Travels in India (Tavernier) 6.3
Travels in India (Ball) 6.3
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- English
6.3.1
After I had given it to him, “ Say no more about it,” said he. “In a word, how much do you want for this pearl.” I asked him 7000 rupees for it, and it is true that rather than carry it back to France I would have taken 3000. “ If I give you,” he replied, “ 5000 rupees for this pearl, you will be well repaid for the loss which you say you have sustained on the golden rupees. Come to-morrow and I shall pay you 5000 rupees. I desire that you should leave contented, and you shall have in addition a khil'at and a horse.” I then made him a bow, and besought him to give me a young horse, fit for work, as I had a long journey to make. I accordingly received, on the following day, as he had promised, the robe, mantle, two waistbands, and the turban, which constitute, as I have elsewhere remarked, the complete suit which these princes are accustomed to give to those whom they desire to honour. The mantle and the robe were of gold brocade, the two waistbands striped with gold and silver, the turban of cotton cloth was of fire colour striped with gold, and the horse, without a saddle, was covered by a housing of green velvet, with a small fringe of silver round it. The bridle was very narrow, and it had silver coins attached in some parts.
6.3.2
I believe the horse had never been mounted, for as soon as it had arrived at the house of the Dutch, where I lodged on this occasion, a young man having mounted it, it began to jump in so strange a manner and to shake him so that having fallen in jumping over the roof of a hut which was in the court, the Dutchman barely escaped being killed. Having seen that this impetuous steed was not suitable for me, I returned it to Shaista Khan, and telling him what had happened, I added that I believed that he did not wish me to return to my country, as he had asked me to do, in order to bring him some rarity. During my discourse he only laughed, and having ceased, he ordered them to bring the horse which his father used to ride. It was a large Persian horse, which had formerly cost 5000 écus when young, but it was then more than twenty-eight years old. They brought it, ready saddled and bridled, and the Prince desired me to mount it in his presence. It still had as good paces as any horse I had ever seen, and when I was mounted, he said, “ Well, are you content ? He will not give you a fall.” I thanked him, and at the same time took my leave of him ; and the following day, before my departure, he sent me a large basketful of apples. It was one of six which Shah Jahan had sent him, and which had come from the kingdom of Kashmir, and there was also in the basket a large Persian melon. All taken together might be value for 100 rupees, and I presented it to the wife of the Dutch Commander.
6.3.3
As for the horse, I took it to Golconda, where I sold it for 500 rupees, old as it was, because it was still able to render good service. To return to the discourse on coins, I shall add to what I have already said of the gold pieces, that it does not do to carry to India neither Louis d’or, Spanish nor Italian pistoles, nor other gold pieces coined of late years, because there is too much to be lost by them. The Indians, who have no knowledge of them as yet, refine all, and it is upon this refining that they make their profit. For the rest, each strives to pass his gold without the master of the customs knowing it ; and when the merchant has skill sufficient to conceal it, it gains for him the value of five or six of our sols on every ducat. I come to the silver coins, which it is necessary to distinguish as coins of the country and foreign coins, and I shall speak first of the latter.
6.3.4
The foreign silver coins which they take to India are German rix dalers and Spanish reals. The first are brought by the merchants who come from Poland, from little Tartary, and from the direction of Moscovie; the others by those who come from Constantinople, Smyrna, and Aleppo, and the principal part by the Armenians who have sold their silks in Europe. All the merchants strive to pass their silver through Persia without being discovered, because, if the customs’ officers have wind of it, it would be necessary that the silver should be carried to the masters of the mint to be coined into abásis which is the coinage of the King, and these abásis on arrival in India are again coined into rupees, in which there is a loss to the merchant of 10½ per cent, both on account of the coinage and on account of the King’s dues, which he must pay in Persia.
