DANGEROUS ENTHUSIASM

A snake charmer was having a long cobra. The snake charmer used to play with the cobra, show in to the people and collect money. After that he used to put the cobra in a bamboo basket, put a lid over it tightly and put it under his cot in his house. There were many rats in the house of the snake charmer. One small rat was very curious and enthusiastic. One day he saw the bamboo basket under the cot. He become curious about it . He thought that there might be some sweets in it and tried to remove lid., The lid was so tight that he could not open it . Yet he could not control the temptation to eat he sweets in it. His mother always used to tell him. “Do not touch anything that you do not have information about”. But forgetting everything about her advice and because of the temptation of eating the sweets, he climbed the lid of the basket and started gnawing it with sharp teeth. When there was a s small hole in the lid, he entered the basket. The cobra was sitting there. When it was the prey voluntarily coming towards him, he ate it up in moment and came out through the hole in the lid and went happily toward jungle . The kid had to lose his life because of his over enthusiasm.

MUGHAL STYLE COINS.

In the past, the Rajput states, Portugese, French, and Dutch companies did not introduced their own coins seperately but continued top use Mughal style coins in circulation. Because of this in eighteenty century A.D. thousands of coins in Mugahal style were in circulation. But instead of Hijari year, state year was printed. In 1803 A.D.. when the British conqured Delhi, they continued minting coins in the name of Mughal emperors. Till 1857 , these coins bear the mane of Bahadur shah printed on them, it seems.

AKBAR’S MUHAR

Since Akbar’s Mughal coins came into circulation, it seems. His coins were made at Agra. He made gold coins named ‘Muhar’. After he established Den-e-Ilahi religion, Akbar started printing the Ilahi year on the coins. On these coins, a saying from Ilahi religion and ‘Allah Akbar Jal Jalalu’ are found on the coins. The Image of Hawk, the name of the bird and mint’s name are found engraved. The Meharbi (arch shaped) Muhars were specially famous. Till today, the coins were made in round , square, rectangle shapes. The arch shaped Muhar shows the speciality of Akbar.

SHAHU'S COIN

‘Shivrai’ which was made by Shivaji Maharaj, was in circulation till the second half of the last century. The gold coins that were made by Shivaji Maharaj were known as ‘Hones’. All the yearly payments by Shiv Chhatrapati were paid in ‘Hones’ as was the practice in those days. It is mentioned at many places that these ‘Hones’ were in circulation. After Shivaji Maharaj, Chhatrapati Shahu Maharaj Started a mint in Satara and manufactured rupees and paisas in his name which were known as ‘Shahu coins’

MINT AT MANYN PLACES.

There was a mint at Kolhapur which was owned by Chhatrapati. The coins, which were manufactured there, were known as Shambhu coins. It seems that during there was a different system of making coins. Nanasaheb Peshwe permitted different money lenders to make coins. In return, these money lenders gave a fixed quota from the coins. There were many mints including Nagothane. This system was practiced till the end of Peshwa period. Shinde, Holkar, Nagpurkar Bhosale and many other chiefs started their own mints.

COINS DURING SHIVAJI’S RULE

Shivaji Maharaj had introduced his own coins as a sign of his independent kingdom. The coins were of two kinds. The first were of gold and the second were of copper and they bore his name on them. The coins made of copper were famous as ‘Shivrai’. It is found that the coins bore the inscription ‘Shree Rajashiv’ on the front and on the other side ‘Chhatrapati’. The mint of Shivaji was at Rajgad. The coins of Shivaji Maharaj were in circulation in Maharashtra, Karnataka and Tunjavur at that time.

NEATELY DESIGNED COINS

Durin`g the period of Jehangir, Mughal coins were made in good form. His gold and silver coins were heavier. Similarly copper coins were also neatly made. The coins bore designs of flowers, leaves,dots etc. Jjehangir again
Started the tradition of printing Kalma and name of Khalifa on the coins. In accordance with his orders , the signs of Zadiac including Leo, Taurus, Scorpio etc were engraved on the coins. On the Muhar, the figures of Jehangir and at the back sun and a graph are visible.