60 W. Irvine — Regnal Years of Shah Alam, Bahadur Shah. [May, 



follows : This is the true history of the shirt given to your father by 

 Ahsanullah Khan, the King's physician, who was a prisoner under our 

 residence in the Fort of Delhi, which had been the house of the King's 

 uncle. 



It appears, from what he said, that this shirt was one of five that 

 were copied from Mahomet's shirt by the Emam of Mecca, and sent one 

 to each of the great Mahomedan Potentates. The way we got it was that 

 Marie, our French maid, who used to wander about with the children all 

 through the empty Palace, found it lying in the King's own Palace 

 in the Saman Burj, and knowing your father liked curiosities for his 

 museum, brought it to me saying, "Regardez Madame comme il est 

 curieux," to which I replied, "All right, Marie, put it down on curbed, 

 and when master comes I will shew it to him." As soon as your father 

 came home, I showed it to him. He replied, " It must be some holy relic 

 written in Arabic, and as I don't understand Arabic, I will take it to 

 the King's physician and ask him what is its history." 



As soon as your father showed him the shirt, he said, falling down 

 on his knees and worshipping it, crying, " I Sahib, where did you 

 find it ? " On being told what I have already stated, he said, " If that old 

 fool of a king had not thrown it off his back, when he fled from the 

 Palace, he would not be a prisoner now, nor would I be one." The 

 shirt is written in old Arabic, which I think is termed Kufi, and has 

 not been in use for very — very many years — something like 150 or 200 : 

 about this I know nothing for certain. 



Dr. T. Bloch exhibited specimens of a collection of ancient inscribed 

 clay seals found by him at Basarh, the site of ancient Vaisali. 



The following papers were read : — 



1. Regnal Years of Shah Alam, Bahadur Shah. — By William 

 Irvine, I.O.S., (retired). 



In Part I of the Journal for 1902, p. 66, Major Wolseley Haig 

 describes a copper coin of Shah 'Alam Bahadur Shah, issued by the 

 mint of Elicpur. As read by Major Haig, this coin bears on one side 

 the Hijra year 1122, and on the other the regnal year 3. The result 

 is a discrepancy ; for one or other of these two dates must be wrong, 

 By an order recorded in Danishmand Khan's Bahadur-shah-namah, 

 the official commencement of the reign was fixed for the 1st Zu'l 

 Hijjah 1118 H. Thus we have :— 



1st year, began 1st Zu'l Hijjah 1118, ended 80th Zu'l QaMa 1119 

 2nd year „ „ ' 1119, „ „ ^20 



