5I4
THE INDXIAN EMPIRE
[CHAP
and by variations in the exchange between silver and copper,
which rose about that time from 64 to about 73 to I. Under
Akbar the coinage was still further improved and theoretical
principles were applied. The leading idea was that copper
was the metal most stable in value, and the dam of 324 grains
became the unit for calculation of revenue and prices. Thus, 40
damis went to the rupee, the weight of which was intended to
be I8o grains, and the commonest of the numerous gold coins
was worth Io rupees and weighed 170 grains, while others
varied in value up to I,ooo rupees. There were fractional
parts of most of these three standards. The ratio of gold to
silver, which was 8 to i in the early Muhammadan period, and
had fallen to 7 to i after the conquest of the Deccan by Ala-
ud-din Muhammad, had now become 9-4 to i. The standards
described above continued (subject to a few temporary innova-
tions made by Jahangir) until the debasement of the currency
as the empire fell to pieces.
Native In the early days of Muhammadan rule coins appear to have
mints, been struck chiefly at Delhi; but on the conquest of the
Deccan they were produced in two or three other places, and
as independent States arose in Bengal and elsewhere, the kings
of these struck coins at one or more cities in their dominions.
Sher Shah first set the example of having more numerous
mints, and this was followed by the Mughals. In Aurangzeb's
reign coins were issued from about seventy mints, and the
total number of places at which Mughal coins were struck in
the whole period from Akbar to Bahadur II is about 200.
In the latter part of this period, however, many of the mints
belonged to practically independent viceroys or to the Maratha
and other States. In the local mints the coinage was gradually
debased for the illicit profit of the rulers or of the mint officials,
until the whole country was filled with a bewildering collection
of rupees of different values. The dates and other characteris-
tics of the coins enabled the shroffs (sarrafs), or money-changers,
to recognize them and so to apply the batta or allowance
appropriate to the known debasement of each. The oppor-
tunity for fraud yielded by such transactions may readily be
imagined.
Coinage The history of British coinage in India begins in the reign
of the
East ndia of Elizabeth with the export from England of special coins,
Company. with the device of a portcullis, for use in the Company's
factories. In i671 a mint was established at Bombay, where
a local coinage was issued, bearing English inscriptions, for
circulation in the island and immediate neighbourhood; and
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