SOME justification seems needed for the publication of this Catalogue so soon after the appearance of Mr. R. B. Whitehead's Catalogue of the Coins of the Mughal Emperors in the Panjab Museum (1914) and Mr. II. Nelson Wright's Catalogue of the Mughal Coins in the Indian Museum (1008).
As it was represented to me that, with these two works available, and with little fresh matter to record, there could be little general demand for this Catalogue, I consulted the leading numismatists in India with regard to their views in the matter. They cordially responded to my application. and their opinions may be generally stated as follows: that the Catalogue should be published as soon as possible, for the value of such a work lay in its being a Catalogue, and not in the amount of fresh original matter it contained; and that among specialists there would be a certain and continuous demand for it. At the same time, they gave some valuable suggestions as to the form the Catalogue should take, most of which have been adopted. For example, it was obviously unnecessary to increase the bulk of the volumes by reprinting the Mint notes which appear both in Mr. Nelson Wright's and Mr. Whitehead's Catalogues. I have, therefore, merely given a list of mints, indicating the coins of the several emperors to be found in this collection, and in short notes marked as exactly as possible the periods during which the various honorific titles were used. Fresh matter of numismatic or historical interest has been incorporated in foot-notes.
Volume 1 has been devoted to introductory matter and plates, and contains a list of all known Mughal couplets with reference to this and other collections. It also contains a list of words and phrases used on the coins, with their meanings, and also a list of denominational epithets and terms used in connexion with Mughal numismatics. In addition to the plates of coins at the end of the volume there are four plates of ornaments, and an index has been added giving references to the coins on which they appear.
In compiling this Catalogue, which comprises Volume II, I have attempted throughout to further the object which students of the Mughal series have now chiefly in view-a complete corpus of Mughal coins based on the Mint system.
It did occur to me that, in cataloguing this collection, an arrangement by mints instead of by reigns might be adopted; but valuable as, in my opinion, this would have been, it would have detracted seriously from its usefulness as a work of reference. It was also suggested that changes in type might be marked more definitely by printing the number of the first coin, exhibiting each such change in thicker characters: but it seemed to me that this would be premature before numismatists have agreed upon what constitutes a type. An attempt has. however, been made to furnish data as far as possible towards this end by marking alterations in style and ornament perhaps more minutely than has been done hitherto. The determination of what constitutes a type, and the determination of the different types of the several emperors, is, as Mr. R. Burn has pointed out, a most necessary preliminary to the compilation of a corpus. But the determination of mint marks and ornaments, and the allotting of fixed numbers to these, as well as to the couplets, are equally necessary; and in all these directions I trust that this Catalogue shows some advance.
In one respect the collection of Mughal coins in the Lucknow Museum stands apart from all similar collections: the bulk of the coins which it comprises have been, as will be seen later, derived from treasure trove. The United Provinces, situated as they are in the very control of the Mughal dominions.
Hindu (935)
Agriculture (118)
Ancient (1086)
Archaeology (753)
Architecture (563)
Art & Culture (910)
Biography (702)
Buddhist (544)
Cookery (167)
Emperor & Queen (565)
Islam (242)
Jainism (307)
Literary (896)
Mahatma Gandhi (372)
Send as free online greeting card
Email a Friend
Manage Wishlist