1874. J Hon. E. C. Bayley — On a Coin of Q-liii/as ud-din Azam SMh, 157 



of silver coins discovered recently in the Mudhobani Subdivision of the 

 Tirhut District. They are 36 in number and were chiefly of the Bengal king 

 Jalal ud-din Muhammad, though there were also coins of three other Bengal 

 kings, Sikandar bin Ilyas, Ghiyas ud-din A'zam Shah-bin Sikandar-bin Ilyas 

 and (one coin of) Shihab ud-din Bayazid Shah. All these coins are of 

 published types and, with one exception, are not remarkable. I, therefore, 

 propose only to trouble the meeting with a few remarks as to that one. 

 This professes to be a coin of Ghiyas ud-din A'zam Shah abovementioned. 

 Now the dates given by the native writers as to this part of Bengal history 

 are very confused, indeed manifestly wrong. It is generally stated that, for 

 example, Ghiyas ud-din died in 775, A. H., and it is said that before reigning 

 at all, he was in rebellion against his father, who was eventually killed in 

 resisting him. This latter part of the story is corroborated by the coins which 

 have been found ; for we have a parallel series both of father and son which 

 range over a period of no less than four years. But the earliest date with 

 which coins of Ghiyas ud-din are stamped, is no less than thirteen years 

 after the alleged date of his death, or 788 A. H., and his father's coins are 

 found with dates ranging up to 792 A. H., after which year a regular 

 series of the coins of Ghiyas ud-din only have been found with dates as late 

 as 799. It is also related by the historians that Ghiyas ud-din reigned 

 somewhat in excess of 7 years, which would bring his latest date down to 

 799, or at most 800 A. H., more probably 799. 



It is also stated that he was succeeded first by one son Saif ud-din, 

 who is stated to have reigned ten years,* and then by another who is 

 recorded to have had a reign of little more than two years. Accepting 

 these periods and fitting them to the dates obtained from the coins as al- 

 ready noticed, the second son of Ghiyas ud-din would probably have ceased 

 to reign in 811 or 812 A. H., probably the latter. The historians go on to 

 say that this monarch was dethroned \>y an Hindu Kaja of " Bhatauriah,'* 

 called " Kanis" (which is perhaps " Ganesh"), who is said to have reigned 

 seven years, a term which would bring his reign down to 818. 



Hitherto we have had numismatic information by which to test this 

 relation only on three points, viz., the succession of the Hindu Eaja by his 

 son, who was a Muhammadan and reigned under the designation of Jalal ud- 

 din Muhammad, of whose coins a pretty full series has been found with dates 

 from 818 onwards.f This date would accord nearly exactly with the lengths 



* The Riyaz us-salatan quoted by Mr. Bloehmann gives somewhat differing periods, 

 but the total is greater ; and for this reason, and because the only published dates of Saif- 

 tid-din's coinage accord better with the other accounts, I prefer the latter. Stewart who 

 knew the Riyaz us-salatm seems to have rejected its authority as to this period. 



t His dates found in this " trouvaille" are 818, 819, 822, 823, 821. 



