164 Journal of the Asiatic Society of Bengal. [April, 1910. 



will also be found to have been issued by Siiklenmuh. The 

 form of the Bengali *f is noticeable, as it is more modern than 

 the form *r employed 50 years later by Rudra Simha (vide 

 I. M.C 9 same Plate, No. 3, the reverse of which has been 

 shown upside down). 1 



F. — The Burmese Coinage in Assam. 



I conclude these notes on the coinage of North- Eastern 

 India with two Assamese coins which apparently belong to a 

 hitherto- undescribed coinage, issued by the Burmese during 

 their brief sovereignty over Assam, 1819 — 1825. 



Xo. 15. — Octagonal silver coin — cast (in the cabinet of 

 Mr. A .W. Botham, C.S., late Deputy Commissioner, Sibsagar). 



Weight 144-9 grains. Size 93' . 



Obverse : — Two-lined inscrip- Reverse : — Representation of 



tion, not properly oriented a pig, iguana or mongoose. 2 

 to two opposite sides of the 

 octagon. 



No. 13. — Ghiya*u-d-DIn Mahmud (no date or mint). Weight and 



size, according to I.M.G. No. 217, 1635 grains and -97". Corrected 



reading. 



Obverse. Reverse* 



(1) ejW-Jl (1) ^Ual-Ji 



(2) &fei oU*Uf ^\ (2) *U ^-^ ^( 



(3) vi*% 3 I****! (3) J^ ^UaLjf 



(4) J&J\y\ (4) a£U aUf 



(5) l& &y*9*# (5) ailJaJL*^ 



1 An identical coin of Chakradhvaja from the British Museum 

 Collection, recently described by Mr. J. Allan in Vol. IX of the Numis- 

 matic Chronicle, weighs 170*7 grains and is *8" in diameter. 



Mr. Allan's paper also confirms my suggestion that the dragon 

 (Simha) was not invariably used on the Assamese coins until Hindu 

 titles were adopted by the Assamese Kings. Suklenmun's Muhur 

 figured as No 1 of Plate XXIII (Num. Chron. 9 Ser. IV, Vol. IX) shows 

 two rising suns, but no dragon (25-1-10). 



2 The image of either a Gui-samp (iguana) or mongoose appears on 

 the pedestal of a statue of RakshaKali, found at the village of Paikpara 

 in the Munshiganj Sub-Division of the Dacca District, and although the 

 pig is considered lucky in Persia and Europe, I can find no reference 

 to its being considered so in India or Burma. Sri jut Golap Chandra 

 Barua, the translator of the Ahom Buranjis for Mr. Gait, informs me 

 however that the pig was essential for Ahom sacrifices and that the 

 Deodhais (Ah5m priests) of Sibsagar still keep pigs and eat pork. The 

 reason why no food offered at the famous temple of Kamakhya is taken 

 by Brahmins is said to be that pigs were once sacrificed there by some 

 Assamese king. The use of the pig in sacrifice probably accounts for 

 its image being found on these Assamese coins. 



