89 
1892.] H. G. Raverty— Some Muhammadan Goins. 
The mint name at page 10, which, it is said, has been read as 
“ Baluquan ” or “ Taluqudn ” by Mr. Rodgers, is an error for — 
Belekan, a city of Arran, between Shir wan and Azarbaijan. 
That on page 11 read as “ Taliquan,” is o&Kh—Tal-kan, with no 
‘i ’ in it, and does not refer to the place styled “ Talikhan” in Walker’s 
and other maps, which was called “ Tal-kan of Tuhhdristdn ,” east of 
Kundoz, but “Tal-kan” here meant (also written —Tae-ghan by 
the Mughals and other Turks who change k into gh), “ of Khurasan ” 
situated between Balkh and Marw-ar-Rud on the Murgh-ab, three days 
journey from Marw-ar-Rud in one direction, and the same from Sha- 
burghan or Shafurkan (the “ Shibarghan ” and “ Shibirkhan ” of the 
maps j in another, the Murgh-ab river separating them. Tal-kan of 
Khurasan was a famous stronghold ; particulars respecting it will be 
found at pages 1003 and 1008 of the Tabakat-i-Nasiri, and also of its 
capture by the Mu gh als, at page 1012. 
The officers of the Af gh an Boundary Commission were several times 
within a few miles, and sometimes close to, most of the famous strong¬ 
holds captured or invested by the Mu gh als at this period, without know¬ 
ing anything about them. I could have furnished them with much 
information on this subject; and had the Government of India supplied 
them with a copy of my translation of the work in question, they might 
have found, and explored, many famous places, and not have been ignorant 
of their past history.^ 
The mints of the coins Nos. 58 and 59 are the same Shaburghan or 
Shafurkan, according to the same change of letters. Sultan Muhammad 
first obtained sway over Hirat in 598 H. (1201-2 A. D.), and, on that 
occasion, coin No. 72 appears to have been struck; and again in 600 H. 
(1203-4 A. D.), and finally in 607 H. (1210-11 A. D.). The district 
called the Zamin-i-Dawar followed, and on that occasion No. 71 was 
probably coined. 
The mint name of Nos. 76 and 81 must certainly be —Sughd, 
not which is meaningless, nor Su gh d means a depres¬ 
sion, a place where rain water collects ; and the name of a town and 
* The following is a specimen. In a book lately published, entitled “ Northern 
Afghanistan, or Letters from the Afghan Boundary Commission” by Major C. E. 
Yate, C. S. I., p. 184 is the following:—“ What the name of Panjdeh, literally the 
five villages, originally arose from, I cannot say. From the fact of the Sariks being 
divided into five clans or sections, each with its separate settlements, it would look 
at first sight as if they had given the name to the place ; but this is not the case, 
as the name is of ancient date, being mentioned, so Rawlinson says, by Hafiz Abru 
in A. D. 1417.” 
In the Tabakat-i-Nasiri he would have found that Panj-dih was a well known 
place three centuries and a half before Hafiz Abru wrote. 
