My recollection from stamp collecting is that the smallest coin was the pie, 
plural pice or pies

Found this on http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Decimalisation#India_.26_Pakistan

In India, Pakistan, and other places where a system of 1 rupee = 16 annas = 
64 paise = 192 pies was used, the decimalisation process defines 1 new paisa 
= 1⁄100 rupee. The following table shows the conversion of common 
denominations of coins issued in modern India and Pakistan. Bold denotes the 
actual denomination written on the coins

Regards

Peter



----- Original Message ----- 
From: "David Page" <[log in to unmask]>
To: <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Tuesday, December 22, 2009 2:50 PM
Subject: Re: BL exhibition mentions " The Rupaiyat.."


> Dear Bryan
>
> I think that the subject here is the Indian Income Tax act of 1886.
> I have found on Wikipedia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Auckland_Colvin 
> (so trust it or not as you deem fit) that Sir Auckland Colvin was the 
> Indian Financial Member who introduced the new 1886 Income Tax 
> regulations, based upon the first Act of 1860-65. The article comments 
> that
> Although he caused a committee to be appointed under Sir Charles 
> Elliott<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_Elliott> to recommend 
> economies, he was compelled not only to suspend the Famine Insurance Fund, 
> and to take toll of the provincial governments, but to increase taxation. 
> In January 1886 he converted some annual licence duties in certain 
> provinces into a general tax on non-agricultural incomes in excess of Rs. 
> 500 per annum. This unpopular proceeding was immortalised in 
> Kipling<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rudyard_Kipling>'s Departmental 
> Ditties by The Rupaiyat of Omar Kalvin, which represents the finance 
> member as plying the begging-bowl among his European countrymen. In his 
> last budget (1887–8) he increased the salt duty by twenty-five per cent, 
> and imposed an export duty on petroleum.
> I have also found a Hansard report for 22 January 1886, at 
> http://hansard.millbanksystems.com/commons/1886/jan/22/india-finance-c-income-tax
> the key part being:
>
> INDIA (FINANCE, &c.)—INCOME TAX.
> HC Deb 22 January 1886 vol 302 
> cc190-1190<http://hansard.millbanksystems.com/commons/1886/jan/22/india-finance-c-income-tax#column_190>
> §<http://hansard.millbanksystems.com/commons/1886/jan/22/india-finance-c-income-tax#S3V0302P0_18860122_HOC_10>MR. 
> JOSEPH 
> CHAMBERLAIN<http://hansard.millbanksystems.com/people/mr-joseph-chamberlain>
>
> asked the Secretary of State for India, Whether it is true that the 
> Financial Minister for India has proposed, with the approval of the 
> Viceroy, a graduated Income or License Tax; and, if so, whether the 
> Government has offered any objection to this proposal?
>
> §<http://hansard.millbanksystems.com/commons/1886/jan/22/india-finance-c-income-tax#S3V0302P0_18860122_HOC_11>THE 
> SECRETARY OF STATE (Lord RANDOLPH 
> CHURCHILL)<http://hansard.millbanksystems.com/people/lord-randolph-churchill>
>
> I have some difficulty in answering the Question of the right hon. 
> Gentleman. I do not quite know what ho precisely means by a graduated 
> Income Tax. As far as I can gather, ho has been careful to leave not only 
> his opponents, but also his possible Colleagues, in a state of the utmost 
> uncertainty on this point; and, therefore, I can only answer his Question 
> by telling him what the Indian Income Tax proposed by the Government is, 
> and leave him to draw his own conclusions as to whether it comes up to his 
> own idea of a graduated Income Tax. The draft Bill of the Government of 
> India, which has now passed through two stages in the Legislative Council, 
> provides that non-agricultural incomes shall be taxed, and the sources are 
> classified under four heads — offices, profits of Companies, interest on 
> securities, and other sources. The rate of Income Tax is five pice a 
> rupee, which, I believe, in English money is a little under ¼d. in 1s. 
> 6d., on incomes of 2,000 rupees per annum and upwards; and, roughly, 4 
> pice on incomes under 2,000 rupees. There are certain exceptions—namely, 
> incomes derived from land or agriculture, charities, soldiers with pay 
> under 500 rupees a month, Government officials with salaries under 100 
> rupees a month, also all persons with a total income of less than 500 
> rupees per annum. In cases of incomes derived under the fourth head of 
> "other sources," incomes under 2,000 rupees per annum are assessed in six 
> grades, rising from 500 rupees to 2,000 rupees. The approval of the 
> Secretary of State in Council has been given to the Bill. This is all the 
> information I can give to the right hon. Gentleman, and upon that, no 
> doubt, he will form his own conclusions.
>
> Hobson Jobson defines a pice as being 1 / 64th of a rupee, which makes a 
> tax rate of 5 pice per rupee equivalent to 7.8%.
> Yours, David
> ________________________________
> From: Bryan Diamond <[log in to unmask]>
> To: [log in to unmask]
> Sent: Mon, 21 December, 2009 18:17:38
> Subject: BL exhibition mentions " The Rupaiyat.."
>
> The current British Library foyer exhibtion of The Rubaiyat of Omar 
> Khayyam (first published 1859) is delightful;  the final showcase is of 
> parodies, and mentions "The Rupayiat of Oamar Kal'vin", one of the Other 
> Verses published with  "Departmental Ditties" in 1886. A large number of 
> authors wrote such parodies, a list is on the internet.
>
> I had never read this verse of RK; the headnote refers to reproducing the 
> sense of ..."Sir A------" having struck 2 per cent from incomes; this 
> presumably refers to an Indian Finance Minister - Who? The verse - not 
> very good I think -is all about finance.
>
> Verse 5 begins "
> "Whether a Boileaugunge or Babylon,
> I know not how the wretched Thing is done"
> Boileaugunge is a height near Simla, "Babylon" is presumably merely an 
> alliterative comparison, but how is either "done"?
>
> Bryan Diamond
>
>