The French traveller Jean-Baptiste Tavernier wrote in the seventeenth century about the moneychanger (shroff) he found in Indian villages. Which of the following statements reflect his account?
(A) Shroffs were appointed by the Mughal state to fix the rate of the rupee in each village.
(B) Even a fairly small village usually had a shroff.
(C) Shroffs acted as bankers to make remittances of money.
(D) Shroffs changed the rupee for paisa, and paisa for cowrie shells, at rates they chose.
Choose the correct answer from the options given below:
Answer & explanation
Correct answer: option 2
The correct answer is Option (2) → B, C and D only
(A) Shroffs were appointed by the Mughal state to fix the rate of the rupee in each village. — Incorrect. Tavernier found that shroffs changed money at rates as they please; he wrote nothing of the state appointing them or fixing the rate.
(B) Even a fairly small village usually had a shroff. — Correct. He found that a village had to be very small indeed to have no shroff, so most villages had one.
(C) Shroffs acted as bankers to make remittances of money. — Correct. Shroffs acted as bankers and sent money from one place to another (remittances).
(D) Shroffs changed the rupee for paisa, and paisa for cowrie shells, at rates they chose. — Correct. They exchanged the rupee for paisa and paisa for cowrie shells, setting the rate themselves.
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