________________
APRIL, 1882.)
COINS OF THE ARABS IN SIND.
93
AŅMAD. No. 15. Silver. Weight ? grains. Dr. Burgess Obverse.
y alty
الله وحدا لاشریک له
Reverse.
الله الا مبر
احمد
'ABD-ALLAH (Wali and Malik). No. 16. Silver: New coins. Dr. Burgess. Obverse.
رسول
further in the following terms :-" There is some relationship between the royal family of el-Mansurah and the family of esh-Shawârib, the Kadi, RI
IJT for the kings of el-Mansurah are of the family of Habbir ben el-Aswad, you I !, and have the name of Beni 'Amr ben 'Abd el-Aziz el-Karshî, wi!
I SAJ who is to be distinguished from 'Amr ben 'Abd el-Aziz ben Merwân, the Omaiyide (Khalif)."26 No. 12. Copper. Size, 4. Weight 35 grains.
Common. Legends-as in the silver coins, with the exception that they is placed, for economy of space, in the opening between the two J's of 44. The die execution of these pieces is generally very degraded. No. 13. Copper. Size, 3;. Weight 21 grains.
Unique. Mr. Bellasis. Mansarah, A.H... 4. Obverse. --Blank. Reverse. Centre : iio dy ............. gi! Margin: ......
gail
BANÚ 'UMAR. No. 14. Copper. Size, 4;. Weight 36 graing.
Unique. Sir Bartle Frere.
Obverse. - Central device, four lines crossing each other at a common centre, so as to form a species of star of eight points; four of these are, however, rounded off by dots.
Legend, arranged as a square :
a_)
عبد الله
Reverse.
بالله ولی عبد الله و ملی
محمد رسول الله -ر
with single dots at the corner angles, and two small circles filling in the vacant spaces outside of each word.
Margin.-Two plain circular lines, with an onter circle of dots.
Reverse.-Central legends in three lines within a triple circle composed of dots, circlets, and an inner plain line. I transcribe the logend, with due reservation, as :
In terminating this brief notice of the Mubammadan coins of Sind I wish to advert, momentarily, to the information obtained from the early Arabian travellers in India, respecting the mixed currencies of Sind and the adjoining provinces.
The merchant Sulaiman, A.H. 237 (A.D. 851), is the first who affords us any insight into the condition of the circulating media of the land; he tells us that, among other pieces used in commerce in the dominions of the Balhará, Tdtariya dirhams took a prominent place, and that these were reckoned in value as equal to 1} of the ordinary coins of the King."
The identification of this term 'atariya has formed the subject of much vague speculation; M. Reinaud's latest conjectare pointed at & derivation from the Greek Oranhp, Stater." normal ancient weight of 100 Ratis, (Sataraktika) or, as nearly as possible, 175 grains. See my Pathan Kings, pp. 317, et 82. and my Ancient Indian Weights, Part 1, of the International Numisnuta Orientalia, pp. 12, 86,70.
28 "La monnaie qui circule dans ses États consiste en pidces d'argent, qu'on nomme thatherya, b . Chacune de ces pièces équivaat à un dirhem et demi monnaie du souverain." Relntion des Voyages, Paris, 1846, tome I, p. 26; Reinaud, L'Inde, 1849 p. 285 : Gildemeister, do Rebus Indicis, Bonn, 1888, p. 188; Tod's Rofasthan, quoted in Prinsep's Essays, vol. I, p. 86. Dr. Sprenger, in his edition of Mas'sadi, proposes the interpretation of Talatsiya.
-
بالله بنر عمرريه منذر
18 Sprenger's Meadows of Gold, p. 385. The Arabic text is given in M. B. de Meynard's edition, p. 377. See also Gildemeister, quoting Ion Haukal, p. 166; and Elliot, citing the same author (Historians of India), p. 63; and Professor Dowson's edition, vol. I. p. 21.
11 Abd Zaid, circa 803 A.. who follows Sulaiman, incidentally mentions: “Autrefois, l'on portait dans l'Inde les dinkes da Sind pain will I Jusut,
infraة مit a troiملdont ohneun buiva الدنا نیرالسند په
ordinaires et davantage,"-(-; Log) p. 153, Reinsad's translation. So, later in point of time, the Exyptian author of the MasAlik-al-Abiar refers to the Tankal d'or as equal to 8 Mithkals. This was the modern representative of the
