49 
IS83.J G. Bidie —The Pagoda or Yaraha coins. 
Little’s Detachment”* gives the following account of the state of the mint 
and mode of coining in Bombay, in the end of last century. 
“ In Bombay there is no mechanical process either for ascertaining the 
value of the piece, or of giving it the impression. The manner is as fol¬ 
lows : the metal is brought to the mint in bars the size of the little finger, 
where are a number of persons seated on the ground provided with scales 
and weights, a hammer, and an instrument between a chisel and a punch ; 
before each man’s berth is fixed a stone by way of anvil. The bars are cut 
into pieces, by guess, and if, on weighing, any deficiency is found, a little 
particle is punched into the intended rupee ; if too heavy, a piece is cut 
off, and so on until the exact quantity remains. These pieces are then 
taken to a second person, whose whole apparatus consists in a hammer and 
a stone anvil, and he batters them into something of a round shape, about 
seven-eighths of an inch diameter, and one-eighth thick ; when they are 
ready for the impression. The die is composed of two pieces, one inserted 
firmly into the ground ; the other, about eight inches long, is held in the 
right hand of the operator, who squatting on his heels (the posture in 
which all mechanics and artists work ; the posture, indeed, in which every 
thing is done in India, for if a man has a dram given him, he finds it con¬ 
venient to squat upon his heels to drink it), fills his left hand with the 
intended coins, which he with inconceivable quickness slips upon the fixed 
die with his thumb and middle finger, with his fore finger as dexterously 
removing them when his assistant, a second man with a mall, has given it 
the impression, which he does as rapidly, as he can raise, and strike with 
the mall on the die held in the right hand of the coiner. The diameter of 
the die is about an inch and a half, inscribed with the Great Moghul's 
names, titles, date of the Hejra, his reign, <fcc., but as the coins are not so 
large, they do not, consequently, receive all, nor the same impression. The 
rupee is then sent to the treasury, ready for currency, as no milling, or 
any farther process is thought necessarv.” 
With so simple a process it was not difficult to set up a mint, wherever 
deemed necessary. In the south the chief mint towns were Madras and 
Arcot, but money was also coined at Porto Novo and various other places. 
Pagodas continued to be struck by the Company up to 1819, the year in 
which the change was made from pagodas to rupees in the keeping of public 
accounts. In the year 1835 the Company’s coinage was adjusted accord¬ 
ing to the Standard of the present day, as regards weight and quality. 
Pl. II, Pig. 19. This pagoda was apparently originally struck by one 
of the ex-rajahs of Yijayanagar, when resident at Chandrageri. Marsden, 
pl. 48, fig. 1070 gives a representation of the pagoda and makes the following 
remarks regarding the Chandrageri rajahs and their coinage. “ It was from 
* London 1794. 
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