100 E. A. Gait — Historical Research in Assam. [JoNE, 



the okl character, as in the reign of the next king, Ruclra Siriiha,* we 



have many coins struck in the Nagari 

 * Although it was not until the character. The former may or may not be 

 rcio-u of his sou that the Ahom -17 •• <• t^ 



kiiigs became regukir Hindus, it one of the earliest : in the bnranji ot Ka9i 

 was Rndra Siiiiha who took the ]^^th Tamuli Phnkan the coinage of the 

 lirst step in this direction by im- - . • n ■ i i ■ 



porting Krsna Earn Bhattacar- Ahoms IS said to have commenced two 

 ji, a grikta bosain, from Nadia. reigns later, in the days of Cliuchengpha, 

 The adoption of the Hindu , liiji •T/3nA-r\ j 



character on the coins seems thus ^^'^^^ came to the throne ^ 16J1 A.D, and 

 to have been one of the outward is attributed to the civilising influence of 

 Muottol uSI^J^' ''•"""' Sunda. Gosai. and others who had been 



taken to the Koch capital as hostnges by 

 Silfirai, and who were released and returr.ed home during Chnchengpha's 

 reign. Even if the first coinage was in Chiikleumung's reign, we have 

 still fourteen rulers in the period during which the first class of coins 

 was minted. 



4. The coins of the Koch kings are not so well known, and every 



effort should,! think, be made to add to 



t Marsden reads the dates as the number which liave been described 

 16-}9 and J 666, but Dr. Hoernle ^ ,, 



agrees with me that the symbol ^P *» date, in marked contrast to the 



reads as 6 is really a 5 when used nnniber of Ahom coins in his collection, 



in the coins of the Ahom, Koch* ivr i i -i i x tt- i 



and Tippera kings. Marsden describes only tw^o Koch coins, 



o-ne of Lnksmi Narayan, dated 1549 

 Sale, and one of Pran Narilyan, dated 1555 Sah.f In the addition to 

 these, we have a coin of N"ar Narayan, dated 1477 Sale, which was 

 found in the Garo Hills , and was described in the Journal of the Asiatic 

 Society of Bengal for 1875, and another of Laksmi Narayan, dated 



1509 Sah, which was obtained for me 

 SoL^ofEXSusttstr by Babu M, 0. Bardalai.J The .ame 



Biibu also procured for me two smaller 

 coins of this dynasty, J but the names of the kings is not very clear on 

 these. Marsden printed a similar small coin (MCOXVIII; under the 

 head " Uncertain." 



The above meagre collections, so far as I know, constitutes all that 

 we know of the Koch kings' coinage. We should, I think, do all that 

 we can to add to it, as the matter is one not merely of numismatic in- 

 terest, but is also of importance as helping us to fix the otherwise rather 

 uncertain dates of some of the kings of this dynasty. That a system- 

 atic search would add to the number of known coins is shown by the 

 fact that the three coins procured for me by Babu M. C. Bardalai were 

 obtained by him after a very short enquiry.'- 



1 [Since the above was written two valuable papers on Koch and Ahom coins 

 have been received from Mr. Gait, and will duly appear in the Journal of the Society. 

 Ed.] 



