62 Tlie Initial Coinage of Bengal. [No. 1, 



from the marginal records of the general currency, the new metropolis 

 appropriates to itself the immemorial J&a. ^.<Aa. of Eastern Bengal 

 (No. 32 A.) 



With a view to keep these brief geographical notices under one 

 heading, I advert for the moment to No, 7, GMaspur, of which locality 

 I have been able to discover no trace ; and likewise anticipate the due 

 order of the examination of Aazem Shah's mint cities in referring to 

 the sole remaining name of Jannatdbdd, an epithet which is erroneous- 

 ly stated to have been given by Humayun to the re-edified Lakhnauti,* 

 but which is here seen to have been in use a century and a half be- 

 fore the Moghuls made their way into Bengal. 



The single item remaining to be mentioned in regard to Aazam's 

 mints is the substitution of the word ix-ai' in lieu of 20>Jj| as the prefix 

 to Firuzabad (No. 35), in parallel progress towards centralization with 

 the Mint phraseology adopted in the case of Satgaon. 



Sikandar Shah bin Ilias Shah. 



No. 17. 

 Firuzabad, a. h. 750, 751, 752, 753, 754, 758, 759, 760. 

 Type No. 1. Ordinary simple obverse, with reverse circular are 

 a and margin. 



Obv. Rev. 



8& jj-UJi W j| 





Margin, 



* Aym-i-Akbari, ii. p. 11 ; Stewart's Bengal, 124. Bengal itself was called 



^5iJ| <iLa., " The Paradise of Regions." Ibn Batutah, iv. p. 210, says the 

 Persians called Bengal &+*Jjj-J rjijij " ce qui signifie," en arabe, "unenfer 

 rempli de biens." Marsden, Num. Orient, p. 578, gives a coin of 'Ala-ud-dm 

 Husain Shah, of A. h. 917, purporting to have been struck at " Jcumatabad." 

 f oil " regio ;" also " oppidum. " The plurals are said to vary, in correspond. 



ence with the independent meanings, as ^ib and e>|i>Jb 



