1873.] 
343 
The Initial Coinage of Bengal under the early Muhammadan Conquerors. 
Fart II.—By E. Thomas, F. K. S. 
(Continued, from Journal, Vol. XXXVI, 1867, p. 73.) 
The discovery of an undisturbed hoard of no less than 13,500 coins in 
Koch Bihar, inhumed some five centuries since, recently claimed attention 
both from the number and importance of its representative specimens, which 
so effectively illustrated the history of the kingdom of Bengal for a 
consecutive period of some 107 years.* The earliest date thus accorded 
towards the purely Initial Coinage of the country under its newly-installed 
Muslim administrators did not reach higher than the reign of the 
Empress Baziyah, a.h. 631-637 (a.d. 1236-1239), or more than 31 years 
after the first entry of the adventurous KJiilji and Turhi troops into the 
recognized Hindu capital of the lower Ganges.f A still more recent 
discovery of a comparatively poor man’s cache , in the fort of Bihar,£ 
elucidates an earlier chapter of the local annals: and though the contents 
of the earthen vessel in this case are limited in number to a total of 37 
pieces, and restricted in their dates to a term of 13 years, they, in some 
respects* compete advantageously with the previously-recovered unexampled 
store, in the value of their contributions to the obscure records of the 
Gangetic Delta, and in priority of date bring us more than 20 years nearer 
to the first occupation of Bengal by Muhammad Bakhtyar lihilji in 600 
a.h. As in the larger and almost regal treasure trove of Koch Bihar, the 
specimens in the present instance prove to be essentially of home or 
indigenous fabric. With the exception of a single northern piece of the 
supreme Sultan of India, they are one and all the produce of the mints of 
Bengal proper, and mark with singular fidelity the varied incidents of the 
alternate rise and fall of the provincial governors during the unsettled 
relations existing between suzerain and vassal from a.h. 614 to 627, when 
Altamsh came into real and effectual possession of the south-eastern portion 
of his Empire. 
* Journ. Iv. A. S. (n.S.) Vol. II., 1866, p. 145. Reprinted in the Journal of the 
Asiatic Society of Bengal, vol. XXXVI, 1867, p. 1. 
f The name of Nuddea, VTdljtT, Navadwtpa, the “ new island” (converted into 
by the Muslims), would seem to imply a southerly movement, in concert with the silt of 
the Ganges, of the seat of Government down to the comparatively modern occupation of 
this site, on the abandonment of the successive traditional capitals of earlier dynasties. 
I 1 have no information as to the exact circumstances of the discovery of this small 
hoard, beyond the general intimation that it was secured by Mr. A. M. Broadley, in 
or near the Fort of Bihar. The coins have now become the property of Colonel Guthrie, 
who had already contributed the materials for my earlier notice of the Initial Coinage of 
Bengal. 
Y Y 
•15 
