A FINELY ENGRAVED SILVER TOLA (VEDIC UNIT) MEASURING INSTRUMENT
Northern India, mid-19th century

A FINELY ENGRAVED SILVER TOLA (VEDIC UNIT) MEASURING INSTRUMENT
Northern India, mid-19th century

Designed as a 90 degrees unit circle, with two moving arms indicating the different measures of tola from 1/2 to 4, engraved in English letters Tolah, with the Stuart family crest featuring a right arm issuing a sword in bend and surrounded by the Latin motto Deo Juvante Vinco, the longest arm with a cursive script dedicatory inscription The Honourable Sir R. Stuart, the two straight sides of the unit circle engraved with dense foliage and lions attacking elephants, an allegory for the British Raj in India and the suppression of the Indian Mutiny in 1857, 8cm x 11cm.

The dedicatory inscription is likely to refer to Lieutenant-General Robert Stuart (ca. 1812 - 1902), H.E.I.C.S., a veteran of the Crimean War and British Army officer, who, following the promotion to the substantive rank of major in 1856, went to British India and took part in suppressing the Indian Rebellion of 1857.

To find out more about the Indian tola unit, and how this became the standardised base unit of mass to weight and measure grains during the British Raj, please read the article in The Times of India, 16 April 2020 (https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/business/faqs/gold-faqs/what-is-tola-why-gold-is-measured-in-tola/articleshow/60827548.cms) and the extensive entry in Wikipedia (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tola_(unit)).

Dimensions: 8cm x 11cm