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Struck originally during the reign of Swarup Singh (1842-61) but continued in several subsequent reigns. Although the reverse legend is normally translated as "Friendship with London," it has always struck me that the spelling of "London" with the letter "dha" rather than "da" is odd. Also, almost all coins of this period lack the dot that would represent the "n" sound in London. The actual transliteration of the legend is Dosti Ladhan, which would mean "filled with friendship." I would like to suggest that Mewar, ever the most defiant of the Rajput kingdoms, intentionally played on the spelling so as to give the British the impression that they were declaring their fealty to London without actually doing so. |