over confident assertion that " 9.4 to 1 is a 

 relative value of gold to silver which never could really have existed," 

 I would invite your attention to the following passage in Ibn Batutah, 

 which, if correctly interpreted by the French translator, goes far to- 

 wards establishing the fact that, in the early part of the fourteenth 

 century, A. D., gold stood to silver, in Bengal, as one to eight. The 

 passage in question is not to be found in Dr. Lee's English translation 



" J'ai vu vendre 4e riz, dans les marches de ce pays, sur le pied de 

 " vingt-cinq rithl de Dehli pour un dinar d'argent ; celui-ci vaut huit 

 " drachmes, et leur drachme equivaut absolument a la drachme d'ar- 

 M gent"— Vol. IV., p. 210. 



The text itself may be faulty and defective, but the intention seems 

 to be to declare that the Dinar of the day, whether rated in gold or 

 silver, was equal to 8 dirhams. The Mahommadan currencies of India, 

 from 1211 A. D. to the date of Ibn Batutah's visit to Bengal, had 

 been composed of gold and silver coins of identical weight (175 grains) 

 and similar in form and device. These were introduced by Altamsh, 

 being based probably on the ancient Indian rati, 100 of which (at 

 1.75 grains) would exactly constitute the amount, and designed to ex- 

 change, in fixed proportions, the one against the other. The exact 

 rate of exchange has never yet been ascertained, and if Ibn Batutah's 



