1883.] F. S. Growse—^iTote on tie word '^ mttJuir'* or ^^nisdry 99 



1876, p. 295, PI. VI, No. 19. Mine is, I think, identical with the one 

 there described. 



" To the list o£ Durrani coins I should have added some copper coins of 

 Mahmtid Shah struck at Multan. One of them bears tlie date 1230 = 

 1815 A. D. or three years before the Sikhs took the town. I also have a 

 Sikh copper coin of Dar-ul-Aman Multan bearing the date (18) 75 which 

 is the Sambat corresponding to 1818, the date of the capture of Multan. 

 The h. 1230 bears the figure of a lily, and another of Mahmud's, the Sikh 

 leaf, which looks as if these were struck under Sikh influence. 



"Some of the Derajat rupees may have been struck by the Sikhs after 

 1821 (when they took Dera Ismail Khan). They kept up some sort of 

 mint certainly. Mr. Rodgers gives two Derajat Sikh coins in his paper on 

 the coins of the Sikhs. (Journal, 1881, Nos. 49 and 50, PL VIII). 



" No. 20 in my list, which bears no king's name, is probably a Sikh coin. 

 One like it which I have not sent seems to bear the date 98, which would 

 be as late as 1841, but I cannot make anything out of the inscriptions 

 except * Zarb Derajat.' 



" I have been looking through the list of Aurangzeb's mints given by 

 Mr. Eodgers in the Proceedings for January, and I find I have rupees of 

 three mints not given by him, viz., Illahabad, Champanir and Katak. The 

 Katak one is of the 46th julus, the others undated." 



De. Hoernle remarked that the coins were of much interest and de- 

 served careful examination and description. He had referred Mr. Dames's 

 letters to General Cunningham, who in his reply had advised the publication 

 of these coins, as they were to a great extent unknown as yet. Accordingly 

 it was intended to publish descriptions and illustrations of as many of them 

 as on examination would be found deserving of it. 



The following note was read from Mr. F. S. Growse on the word 

 " nuthar" or " nisar." 



" In the Society's Proceedings for January, which have just reached me, 

 I see some discussion about the word nuthar, or more correctly nisdry 

 meaning money or other articles thrown amongst the people at marriages, 

 or other festive occasions, by way o£ largesse. The Hindi word for the 

 same custom is nichhavari^ which occurs scores of times in Tulsi Das's 

 Ramayana ; as in the line 



" Nan, JBdri, Blidt, Nat Bdm-nicJiJidvari pdi (I. 326). * The barbers, 

 torch-makers, singers and dancers picked up the offerings that had been 

 scattered about Rama.' 



" Or again, 



" Karahim nichhdvari manigan chird^ (I. 352). ' They scatter around 

 him jewels and vestments.' 



