1 



Vol. VI , No. 11.] Numismatic Supplement. 689 



[N.S.] 



two specimens in my cabinet, one measures in its double lengtl 

 3-75 inches and weighs 74 grains : the other, though measuring 

 only 1*75 inch, is so much thicker that it weighs 78 grains. 

 Mr. Thanawala kindly informs me that the average weight of 

 four larins in his possession is 71 grains. 



Geo. P. Taylor. 



92.— On the Bijapur Mughal Rupee of A.H. 1091. 



It was in the year 1097 H., the 30th regnal year of 

 Aurangzeb, that the Bijapur garrison capitulated to the Em- 

 peror, and the erstwhile kingdom of the 'Adil Shahs became 

 but a Province of the Mughal Empire. The coins thereafter 

 struck at Bijapur in the name of Aurangzeb, especially those 

 of the years 1098 and (one issue of) 1116, were remarkable for 

 the beauty of their lettering and for their exquisite workman- 

 ship. Also on these coins the mint-name appears in association 

 with the proud title Dar al Zafar. But how is one to account 

 for the fact that Mu gh al rupees bearing the name of Aurangzeb 

 and purporting to have issued from Bijapur were struck so 

 early as the Hijri year 1091, the 24th regnal year — that is to 

 say, six years before the capture of the mint-town ? One such 

 rupee is No. 763 of the British Museum Catalogue, and a 

 second is in my own cabinet. Both these specimens, however, 

 are of very ordinary make, without any claim to distinction as 

 trophies of the engraver's art. The mint-name too is entered 

 on them as plain Bijapur with no ennobling title. Under 

 what circumstances, then, can these earlier rupees have been 

 uttered ? 



Now, though Bijapur finally surrendered to the Mughals in 

 A.H. 10^7, it had previously often undergone siege at their 

 hands. One of these occasions was in the year 1090, when 

 Dilawar Khan with his Imperial troops closely invested the 

 city. The sister of Sikandar 'Add Shah, in the hope of saving 

 her brother and country, had already devoted herself and gone 

 down to the Mughal camp to be the bride of Sulfcan Mu'azzam, 

 the second son of Aurangzeb. But even this sacrifice proved 

 of 



the 



The latter at once made a diversion by a vigorous attack on 



the Mughal possessions in the Dakhan. But the Mughal 



general, Dilawar Khan, was not now to be drawn aside from the 



capture of Bijapur, and so closely did he beset the city that 



Mas'ud Khan was under the painful necessity of makin 



further supplication to the Marathas. When at last these did 



come, and, hovering round the investing army, succeeded in 



cutting off its supplies, then only did DilaWM Kk&Il raise the 



siege and retreat by rapid marches westwards. There can be 



little doubt that it was while this siege was proceeding and 



no avail. The siege was still pressed sore, and in his despair 

 3 Bijapur recent, Mas'ud Khan, applied to SWajI for aid. 



