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THE INDIAN ANTIQUARY
( NOVEMBER, 1928
Sultâns of Gujarât. These coins belong to the Nizam Shahi dynasty of Ahmadnagar. Recently in 1926, Professor S. H. Hodivala has contributed a learned article on the unpublished coins of the Sultâns of Gujarat to the Journal of the Bombay Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society.
The coins which will be described in this paper are believed to be altogether new types and have not been published anywhere so far. This find consists of coins of the Sultans of Gujarat from Ahmad I to Bahadur Shah, but it is specially rich in the coins of Mahmad I to Bahadur Shah. The coins of Ahmad I and Bahadur Shah found in this hoard bear dates 843 and 941 A..., respectively. Therefore these coins cover a period of about a century. As the coins of Bahadur Shah are of so late a date as 941 A.n., it is, therefore, believed that this hoard of coins was buried in the earth somewhere in the closing year of Bahadur Shah's reign. This hoard also contains a large number of specimens of Muzaffar Shah II, out of which the dated coins are of 930 A.H., the last two figures written in the reverse position. Besides it may be interesting to note that one coin of Firuz III, Tughlag, (752-790 A.H.), two coins of Ņusain Shah of Jaunpur (863-881 A.H.) and one coin of Shah-i-Hind (published by Dr. G. P. Taylor in Num. Suppt. No. 33) are also found in this hoard.
I am not in a position to explain how these coins got mixed with this board of the coins of the Sultans of Gujarat. The presence of these four coins may be the result of some oversight. It would not be safe to make any more definite suggestion.
The new types which I am going to describe belong to Mahmud Shah I, Muzaffar Shah II and Bahadur Shah.
From the historical point of view, the coins of Mahmûd Shah I are the most important, as they appear to extend the period of Mahmud Shah's reign to 919 A.H.
Coins of Maḥmad Shah I. Coins of Mahmûd Shah I bearing the date 919 A.. havd not been noticed so far. All the historians and other learned authorities say with one voice that Mahmûd I reigned up till 917 A.H.= 1511 A.D. In the Bombay Gazetteer, vol. I, part 1, 1896, pp. 248, there is the following statement :
"From 1508 Mahmud remained at his capital till his death in December A.D. 1513 at the age of sixty-seven years and three months, after a reign of fifty-four years and one month." Now the year 919 A.H. began on the 9th March 1513 A.D., and Mahmûd died in December 1513 A.D., i.e. nine months later. The coin, therefore, corroborates the statement in the Gazetteer and extends the period of Mahmûd's coinage right up to the year of his death, i.e. up to 919 A.H. There is one more important coin of this Sultan which has on it the mint town Muhammadabad. Dr. Taylor says in his article, on page 317, “In silver the issue must have been considerablemy cabinet contains some thirteen specimens-but I have never found a single copper coin bearing the name of this mint." Silver coins of this Sultan of the later dates are found ; copper coins have been noticed of dates up to 911 or 912 A... only, but this board contains coins of all the years from 911 to 919 A..., except 918.
Coins of Mugaffar Shah II. There are four new types in the coins of Muzaffar Shah II. The interesting coins are those which bear she pll als below the name of Muzaffar Shah. In one case the legend is written in such an unusual way that it becomes altogether inexplicable. Silver coins with this legend are found, but I have not come across any copper coin bearing it. Dr. Taylor has deg. cribed one silver coin of Muzaffar Shah II with she Uslá as legend (vide No. 50, page 333 of his article). But he says "this coin may be Mugaffar Shah III, to whom it is assigned in the British Museum Catalogue, Muhammadan States, No. 440." I have seen a photograph of the coin in the British Museum referred to by Dr. Taylor, and I am of opinion that both these coins belong to Muzaffar Shah II, as the coin which I have got is more or less similar to them.
Coins of Bahadur Shah. The coins of Bahadur Shah are very important in as much as they contain about eight new varieties not published 80 far. Muhammadan numismatists, I believe, will be
