Administrative System of the Marathas c11.s4.1

c11.s4.1

Besides land revenue and customs duties, a small income was derived from mints. The Peshwas did not permit free coining, but the goldsmiths usually obtained license for mints under certain restrictions. That must have been the practice in the pre-Peshwa period also. Shivaji never tried to control the currency and plainly told the English Ambassador, that "he forbids not the passing of any manner of Coins, nor on the other side, can he force his Subjects to take those Monies whereby they shall be Losers; but if their Coin be as fine an Allay, and as weighty as the *Mogul's*, and other Princes, he will not prohibit it."⁴⁰ The result was that all sorts of foreign coins were current in Shivaji's kingdom and even in his own treasury could be found few or no coins of the Rairi mint. Sabhasad says⁴¹ that Shivaji had no less than 400,000 of Shivarai Hons at the time of his death, but these Shivarai Hons were in all probability of Vijayanagar origin, for only 2 or 3 Shivaji Hons have yet been discovered. Sabhasad enumerates no less than 32 different kinds of gold coins and 6 different kinds of silver coins while giving an account of Shivaji's treasures. They were: