138 Journal of the Asiatic Society of Bengal. [N.S., XII, 



■dirhams and the dinars (silver money and gold money) shall be 

 adorned with our auspicious coin-legend and that in all parts 

 of his kingdom, the Khutba shall be read in, andmoney stamped 

 with, our auspicious name." 



We may therefore take it for certain that it was in 1045 

 a.h. and not in 1067 a h. that Shahjahan obtained from 

 'Abdullah not one, but both of those concessions which are 

 regarded by Musulman potentates as the most direct and 

 unmistakable proofs of supreme power. But if 10 ±5 is the 

 real date, the question arises, may not the * 5 ' of the coin be 

 the unit of 1045? It is true that the figure is not so clear as 

 might be wished, and Mr. Wright candidly admits it. But I 

 venture to say that the above explanation removes the chrono- 

 logical objection he has raised to his own reading, and may help 

 to finally solve the question if the reading can be substantiated. 



One thing else is perhaps deserving of notice. It stands out 

 clearly from 'Abdullah's letter that the dies of the first issues 

 were not permitted to be made in the local mints, and that 

 they were sent to Gulkanda from the Imperial headquarters 

 with the Imperial style and titles inscribed just as in the Akhar- 

 abad or Dehli mintages. Now it is not likely that new dies 

 with altered dates were afterwards sent from the capital year 

 after year, and it may be permitted to conjecture that I. If. C. 

 Nos. 948-949 are later issues made from local dies, in which the 

 titles are, as might be expected in such marks of unwilling 

 homage, curtailed even to baldness and of which the execution 

 also is decidedly inferior. g> ^ HodiVaLA . 



169. The Meaning of Tanki. 



The copper coins of Akbar are perhaps too plentiful to be 



■ever the subject of keen interest among collectors. The one, 



two and four Tanki pieces, of which the only specimens known 



belong to four mints (Agra, Ahmadabad, Kabul and Lahor) 



have, however, rarity as well as novelty to recommend them. 



VI.. TtTU:i.»1 J • ii. i y . -•_... 



Wh 



'Catalogue of Coins in the Punjab Museum" (p. xxvi), that 

 the meaning of the word Tanki is obscure. Apparently, it was 

 a weight which had little or no connection with the Tanka." 



Walte 



I venture to say that though 



Elliot and William Erskine have held widely divergent views as 



m oo^ m °^ V ° f the word Tanka (Chronicles ed. 1871, pp. 

 49 n 224 n.), and though the philological affinity of Tanka with 

 lanktm&y or may not be a matter of doubt and difficulty, an 

 attitude of suspense and reservation as to the meaning of either 



lese terms 



necessarily incumbent upon the scholar in the present state of 

 knowledge. ."..;, 



It is true that a lamentable confusion reigns in the different 



