How this was made
This site was researched and drafted with Claude (Anthropic) under Sahil Tayal's direction. It was last reviewed on 24 October 2026.
Method
Every source cited was opened and read before it was used, in full or in the part the notes describe. Where a source could not be opened, as with three articles in the journal Abacus, it is cited only for its existence and title, and the claims that would depend on it carry an [unverified — needs source] tag. Quotations from copyrighted works are kept under 25 words. Longer quotations come from public-domain texts, such as John Beames (1872). The sources page says how much of each work was read.
Known limits
- Three standard works were available only as publisher or catalogue pages: Timberg (2014), Markovits (2000, apart from its sample chapter) and Bayly (1983). They are cited lightly and recommended for further reading.
- The chapters of L. C. Jain's 1929 survey on hundis, accounts and interest rates have not yet been read for this site. A future revision should use them, particularly for the simulator's rates.
- No images of real ledgers or hundis are reproduced here, because their licences could not be confirmed. The hundi in the simulator is an invented illustration, deliberately not a replica.
- Every rupee figure in the simulator is illustrative.
Design
The site is meant to feel like a bahi opened on a counter: a red cloth binding round the edges of the screen, folded columns in the margin and figures in a monospaced type. The colours are ledger red (#B3202A), turmeric (#E0A526, used only for marks), ledger paper (#F6F0DC), iron-gall ink (#1B1B1B) and ruled blue (#3A5A8C). The typefaces are IBM Plex Serif, IBM Plex Mono and Noto Serif Devanagari. The site works without JavaScript, sets no cookies and does no tracking.
Corrections
If you know these books, or keep them, corrections and additions are welcome through sahiltayal.com. Family ledgers, hundis or primers that could be photographed and openly licensed would especially improve the next edition.