351 
1873.] E. Thomas —The Initial Coinage of Bengal. — Bt. II. 
The date of a.h. 614, this earliest numismatic record contributed by 
the Bengal mints, is further remarkable as the epoch of Altamsh’s final 
assertion of supremacy on the defeat of his last powerful competitor in 
Hindustan, Na^ir-ud-din Qubdchah , after he had already disposed of his other 
prominent rival, Taj-ud-din llduz, in 612 a.h. The issue of these provincial 
coins, at this conjuncture, would seem to attest the first voluntary 
recognition of Altamsh by Husam-ud-din Twaz, who was at this time in 
undisturbed possession of Bengal and its dependencies. The adoption of 
the Cavalier device on the obverse may have been suggested by the 
conventional acceptance of that design on the money of the native princes 
of the North-west, whose hereditary types were copied by Muhammad bin 
Sam, and retained for a long period by Altamsh himself. In the new 
mintage, however, the Rajput horseman with his spear is- superseded by the 
Turk! Cavalier with the historical mace, # and the general outline of the 
coarse Northern steed may perchance have been heightened to record a 
triumph, or to carry a menace to the subjected Bangalis,f who had left their 
king to escape ignominiously, and virtually surrendered their capital to the 
eighteen troopers of Muhammad Bakhtyar’s advance guard. 
Among other peculiarities of these coins is the tenor of their legends, 
which differ from the ordinarily adopted Imperial intitulations of the Sultan, 
who is here designated as ^haJ^the slave or freedman of Qutb-ud-dm Aibak, 
—a term which may have concealed a latent taunt to one who was now 
supreme in the chance virtue of his arms, or may otherwise indicate the 
independent Kliilji method of discriminating the followers of Qutb-ud-dm 
* Mahmud of Ghaznfs favourite weapon. Tradition affirms that it was preserved 
in all honour by the guardians of his tomb at Ghazni. (Atkinson, Expedition into 
Afghanistan, p. 222). So much credence was attached to this ancient legend, that we find 
Lord Ellenborougli in 1842 instructing his generals in sober earnestness, to “ bring away 
from the tomb of Mahmud of Gliaznf his club which hangs over it.” Muhammad 
Bakhtyar himself had also won glory by the use of his mace in his gladiatorial encounter, 
single-handed, with an elephant, who was compelled to retreat before the first blow of his 
powerful arm. 
f The name of Asivapatis, “ Lords of Horses,” was subsequently applied specifically 
in Orisa to the Muhammadan conquerors. Mr. Hunter remarks, “ The Telugu Palm Leaf 
MSS. state that between (Saka 895) a.d. 972 and a.d. 1563, three great powers successively 
arose. During this period, the Gajapatis, ‘ Lords of Elephants,’ ruled in Orissa and the 
north of Madras; the Narapaiis, ‘ Lords of Men,’ held the country to the southwards. 
The Lords of Horses were the Musalmans, who, with their all-devouring Pathan cavalry, 
overthrew the two former.”—Orissa, ii., p. 8. Stirling, Asiatic Researches, xv., p. 25-4. 
Am-i-Akbari, Gladwin’s translation, i., p. 319. Abul Fazl, in describing the game of cards, 
affected by his royal master, speaks of “ Ashweput, the king of the horses. He is painted 
on horseback, like the king of Dehli, with the Cliutter, the Alum, and other ensigns of 
royalty ; and Gujput , the king of the elephants, is mounted on an elephant, like the king 
of Orissa.” 
