insertion of the short vowels with the more deferred issues, as it, on the other hand, closely identifies itself in these marked peculiarities with the initial dies of Altamsh and the closely sequent coinages of Rizíah, two of which latter are now known to be the produce of the Lakhnauti Mint. RIZIAH. The earliest coins that can be definitely attributed to a Bengal mint, are those of the celebrated Queen Regnant of Muhammadan India-Rizíah, the daughter of Altamsh. The ministers at her father's court were scandalized at the preference it was proposed to extend to a daughter, in supercession of the claims of adult male heirs to the throne; but the Sultán justified his selection, alike on account of the demerits of his sons, and the gifts and acquirements of his daughter, who had been brought up under the unusual advantages of freedom from the seclusion enjoined for females by the more severe custom of ordinary Moslem households, aided by the advantages incident to the exalted position occupied by her mother as the leading and independently-domiciled wife. After the brief reign of Rukn-uddín Fírúz, extending over less than seven months-who freely exemplified by his misconduct his father's prophetic reproach-Rizíah succeeded in establishing her supremacy in the city of Dehli (A. H. 734), and Eastern eyes witnessed the singular spectacle of an unveiled and diademed Queen-the first in India-directing the hosts of Islám, under the canopy of the immemorial regal seat on an elephant. Rizíah's early inauguration was attended with no inconsiderable danger and difficulty, arising from the organised military resources of the various governors of provinces, who hesitated in conceding their allegiance. Eventually, however, to use the expression of Minhájul-Siráj, quiet was established throughout the empire, and Rizíah's sway was acknowledged from " Daibal to Lakhnautí." In A.H. 737, the Empress proceeded in person to quell an outbreak on the part of Ikhtíár-ud-din Altúníah, Governor of Tiberhind; but was taken captive in the engagement that ensued, and, possibly with scant ceremony, introduced into the harem of the conqueror, who shortly afterwards advanced upon Dehli in the hope of recovering the sovereignty, to which he had thus acquired an adventitious claim; but ६ his army was in turn defeated, and himself and Rizíah met their deaths near Kaithal in the month of Rabi-al-Awal, ▲.¤. 738. * The contemporary biographer in his official lists styles this queen a title which she affects on the ordinary copper السلطان رضية الدين coins, but on the silver money she adopts the designation of الدین Jalalat-ud-din. Rizíah. COIN NO. 2. Silver. Size, vii. Weight, 168 grs. Plate I., figure 1. Type, Obverse, the whole surface is occupied by the legend. Reverse, circuler area, enclosing a double-lined square. * * هذا الفضة بلكنوتي سنة Reverse Margin, * (See also a similar coin from the Laknautí Mint, Plate i., fig. 27, page 19. Coins of the Pathán Sultáns of Hindústán.‡ Tabakát Násiri, pp. 183, 185, 251. See also Ibn Batutah, iii. pp. 167, 168. + Pathán Sultáns, Nos. 28, 29. It would seem from the orthography adopted in this earliest record of the name of Laknauti (¿) that the original Semitic transcription was designed to follow the classical derivation of Lakshmanavatí (a), which was soon, however, adapted to the more colloquial Luchhman (s) by the addition of an h after the k, as; in which form it appears under the first local Sultáns (coin No. 3, etc.). Minháj-ul-Siráj relates its elevation to the rank of the capital in supercession of Nuddeah by Muhammad Bakhtíár in the following terms: چون بختیار آن مملکت را ضابط کرد شهر نودید را خراب محمد ساخت دارالملک لكهنوتی است و بر موضعی که بگذاشت Printed edit. p. 151. The same author, at p. 162, gives a full account of the remarkable size, progress, and general topography of the city as existing in 641 A.B. on the occasion of his own visit. It is difficult to say when the name of the city was changed to Gaur, a denomi nation which is never made use of by the older authorities. Abul Fazi says, 1.-RUKN-UD-DIN KAI KAU'S. The full and satisfactory identification of the king who ruled under the designation of Káús has yet to be accomplished. Rájendralála Mitra has suggested a notion that Násir-ud-dín Mahmúd, the son of Balban, so often mentioned in this article, sought, as local ruler of Bengal, "to continue his allegiance to his grandson Kaimurs [momentarily king of Dehli], even after his deposition, and possibly after his death,"* by retaining his name on the public money. I should be disposed to seek a less complicated explanation of the numismatic evidences. Kai Káús' date, tested by the examples of his mintages in the Kooch Bahár hoard, is limited, in range of time, to five years (691-695 A.H.);† a latitude might be taken beyond the ascertained units, which are somewhat indeterminate in their tracings, and have equally suffered from abrasion, on the exposed margins of the coins, but the ninety and the six hundred can scarcely be contested. If we examine the political state of India at this period, we find that Hindustán was abnormally quiet under the feeble rule of Jalál-ud- dín Fírúz (687-696 A.H.): Alá-ud-dín's conquests in the Dakhin could have but little affected Bengal, so that any changes that may have taken place in the latter kingdom were probably due to successional or revolutionary causes arising within its own limits. We can scarcely build up a theory of an access of vigour and assumption of "Formerly it was called Lucknouty, and sometimes Gour" (A.A. ii. p. 11); while Budáuni gives a ridiculous version of the origin of the designation as being derived from. He writes نهاي بتها محمد بختیار معابد کفار را ویران ساخته مساجد و خوانق و مدارس کرد و دارالملك The obvious imperfection بنام خویش تعمیر فرمود که کور نام دارد of the critical philology of the derivation, however, debars its reception, as does the caustic alternative of "grave," which the often deserted site, under the speedy action of water and a semi-tropical vegetation, may have deservedly earned for it. But it is quite legitimate to infer that as was the ancient name for central Bengal (Wilson, Glossary, sub voce; Albírúní, quoted J. R. A. S. i., N. S., p. 471), and so intimately associated with the tribal divisions of the indigenous Brahmans, that the designation originated in the popular application of the name of the country to its own metropolis, and that the town continued to be called Gaur in vernacular speech in spite of the new names so frequently bestowed upon it by its alien lords. *Jour. As. Soc. Beng., 1864, p 508. + Rájendra Lála says, "the units one and three are perfectly clear." Col. Guthrie's three coins are imperfect in the word for the unit. I observe traces of a four on two specimens ; and I read, with some certainty, 695 on another. |