Page:History of India Vol 3.djvu/175

COINAGE AND CURRENCY QUESTIONS 141 and silver, which had been disturbed by the large acces- sions of the former from the Deccan, unaccompanied by any proportionate addition to the supply of the latter." He was thus an expert in currency questions, and when he introduced his copper tokens he was taking a step of which he should have known the consequences. The curious point is that, w r hile doubtless fully aware that the value of the token depended upon the credit of the treasury, he forgot that it was absolutely essen- tial to the success of his innovation that none but the state should issue the tokens. In those days, however, there was no milling or other device of costly machinery to distinguish the issues of the royal mint from private forgeries. To forge in gold was expensive, but any skilled Hindu engraver could copy the inscriptions and strike copper tokens of the value of tankas in his own behalf. The result was natural. " The promulgation of this edict/' says Barani, " turned the house of every Hindu into a mint, and the Hindus of the various prov- inces coined copper coins by hundreds of thousands and tens of millions. With these they paid their tribute, and with these they purchased horses, arms, and fine things of all kinds. The rajas, village headmen, and landowners grew rich upon these copper coins, but the state was impoverished. In those places where fear of the Sultan's edict prevailed, the gold tanka rose to be worth a hundred of the [token] tankas. Every gold- smith struck copper coins in his workshop, and the treasury was rilled with these tokens. So low did they