6.3.5
In order to know in a few words how one loses this 10½ per cent between Persia and India, and sometimes more, according to the nature of the reals which are generally taken to Persia, it is necessary to remember what I have said of the coins and exchange of Persia in the preceding volume. I have remarked that the real in Persia passes for 13 sháhis, which are equal to 3⅛ abásis, and that sometimes, when silver is scarce, they give half a sháhi more; that the abási is worth 4 sháhis, and the toman 50 abásis or 200 sháhis. Thus, the real passing for 13 sháhis, you receive 6½ tomans for 100 reals. If you take tomans to India you receive for each toman 29½ rupees, and, consequently, for 6½ tomans 191¾ rupees. But if you take to India Sevillian reals, of which I shall speak further on, for 100 you receive from 213 to 215 rupees; and for Mexicans for 100 you receive only 212. When, then, for the 100 reals you receive only 212 rupees, you gain on these 100 reals 10¼ reals, and on the Sevillians you make a profit up to 11 per cent. It should then be remarked that there are three or four kinds of Spanish real, and that they give for 100, according to their standard, from 208 up to 214 and 215 rupees. The best of all are the Sevillians, and when they are good weight you receive for 100, 213 rupees, and at certain times up to 215, according to whether silver is scarce or plentiful.
6.3.6
The Spanish real should weigh 3 gros and 7⅛ grains more than 2 rupees, but the silver of the rupees is much better, for the rupee is of the standard of 11 deniers and 14 grains, and the Sevillian real, like our white écu, is of the standard of only 11 deniers. The Mexican real is of but 10 deniers and 21 grains. For the Spanish real which weighs 73 vals you receive 4½ mahmūdīs, and a mahmūdī is worth 20 paisā, and thus for the Spanish real you receive 90 paisā, but they must be good, and, as I have said, weighing 73 vals; 81 vals making an ounce, and the val being of 7 deniers (standard). As for the German rix dalers, as they are heavier than the reals, you give for 100 up to 216 rupees; upon which it should be remarked that, in giving for the 100 reals and the 100 rix dalers up to 215 and 216 rupees, it appears as if every rupee should consequently be worth less than 30 sols. But, on the other hand, if the merchant counts the cost of carriage of the silver and the duties, he will find that each rupee costs him more. All these reals and rixdalers are weighed by the 100, and when the weight is short they add small stones as when they weigh gold, as I shall presently relate. But, in order that the merchant obtains value he must take care that all the reals of Mexico and the Sevillians weigh 21 deniers and 8 grains, i.e. 512 grains; and as for our white écu, it ought to weigh 21 deniers and 3 grains, which are equal to 509 grains.
6.3.7
I pass on to the coins of the country. The Indians have for their silver money the rupee, the half, the quarter, the eighth, and the sixteenth. The weight of the rupee is 9 deniers and 1 grain, and the standard of the silver 11 deniers and 14 grains. They have also a silver coin which they call mahmūdī, but it is only current in Surat and in the province of Gujarāt.
6.3.8
The small coin of India is of copper, and is called paisā, which is worth about two of our liards. There are some of them of a half paisa, of two paisá, and of four. According to the province you are in, you receive for the silver rupee more or fewer of these paisá. On my last journey the rupee at Surat was at 49 paisá, but there are times when it is worth 50, and others when it falls to 46. At Agra and at Jahanábád it is worth 55 and 56 paisá, and the reason of that is, that the nearer you approach to the copper mines the more paisá you receive for the rupee. As for the mahmúdí, it is always at 20 paisá. There are still two other kinds of small money in the empire of the Great Mogul: these are small bitter almonds and shells. In the province of Gujarát alone they use as small change these bitter almonds, which they bring from Persia, as I have remarked in the first part of my history. They grow in dry and arid places between rocks, and the tree which produces them closely resembles our broom. They call these almonds bádám, and they are so bitter that colocynth is not more so, and there is no need for fearing that children will amuse themselves by eating them. They sometimes give 35, sometimes 40, of them for the paisá.