78 C. J. Rodgers — Some coins from Candahar. [April, 



Of Mangii Khan I have but little to say. He was the son of Tiilui 

 who was the 4th son of Changez Khan. He ascended the throne in 646, 

 was inaugurated in 649, and he died in 655 A. H. or 1257 A. D. His 

 capital was Karakorum, north of the Gobi desert. He sent his brother 

 Hulaku to conquer and rule Persia, where coins were struck bearing the 

 name of Mangu as suzerain. The prolix author of the Rauzat us Safd 

 gives several folio pages to Mangu, out of which we glean nothing of any- 

 historical value whatever. The coins of Mangu here depicted were evi- 

 dently struck after the conquest of Afghanistan by the Moguls and be- 

 fore Hulaku's occupation of Persia. The author of the Tabqat i Nasiri 

 uses strong language about the Moguls. Of Mangti's predecessor he says 

 " when Kyiik had gone to hell," and again " the army of Mangu Khan 

 and of Batii attacked the army of the Moguls and sent ten thousand 

 famous nobles to hell." It would seem that Minhaj Suraj, the above 

 mentioned author, travelled in Afghanistan and Nimroz in 621 A. H. He 

 wrote a Tabqa on the Princes of Nimroz. But unfortunately this Tabqa 

 is not edited in the abridgement published by the Society to which 

 alone I have access. As the Editor, Major Nassau Lees, says there are but 

 two known MSS. of the works, I am afraid I stand but little chance of 

 extending my knowledge. However from the author's narrative of his 

 journey it would seem that he came across a Taj-ud-Din Nialtagin 

 Khwarizmi in Sistan or Nimroz in 623 A. H. 



Of Taj-ud-Din Harb, Khadim Ali says he was a good man and 

 reigned 60 years. In his time the towns of Khorasan were under the rule 

 of Gaur. Of Nasr he says that he fought with his brother Rukn-ud-Din. 

 I have two other coins of Harb with what looks like the name of a Khali- 

 fah on them and with Harb's name in small letters. There is only the 

 Kalimah on the reverse of these coins. The name of the Khalifah looks 

 like Ush Shalim billah. It has over it Muhammad and under it Harb. I 

 know no Khalifah of this name. One thing is certain — the rulers to whom 

 these coins belonged were the masters of Nimroz before the time of 

 Mangii Khan. 



The date on the Nimroz coins of Ismael Sufi is not given : there is 

 only a r visible. On the Herat coins 927 A. H. is visible. 



In looking over the abridgement of the Tabqat i Nasiri, I find that 

 Mangu Khan became a Muhammadan by repeating the Kalimah. It is 

 interesting to see his coins confirm this fact. (See Tabqat, p. 411.) 



The author of the Jadwalliya gives an amusing reason for the ety- 

 mology of the word Nimroz. He says that Solomon was down in those 

 parts. He found the country full of water and gave orders to the devas 

 to fill it with sand : the work was performed in half a day. Hence the 

 country was called by this name Nimroz, half the day. 



