Shivaji era coins found

Naik,who is working as a waiter in Hotel Tuljai,found these coins. “The hotel is near Bari Wada and some construction work is going on there. My mobile phone fell down at the place when I was passing from there. As I bent down to take the phone,I saw a coin. I called my manager Rahul Khedekar. When we searched further we found 13 such coins and 8 ‘kavdyas’,” he said.

Naik and Khedekar then sounded historian Mandar Lawate and coin expert Amol Bankar. Bankar said,“These kind of coins made up of copper were in use in 16th and 17th century. The diametre of one coin is 18 to 20 mm and its weight is 8.5 to 9.5 gm. On the front side words “Shree Raja Shiv” are found and word “Chhatrapati” is written on the backside. Cost of one ‘Shivrayi’ is around Rs 20,but more than its cost it is important historically. One can find mention of these coins in letters of Sambhaji Maharaj.”

Lawate said,“Around 25 years back,swords of Shivaji era were found at the same place when a part of wall of the Wada collapsed. These swords are now at PMC’s museum at Ghole Road.”