Patan — one of the three rival Newar kingdoms of the Kathmandu Valley — maintained its own coinage in deliberate competition with Kathmandu and Bhaktapur, each court using silver mohars as instruments of political legitimacy as much as trade. Mahindra Simha's reign was brief and troubled; he came to power amid the chronic dynastic instability that characterized Patan in the early eighteenth century, when palace coups and rival claimants made individual reigns sometimes a matter of months.
The mohar circulated across all three kingdoms by weight convention, which is why Patan issues turn up in Bhaktapur hoards.
Patan — one of the three rival Newar kingdoms of the Kathmandu Valley — maintained its own coinage in deliberate competition with Kathmandu and Bhaktapur, each court using silver mohars as instruments of political legitimacy as much as trade. Mahindra Simha's reign was brief and troubled; he came to power amid the chronic dynastic instability that characterized Patan in the early eighteenth century, when palace coups and rival claimants made individual reigns sometimes a matter of months.
The mohar circulated across all three kingdoms by weight convention, which is why Patan issues turn up in Bhaktapur hoards.