1888.] 
25 
Slidh Nilru-d-din Jahangir. 
Obv. alA jjj 
Rev. lir^t $h* 
i. e., e The king Jahangir, son of Akbar Shah, the defender of the 
faith, stamped the coin in the city of Burhanpur.’ 
On the Bacchanalian mohur of Jahangir are two couplets. The 
one along with the enthroned drinking king is as follows :— 
t «>.^ 
i. e ., 1 Fates have drawn the picture of his Majesty, the king Jahangir, 
on the coin of gold.’ 
The other side of the coin has the sun in a square in the centre. 
To the right is S <^.x*vo b To the left is f *rr ^♦^■1 
Above is the first line of the following couplet, and below the second 
one:— 
<xlJf j 
<-Jjt jjj J 
i. e., 1 The letters in the word Jahangir and those in Allahu Akbar, 
are equal in number since the first day.’ 
The meaning of this last couplet is that the letters in the word 
Jahangir and those in <GJf have the same numerical value 
in reckoning by the Abjad system. Thus ^ = 3, 8 = 5, I = 1, ^ 50, 
^ = 20, ^ = 10, j = 200. Total 289. Again I = 1, J = 30, J = 
30, * = 5, I = 1, u* = 20, v = 2 ,j = 200. Total 289. 
The couplet may be freely translated thus :— 
The letters in Jahangir’s name, 
And in that of God the Greatest 
From the first day have one value had, 
And shall have to the latest. 
There is, I suspect, more than one sees on the surface here ;—a sly 
attempt to make himself equal with God, seeing the letters of the name 
of the king and of God were of the same numerical value. This coin 
was struck in Ajmir probably during the time Sir Thomas Roe was 
resident there. Sir Thomas tells ns how Jahangir lived and how, when 
he was very drunk, he could discuss religious subjects. Probably this 
couplet was made for the king by some of his flattering courtiers. As 
the manufacture of TdriJchs has always been a favourite one with poets, 
it need not surprise us that this couplet was made. The poet must 
have known the numerical value of every word. 
I have given above about 30 coin couplets. They are as a rule puro 
poetic rubbish. But they show how the penny-a-liner of the day 
D 
