96 
C. J. Rodgers— The Square Silver Coins of 
[No. 2, 
another date in figures or are the coins of kings who reigned long 
after 842. One coin of Muhammad Shah No. 32, PI. Ill has the date 
842 in figures as well as words. (4) The date on coin No. I, PI. I, 
is certainly like the date on the coins of Zain ul Abidin. And yet 
No. I is a coin of Sikandar the father of this king. It is just possible 
that Zain ul Abidin struck the coin in honour of his father. All the 
silver coins I have yet seen of Zain ul Abidin have one date 842 in 
both figures and words, the figures appearing on the obverse and the 
words in the corners of the reverse. Hasan Shah’s coins have on them 
876 in figures on the obverse and yet 842 in Arabic words on the reverse. 
Path Shah and Nadir Shah in his earlier years used the same date 842 
as far as I can judge. (5) The reverse of a coin of Akbar, No. 28, 
PI. II seems to have been struck with the very die that was used for 
Mahmud’s coin No. 18, PI. II, the year having the same 961 two 
years before Akbar came to the throne. All this is very strange. It 
reduces the value of the coins as aids in historical research to a mini¬ 
mum. What we want in the history of Kashmir is an accurate and 
trustworthy chronology and yet the coins which we usually regard as 
worthy of trust prove in this case to be worthless or nearly so. All the 
manuscript histories I have as yet consulted give different dates. They 
all vary from Prinsep. And Prinsep and all the MSS. differ from 
the coins. The later coins, however, seem trustworthy. I think we may 
accept the date in figures on Hasan Shah’s coin, 876. The date on both 
the silver and copper coins of Haidar Shah is in figures'874. This date 
was evidently a favourite one for I have a small copper coin of Muham¬ 
mad Shah and also of Path Shah with this date on in figures. There 
are parallel cases to this. In my paper on the Sikh coins I showed 
that Ranjit Singh adhered to the year 1884 A. S. for ten years and 
to 1885 A. S. the Sikhs adhered until they ceased coining. But in 
small figures on the other side the real year was inserted. Again the 
H. E. I. Company struck coins at Farrukhabad on which the year is 
invariable 45th of Shah Alain : at Murshedabad 19th year. Surat and 
Calcutta mints each had an invariable year. Fortunately we have no 
need of numismatic aid for the period of the Company’s rule. 
It will be seen that no coins of the early Sultans have as yet been 
found. If my reading of the date of coin No. 1, pi. I, bearing Sikan- 
dar’s name be correct then the first silver coins are those of Zain ul 
Abidin. We have, however, Sikandar’s coins in copper. In my own 
small cabinet I have five undoubtedly his and several doubtful ones. 
Every cabinet of coins in the Panjab contains a lot of coins of Kashmir 
in copper which no one has yet been able to assign to any known ruler. 
It is very peculiar that no coins bearing the name of Habib Shah 
