1881.] 
91 
C. J. Rodgers —On the Coins of the SiTchs. 
it is their way of spelling Tegh Bahadur. But dheg is so out-of-the-way 
a pronunciation for Tegh, I cannot think this is what is meant. The 
reverse is equally obscure. Perhaps some larger coins may he found of 
both these types. (The next letter after the g is p. Therefore Dheg 
Dahddur may he meant.) 
No. 71 is a more satisfactory coin. Obverse “ Sen Singh 1898” S. 
The word Singh is spelt in the usual vulgar fashion, and the date in Arabic 
figures reads backwards 8981 like as on some coins of Hyder Ali. The 
reverse has a cross and a leaf and the mint in Persian, but there is not enough 
of its letters to enable us to make it out. It is a rough coin and the only 
one I have yet seen bearing a ruler’s name, if No. 70 has not Tegh Bahadur 
on it. 
No. 72 is a lump of copper. It has on one side in Persian “ Zcirb i 
Kashmir .” On the other “ Samwat 1880” in a circle. This was struck 
four years after the conquest of Kashmir. The rough coins of Ahmad 
Shah, struck in Kashmir, are exactly of this type, lumps of copper stamped 
and made current. 
No. 73 is just such another piece of metal as No. 72. It has on the 
obverse in Gurmukhi “ Ndnalc Sa n (li). On reverse it has two swords, 
hack to back, between which is a flower or dotted rays. The whole was 
enclosed in a double circle with dots. It is a Kashmir coin. The inscrip¬ 
tion may read Nana (Id) (zarb i) Kash {mir .) 
No. 74 is a gold mohur of 1861 S. It hears the inscriptions of the 
rupees figs. 26, 27 &c. The only particular thing to notice in it is that 
it has no alif in the word Akdl. Thus it would seem to have been struck 
during the period Mora was exercising so baneful an influence over the 
sovereign and his court. I cannot conceive so grave a mistake happening, 
unless all supervision had been taken away from the mint. It was repeated 
year after year. It is true the coin was in Persian, and the Sikhs are not 
Persian readers. The hatred of Guru Gohind Singh towards Muham¬ 
madanism was so great that he prohibited the study of Persian, and positively 
forbade any one of his followers getting his livelihood by the use of it. 
And yet as we have seen all the rupees of the Sikhs are in Persian, bad 
Persian it is true, but Persian. Ranjit Singh’s most trusted adviser was 
the faqir (as he in his false humility called himself) Aziz ud Din. Ranjit 
Singh could neither read nor write. He was in learning a thousand years 
behind his time. Hence I suppose he cared little as to what was on his 
coins. And his subjects cared less, provided they got good weight and good 
metal. That the metal is good is shown by the Nanak Shahi rupees being 
in constant demand for the manufacture of ornaments and from the fact 
that they sell for 17 annas each, on account of the excellent silver they 
have in them. 
