In 1601 the Eng,lish introduced India money specially struck for India in the London mint. The coins had on them a portcullis. In 1660-61 the English established tnint at Madra_s. In 1770 there were in Bengal so many sorts of rupees, and rupees intrinsically of the same value differed so much in nominal value, which was regulated by the date of coinage, that no one but a siraf or money-changer could value the corrent coin, and the Government were forced to establish an ideal standard, called the current rupee, to which all calculations were 'mule.
Most of the Feudatory States of India continue to coin in their own rulera' nautili, and under an Act of 1872 the coins of Native States of India aro admissible fts currency, under certain conditions. In the Hyderabad State there aro several rupees, the Bali Sicca, and others, all of leas weight than the rupee of British India. In .A mraoti, tho bankers used to pass sealed bags of money. In the Hyder abad State tho copper coins in use aro shapeless lumps, with sonic obscure marks on them. In reality these copper cuins are the chief part of the currency, the value of the several silver coins being various, and each varying daily in the exchange of the bazar. The reckoning is by four, which is called a ganda.
4 oowries (gavvalu) 1 ganda.
14, 16, or 18 ganda =1 or Pisa copper.
4 thoodi or doodi ganda of coppers. 16 or 17 copper ganda =1 rupee.
Nepal was conquered by the G urklias in the Newar year 888, corresponding with A.D. 1768. I'rior to this epoch, the valley of Khatmandu was divided into three sovereignties, l'atan, Bhatgaon, and Khatmandu, each governed by a raja. Hence, on the Newar coins, three series of rajas' names are found, those of Bliatgaon being generally dis tinguished by a shell, those of l'atan by a trisnl, and those of K hat inandu by a sword. The old coins of the Mal or Newer rajas are much valued for their purity, and arc worn by the women, strung to neck laces or armlets, as tokens in memory of their ances tors. All money current north of the valley of Nepal, as far as the boundaries of Chinese Tartary, was formerly coined by one or more of the Nepal rajas. This was a source of considerable profit to them, the Bhutia giving them weight for weight in ailver and gold-dust ; but Ranjit Mal, the last reigning raja of Bhatgaon, sent them such base coins as to occasion a decrease of nearly one half of their intrinsic value, which was no sooner discovered by the Bhutia than a desertion of the mint took place, and there has been no more Bhutia coinage made in Nepal.
The Nepalese procure all their silver from China, in the form of stamped lumps, as they are current in Lhassa, for the Tibetans genemlly follow the Chinese custom in their money transactions, of paying and receiving by weight, and the merchants carry scales with them for the purpose. Since the Gurkha compiest, the Vikrama era has super seded that of Newar for ordinary purposes, and the Saka, commonly used in Hindustan, has been introduced upon the N'ipalese coins.
A Kashmir rupee wa.s coined in 1849 by the Into maharaja Partab Singh, bearing a Christian cross, and the lettem I.H.S.' These were coined shortly after the annexation of the l'anjab, when the maharaja was very anxious to show his loyalty in a way which he supposed likely to be most gratifying to a Christian Government.
Up to the beginning of the 19t11 century, the trans-Gangetic nations used lumps of silver like the sycee of the Chinese.
In the Straits Settlements the rupee is current, but there and throughout the Archipelago and the sea-coast of China the dollar is largely in use, and the Spanish dollar is the more valuable.
Chinese Cm-re:icy. — Sycec silver, in Chinese Wan yin, is their only approach to a silver currency. In it the Government taxes and duties, aud the salaries of officers, are paid ; and it is also current among merchants in general. The term Sycee is derived from two Chinese words, Se-sze, fine floss silk ; which expression is synonymous with the signification of the term 1Van. This silver is formed into ingots (by the Chinese called shoes, and by the natives of India, khuri, or hoofs), which are stamped with the mark of the office that issues them, and the date of their issue. The ingots are of various weights, but most commonly of ten taels each.
Sycce silver is divided into several classes, according to its fineness and freedom from alloy. The sole Chinese coin is of bronze, the silver and gold in China being sold by weight. An ounce of silver is the equivalent of from 1700 to 1800 of these bronze coins, which are called sapek ' by Europeans. They have •some pieces of brass, called 4sian, and in Mongol tcho, of which the inhabitants of Siberia make tchok and tchek ; they are of less value than a copec. A kind of notes are in circulation among private persons. In China, smooth pieces of metal, which served rather for weights than for currency, date from Kieng- -Wang, •who reigned B.C. 524. But the earliest known piece is attributed to the-emperor Wen-ti, of the lesser Sung dynasty, A.D. 465.