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IMMORTAL COINS.

cut in the die from which the coin is to be stamped, as is generally practised in Europe: it is usually impressed with the name of the reigning monarch, the date of the year in the Hegira, and perhaps some appropriate or flattering title. In the reign of Akber were struck those immense gold masses, distinguished as the immortal coins: the largest, called Henseh, weighed upwards of one hundred totahs, in value one hundred lual jilaly mohurs, not much short of two hundred pounds sterling, estimating the gold mohur at fifteen silver rupees of half a crown each; others were of half that value; from which they diminished to the small round mohur, valued at nine silver rupees; some of these were marked with flowers, especially the tulip and the rose, but never with the representation of any animated form. In the place of such emblems, Akber had moral sentences and tetastichs from the Persian poets, the praises of the Almighty, or his own titles, engraved on the die in a most beautiful manner. On the sehenseh were these words on one side.

"The sublime monarch! the most exalted khalif! May God perpetuate his kingdom and his reign! and increase his justice and righteousness!"

On the reverse of the sehenseh :

"The best coin is that which is employed in supplying men with the necessaries of life, and that benefits the companions in the road to God."

On some of the smaller coins were the following inscriptions in Persian characters, some of them ornamented with a tulip and wild-rose.

"God is greatest!" on the reverse, "O defender! God is greatest! mighty is his glory!"-with the date.

"This current coin accompanies the star of good fortune; the sun nourishes it for this cause, that to eternity it may be ennobled by the impression of Akber Shah."

The seals of this illustrious prince were equally characteristic of his piety and justice.

On the seal for petitions were these words: "Rectitude is the means of pleasing God!" "I never saw any one but in a straight road." There is one exception in Hindostan, if not more, to the general rule of the Mahomedan emperors not permitting any effigy, or the representation of men and animals on the imperial coins: this is well known to those who have seen the zodiac rupees in India which in complete sets, are now only to be met with in the cabinets of the curious, or occasionally found singly in different provinces. I once saw an entire collection of these rupees in silver, and a few others procured by chance, of the same metal: those of gold and copper never came within my observation. There are two legends current in India respecting these singular coins. One relates, that in the reign of the emperor Jehangheer, son of the celebrated Akber, and father of Shah Jehan, his favorite Sultana Noorjehan, or Light of the World, a woman of transcendant beauty and genius, having prevailed upon the emperor to grant her power for one day over his empire, she ordered a new coinage in the different metals, to be impressed under twelve varied dies, with the signs of the zodiac, from whence they have been always distinquished by that appellation. This was certainly the most effectual, and perhaps the most ingenious, method

of giving universality and perpetuity to the existence of her influence over an imperial husband.

Another story rejects the interference of the Sultana Noorjehan, in the coinage of the zodiac rupees, which it rather attributes to a whim of the emperor himself; as Jehangheer was a prince of great eccentricity, and though a Mussulman, was a bon-vivant, and possibly issued the order when in a mirthful mood. In refutation to that part of the legend which limits the whole coinage to one day, it is asserted that the zodiac rupees are of different dates, and it is supposed that the Mogul mint-master had some clever European in his service, from some of the figures being executed in a masterly manner, in the European style. The dies are unequal, and some of the impressions are very different.

Akber was succeeded by Selim his son, who then took the name of Jehangheer; this emperor appointed his son sultan Currim to be viceroy of Guzerat, and conferred on him the title of Shah-Jehan, "King of the World," which he retained after he became emperor, in 1628. It was during the reign of Jehangheer, in 1615, that Sir Thomas Roe was sent on an embassy to the Mogul court, by James the First, king of England.

About that time the soubah of Guzerat was in a very flourishing condition: if we are to believe the Mogul writers, Ahmedabad then contained near three millions of inhabitants; I should imagine one third of the number to be nearer the truth. When I was there they were reduced to three hundred thousand, of whom two parts were Mahomedans and the rest Hindoos.

During the reign of Shah Jehan, his sons, Morad

and Aurungzebe, successively enjoyed the soubahship of Guzerat, and kept a splendid court at Ahmedabad, which they greatly improved, and there fostered all the arts of peace. Ahmedabad continued under the Mahratta government until 1779, when an English army, commanded by General Goddard, took it by storm; and for political reasons, the city with its immediate territory was ceded to Futty Sihng the Hindoo Chieftain of Guzerat, leaving an English garrison in the citadel, which they were in possession of on my arrival at the termination of the war in 1783, when it was restored to the Mahrattas.

The most splendid palaces at Ahmedabad were in too ruinous a state during my visit, to furnish a sufficient description; but to give some idea of these structures in the time of the imperial princes, I shall mention the dewané khass, one of the halls in the palace of Shah Allum, described by Francklin; which, although repeatedly stripped and plundered by successive invaders, still retains great beauty. "This building is a hundred and fifty feet in length, by forty in breadth. The roof is flat, supported by numerous columns of fine white marble, which have been richly ornamented with inlaid flowered work of different coloured stones. The cornices and borders have been decorated with a frieze and sculptured work. The ceiling was formerly incrusted with a rich foliage of silver, throughout its whole extent; and the delicacy of the inlaying in the compartments of the walls is much to be admired. Around the exterior of the dewané khass, in the cornice, are the following lines, written in letters of gold, upon a ground of white marble: "If there be a paradise upon earth this is it; it is this; it is this!" The

terrace of this building is composed of large slabs of marble, and the whole is crowned at top with four cupolas of the same material. The royal baths built by Shah Jehan near the dewané khass, consisting of three large rooms, surmounted by domes of white marble, are lined with the same, and ornamented with beautiful borders of flowers, worked with cornelian stones."

During the splendid reigns of the imperial house of Timur, we behold despotism in rather an engaging form; in cultivating the arts of peace, she assumes her mildest aspect; yet absolute power, in its best estate, must be attended with many unhappy consequences. A prince, who wishes to rule with clemency, rarely has it in his power. Shortly after the royal diadem adorns his brow, some confederacy is formed against him, by sons, brothers, or near relations, and he thinks himself under the necessity of putting them to death, or depriving them of sight, to prevent his own destruction from a successor who is too soon to feel the thorns so thickly intermingled with the roses of royalty.

These horrid crimes cast a gloom over oriental annals; history paints the way to the musnud through a sea of blood; yet, after being firmly established, the Mogul princes in general governed well. No monarch ever ascended a more sanguinary throne than Aurungzebe; we start with horror at the treatment of his aged father, and the cruel fate of his wretched brothers; but when these obstacles were removed, few sovereigns have displayed (except in his bigotted persecution of the Hindoos) more justice and clemency than Aurungzebe, during a long reign of fifty years: