1/2 Larin 'Kuda' - Muhammad Mueenuddeen I

The larin was a wire-money denomination whose form derived from the fishhook-shaped silver larins traded across the Indian Ocean littoral for centuries. By the time Muhammad Mueenuddeen I's administration began striking copper fractional pieces in the early nineteenth century, the Maldives were nominally under Ceylonese suzerainty — itself a British protectorate arrangement — yet the sultanate retained independent coinage rights. The *kuda* designation simply means "small" in Dhivehi.

Copper issues of this type circulated primarily in local bazaar trade, with cowrie shells remaining the dominant exchange medium for smaller transactions throughout the archipelago well into the 1800s.