The Agrarian System of Moslem India: A Historical Essay with Appendices c19.4

c19.4

As regards coinage, this account asserts definitely that Todar Mal introduced the silver rupee of 11 (sic) māshas, superseding the "black" tanka, which up to his time was the only currency; silver tankas had indeed been struck, but they were used only for rewards to foreign envoys and to artists, were not generally current, and were sold as bullion. Now the Aīn records (i. 26) that the silver rupee, of 11½ māshas, was introduced in the time of Sher Shāh. It is quite incredible that the official record of Akbar's administration should deprive him of the credit of this reform if he was entitled to it; while the extant specimens of the silver coinage of Sher Shāh and Islām Shāh are so numerous as to place the fact of their currency beyond dispute. In this case, then, the writer of the account has clearly credited his hero, Todar Mal, with the achievement of an earlier reformer; and consequently the account as a whole is not above suspicion.