1917.] Numismatic Supplement No. XXVIII. 79 



ups and downs of the Punch route to it, and to prepare it so 

 that the passage of laden beasts over difficult hilltops might be 

 accomplished with ease, and that the men should not undergo 

 labour and hardship." {Tuzuk-i-Jahangiri, Tr. Rogers and 

 Beveridge, Vol. II, pp. 97-98 and p. 133. See also Elliot and 

 Dowson, VI, p. 367). The road through Punch is mentioned 

 also by the author of the 'Alamgirnamah, who says that the dis- 

 tance from Bhimbar to Kashmir (Srinagar) by that route was 

 ninety -nine Imperial koss. (Bibl. Ind. Text, p. 820.) A refer- 

 ence may be invited also to Cunningham's Ancient Geography, 

 from which it becomes clear that the town lies on a high road 

 frequented even in the time of Hiouen-Thsang, and that the name 

 is pronounced by the Kashmiris themselves without the lon£ 

 1 a.' "It is called Punje by Wilford's surveyor, Mirza Mogal 

 Beg, and Punch, by Vigne, both of whom actually visited 

 the place M (p. 128). See also Ain-i-Akbari, Jarrett, II, 437, 

 note 3. On the other hand, the attribution of the coin to 

 Punch in Kashmir is open to the objection that in the ■ Alam- 

 girnamah 9 (Bibl. Ind. Text 820), the name of that place is 



spelt g*jj and not ^ij. Indeed, Mr. Whitehead has provi- 



sionally recognized this ^y* as a silver-mint of Aurangzeb's in 



his mint-list (p. 468), and mentioned as his authority for doing 

 so, a specimen existing in Dr. Taylor's cabinet. I say, that 

 he has recognised it cc provisionally, " because it is one of the 

 class of " Mints unverified or not quite certain, but included ? ' 

 (p. 429). The question that arises is, if the name of Punch 

 in Kashmir is clearly written with thej, on Aurangzeb's rupee, 



how can the *u of Jahangir's coin be identified with it? It 



may be answered that there are several cases of the name of 

 the same place being spelt differently on Mughal coins of 

 different reigns, and sometimes even of the same reign. The 

 closest parallel is of course that of e^l, e^^j' anc * )y* &^ 



i 





(P.M.C. Nos. 162, 163, 575). Other examples of such diversity 

 are seen in tjft\ and fjtil ; aU ait and u»U *J\ ; j£> andj.£^; «^<y- 



and ^rt**- A still more satisfactory reply to this argument is 

 that Abul FazPs spelling is Ju (Akbarnamah , Bibl. Ind. Text, 



II. 102, 1. 13). It seems to me that the probabilities in favour 



of either of these identifications are considerable, and almost 



equally balanced, and that it would be hazardous to assign the 



coin definitely to either. Personally, I am strongly inclined 



to think that the true reading is still to seek, and I have 



written these lines only in the hope that they may help to 



wards a satisfactory identification if the present reading is 



proved to be correct. 



S. H. Hodivala. 



Junagadh. 



