1846] The Historical Coins of Arakan. 233 



accession to the throne ; but in some instances it does not : more than 

 one coinage having occasionally been issued in the same reign. 



Old coins are frequently discovered buried in the ground in various 

 parts of Arakan. Several valuable ones thus found have been kindly 

 sent me by Major David Williams, Principal Assistant Commissioner 

 (then) of Ramree. Many have also been met with, hung as charms or 

 ornaments round children's necks, which have been retained in families 

 for several generations. At present I have the means of describing only 

 a few of those I once possessed ; the greater portion having been lost 

 when the Society's cabinet was robbed some months ago. All those 

 now described are of silver, for though a few of mixed metal are to be 

 met with, their legends do not differ from these. 



The oldest Arakanese coin I now possess is that marked No! 1. The 

 obverse is as follows : — 



^(s^ 30(S^ odq£ ^>Gp8gc8c30Do8(Sog|0 



Translation. 



963. Lord of the White Elephant, Nard-dib-ba-di Tshau-lim Shyd. 



Here 963 in the Arakanese era is equivalent to A. D. 1601. Nard- 

 dib-ba-di is a Pali title signifying I believe " Ruler of men ;" while 

 Tshaulim Shyd, is nothing more than a barbarous attempt at the Mahu- 

 mudan title Zalim Shah ! The reverse of this coin bears some unintel- 

 ligible compound of Persian and Nagri letters. The above king stands 

 No. 17 in the list of Arakanese sovereigns of the Myouk-u dynasty, in 

 the Jour. As. Soc. 1844, p. 50, under the name of Meng- Rd-dzd-gyi. I 

 long considered the date of this coin to be 863, the first figure on that 

 I possess being imperfect, and the date 863 corresponding with the 

 accession of a king styled Meng Rd-dzd in the above mentioned list 

 No. 8. However, on seeing a duplicate of this coin in the possession of 

 Lieutenant Fytche, I was struck with the resemblance of the first figure 

 to a 9 and looking into the Rd-dzd-iveng or Arakanese history, I found 

 Meng -Rd-dzd-gyi mentioned with the Pali and Mahumudan titles (the 

 latter differing slightly in the spelling) as inscribed on the coin. The 

 coin must have been struck in the eighth year of his reign. 



