574 Journal of the Asiatic Society of Bengal. [November, 1910. 



it by its first Name and the Natives by the last 

 (I, 350). 



It is, of course, quite true that Mahomet and Mahmud are 

 different names, and that thus this " Mahomet Bander" is not 

 necessarily to be identified with the mint-town Mahmud Bandar. 

 But it would be surprising if the distinction between the two 

 names had been observed by Hamilton, a rough, plain-spoken 

 " Captain ", who by his own telling was at Madras officially 

 declared " a rank Pirate * r . He disavows any claim to exact 

 scholarship. ki We Britains, who either go voluntarily or are 

 sent to Neptune's Schools in our Youth, to learn Politeness and 

 Eloquence, very rarely meet with Apollo's bright Sons or Dis- 

 ciples to instruct us in the knowledge of Languages." He 

 openly admits that what he has recorded in his book ''came 

 posting through a weak and treacherous Memory with little 

 Elegancy." It thus may well be that on occasion his memory 

 played him false, and that from this cause he has handed down 

 in a form slightly altered a name that originally read Mahmud 

 Bandar. 



Bombay : 



21st May, 1910. 



Geo P. Taylor 



India 



86, On the Symbol ' Sahib Qiran.' 



11 known that the l alamat Sahib Qiran : 

 ) on many of the coins of the Mughal 



where and by whom this title was used. But first a word as to 



its meaning. The term &HJ 9 qiran, indicates in the astrology 



of Persia a conjunction of two or more planets. Now not all 

 conjunctions are held to be auspicious, for while some planets, 

 such as Venus and Jupiter, are supposed to shed a beneficent 



exert a malignant power. 



Mars and Saturn, are deemed to 



good 



omen, is expressed in Arabic by the dual e^**-**, sa'dain, but 

 if the two import bad luck the term employed is e^ 3 * 3 



nahsain. 



rm e^ 4 **** eitr 5 means definite 

 ert-*^ dlj* a conjunction as 



nitely inauspicious. It would seem, however, that tfj* when 



used absolutely can carry with it &.**<«> understood, and 

 accordingly it admits of interpretation as a conjunction presag- 

 ing happiness. 1 By consequence the title Sahib Qiran comes to 



1 As is well known, " the horned moon with one bright star " is at 

 the present day the felicitous emblem of the ■ Otkmanli Sultans of 



