¼ Mohar – Nepal

In 1774, Nepal was not a unified nation but a patchwork of small, competing hill states, primarily the Gorkha Kingdom, the Kathmandu Valley kingdoms (Kathmandu, Patan, Bhaktapur), and numerous others. The currency situation was consequently fragmented and complex, reflecting the political divisions. The most economically advanced region was the Kathmandu Valley under the Malla kings, who minted their own distinct silver coins called Mohars. These coins, often struck with symbols of deities and kings in the Nagari script, were the dominant currency for trade within the valley and with Tibet.

Beyond the valley, circulation was irregular. The Gorkha Kingdom, under Prithvi Narayan Shah (who conquered Kirtipur in 1766 and was besieging the valley kingdoms in 1774), minted its own crude silver mohars, but their reach was limited. In many hill regions, barter was still common, and a variety of older, worn coins from neighboring Indian principalities and Tibet circulated alongside local issues. This monetary fragmentation directly hampered trade and state revenue collection, as values and purity varied widely between the coinages of different rulers.

The year 1774 was a pivotal moment on the cusp of major change. Prithvi Narayan Shah's conquest of the Kathmandu Valley was imminent (achieved in 1768-69), a victory that would begin the political unification of Nepal. A primary motive for this expansion was to gain control over the lucrative trans-Himalayan trade routes between Tibet and India, which ran through the valley. Therefore, the disparate currency systems of 1774 were about to be forcibly consolidated. The Gorkha victory would soon lead to the gradual imposition of a single, centralized coinage system, ending the era of monetary fragmentation and laying the foundation for a national economy.