1881.] 
C. J. Rodgers —On the Coins of the Sikhs. 
71 
when Shams-ud-din “ sent forces from Dehli towards Lakhnauti, possess¬ 
ed himself of Bihar, and installed his own Amir therein.” But there is 
really no evidence of the existence of a Bihar mint at this time ; but the 
passage quoted from the Muhammadan historian may show how it came 
to pass that some of Shams-ud-din’s coins, struck at Dehli, were carried 
thence to Lakhanauti. 
The second observation refers to the style of the letters. Three 
different styles can be clearly distinguished : a rude and ill-formed, an ordi¬ 
nary square and an ornamental oblong. The first style may be best seen 
in Nos. 1 and 5 ; the second in Nos. 4, 29, the third in Nos. 3, 11. The 
rude form is peculiar to the early Bengal coins of Ghiyas-ud-din Twaz 
and to Shams-ud-din’s coins of the horseman type. The ornamental oblong 
is seen in all Bengal coins of Mughis-ud-din. The imperial coins show 
both the ordinary square and the ornamental oblong style, more or less 
distinctly; thus compare Nos. 3 and 4 of Shams-ud-din and Nos. 10 and 
29 of Nasir-ud-din. Whether any and what conclusions may be drawn 
from these facts regarding the mints from which they may have been 
issued, I must leave others to decide, who understand more of Indian 
Numismatics than I do. 
On the Coins of the Sikhs.—By Chas. J. Rodgees. 
The power and rule of the Sikhs have passed away. The year which 
witnessed the total destruction of the Sikh army at Gujrat, witnessed also 
the annexation of the Panjab to British India. Since 1849 the Sikhs have 
been nothing more than what they were before the time of Gobind Singh, 
a religious sect. All signs of their political influence and superiority are 
fast passing away from the country. When the present generation has 
passed away, there will be little in the Panjab to show that the Sikhs were 
once rulers. Even now it is forty years since the death of Ranjit Singh, 
and it is only here and there one meets a Musalman zamindar who tells us 
of what he suffered from Sikh extortion and oppression. And it is only 
now and then one meets with a grey beard who glories in the memories of 
the raids of the Sikh soldiery. 
The history of the Sikhs from the time of Nanak to the battle of 
Gujrat is one of the most interesting and instructive studies in the whole 
range of modern revolutions. It shows how religiousness and quaintness, 
combined with self-denial and an open house can carry the day against all 
established customs and national prejudices. It shows how a little truth 
combined with shrewdness and eccentricity, audacity and assertion, bold and 
long continued, can at last prevail over all objections. By religiousness I 
