Life and Conditions of the People of Hindustan (1200–1550 A.D.) c8.34

c8.34

The Muslims maintained the older system of division of silver coins into copper coins. The Hindus used a quarternary scale of enumeration. Fives and Tens were unknown quantities and decimals were of no account for them.³ The Sultans, therefore, divided the contents of a silver *Tanka* into 64 *Jitals* or *Kanis* of copper or 8 *Hashtkanis* (a coin equal to 8 *Jitals*).⁴ Bahlul Lodi instituted his *Bahloli* which like the *Dam* of Sher Shah and Akbar was reckoned at 1/40th of a *Tanka*. Sultan Sikandar Lodi instituted his ‘copper *Tanka*’, 20 of which constituted the change for a silver coin, which remained identical.⁵ This ‘*Sikandari Tanka*’ or double-*dam* was the predecessor of the Dam of Akbar.¹ Taking the value of the Tanka as fixed, the ‘Sikandari Tanka’ would come to 3 1/5 or 3.2 Jitals and the ‘Dam’ of Sher Shah and Akbar or the Bahloli to 1 3/5 or 1.6 Jitals.