38 W. Ii'viiie — Beply on Guru Gobind Sirjgh and Bandah. [Feb. 



earlier passage, where the Sikh coin is spoken of, was in existence then, 

 and had been already written. Ijad himself died in 1133 — so says Ghalam 

 *Ali Arad (Khirdnah-i-^Amirah, litho. text, p. 28). His work was there- 

 fore in existence at the most within 11, probably within 6 or 7 years 

 after 1122 H., the year when Bandah first rose. 



3. Ijad was a native of Samanah, Sirkar Sirhind, and therefore 

 likely to be specially interested on the Sikh rising, and to have friends 

 to supply him with information. 



4. He was the official historiographer, and as such, supplied with 

 all the of&cial reports ( Wdqi^ahs) and news letters [Sawatiihs). 



5. The statement as to the coin is not in itself improbable, and I 

 see no object to be gained in inventing such a statement. 



You will note that the word Lohgarh is not said to have been on 

 the coin. Perhaps, if yoa looked again through your coins, you might 

 find one with " Zarb ba Amanu-d-dahr, Maswarat-shahr.*' 



1 have never seen Namak used as the name of a place, though 

 apparently Namak sdr was — it was the name of the salt mines. 



I have not knowingly shirked any difficulty, but have rather made 

 it my object to bring out details and localize as much as possible. As 

 to Sadhaurah, it was quite easy to evade being wrong by saying, " the 

 tomb of a Saint having some local repute ; " but I prefer to be precise, 

 although I thereby run the risk of an inaccuracy. Again thank^ 

 ing you^ 



I am. 



Yours very truly, 



Wm. Irvine. 



Extract from Letter from Mr. Rodgers to the Philological Secretary* 



Amritsar, 

 20th January 1895* 

 My Dear Sir, 



Sikhism and the coinage of the Sikhs have been pet studies 

 of mine. On reading Mr. Irvine's paper I went into the city to enquire 

 about these Lohgarh rupees that he mentions. Not one of the moneys 

 changers here had ever heard of them. I have never seen one. I 

 travelled over the whole of the eastern part of the Amballa district, and 

 I searched for coins in every bazaar. I see thousands of Sikh rupees 

 every year, but as yet no Lohgarh rupee has been seen by me. 



The fact, however, that I have not seen one, is no argument for 

 their non-existence* Just lately I have come across — 



(1.) A new type of rupee of Qutbu-d-Dln Mubarak Shah, struck 

 at Daru-1-Islam> 717 H 



