JOURNAL OF BENGAL ART Volume 21, 2016 EDITOR: ENAMUL HAQUE ICsBA THE INTERNATIONAL CENTRE FOR STUDY OFBENGAL ART HOUSE 1054, ROAD 7 (NEW), MIRPUR DOHS, DHAKA, BANGLADESH E-mail:bengalart1995@gmail.com; www.bengalart.org PUBLISHED BY Professor Dr. Enamul Haque Chairman THEINTERNATIONAL CENTRE FOR STUDY OF BENGAL ART © ICSBA, 2016 PRICE Taka 1,500/- (Bangladesh) Rupees 1,500/- (India) US Dollar 45 (0ther countries) ISSN: 1607-1344 PRINTED AT Bengal Com-Print 68/5, Green Road, Panthapath, Dhaka-1205 Phone: 8611142, 0171300936 CONTENTS Contents 5-6 Contributors 7-8 Sutapa Sinha Coinage of Medieval Chattagram with aSpecial Note on Chittagong Trade Series' of 16th Century 9-18 Gerald Kozicz The Cruciform Temple of Tholing: The Transfer of Architectural Concepts from North-East India to the Western Himalayas Around 1000 CE Nupur Dasgupta Faith, Healing and Serpent Goddesses: Exploring the Threshold between the Ritual and the Medical in the Cults of J nguli - Manas 19-24 25-36 Dipsikha Acharya An Inscribed Four-Armed Vajrasattva Image (Hitherto Unreported) from Ardhanpur, 37-54 Susmita Basu Majumdar and Sandip Pan Punch Marked Coins in Early Bengal: Issuance and Circulation Pattern 55-78 Odisha Shariful Islam Unpublished Kushana Gold Coins in the Bangladesh National Museum 79-119 Farhana Mannan 121-140 Husayn Sh hi Rulers:Bengali Kings"! Shreela Basu 141-146 Dasamahavidya in Bengal Terracotta Temple SrabaniChakraborty Inscribing Authority: The Peculiar Case of Two Metal Vase Inscriptions of Early 147-158 Medieval Bengal Sunil Kumar Patnaik Emergence of Cities and Towns in Ancient Odisha: A Study in Archaeological 159-176 Perspective Atul Chandra Bhowmick AJourney Through Bead History in India 177-188 Mahboob Alam 189-204 Bengal Cartoons Before the End of The Raj Mohammad Yusuf Siddiq Re-Examining Some Lesser Known Arabic and Persian Inscriptions at Bangladesh National Museum [5] 205-224 Ranjusri Ghosh Two Unpublished Jain Sculptures from the Northern Part of West Bengal 225-234 The Vi_nu Image from Goda 235-240 Sanjay Sen Gupta Madhu Khanna Feminine Images in the Patua Paintings of Bengal: A Resource for Feminist Hermeneutics Swati Biswas Revisiting the World of Sheikh Qutban 259-267 Sakir Hussain and Ramesh Chandra Naik An Ethno-Archaeological Study Block, District Bolangir, Odisha 241-258 of Earthenware Production System in Loisingha Najma Khan Majlis Imambaras of Bangladesh: Some Architectural and Cultural Aspects [6] 269-280 281-291 CONTRIBUTORS Sutapa Sinha Department of Islamic History & Culture, University of Calcutta Gerald Kozicz Art Historian, Austria Nupur Dasgupta Professor, Department of History, Jadavpur University, Kolkata Dipsikha Acharya ICHR Post Doctoral Fellow, Department of Archaeology, University of Calcutta Susmita Basu Majumdar and Sandip Pan Professor, Department of Ancient Indian History and Culture, University of Calcutta; Project Associate, Indian Institute ofResearch in Numismatic Studies, Anjaneri, Nashik Shariful Islam Deputy Keeper, Bangladesh National Museum Farhana Mannan Art Historian, UK Shreela Basu Department of Bengali, Visva-Bharati, Shantiniketan Srabani Chakraborty Art Historian, Kolkata SunilKumar Patnaik Archaeologist & Secretary, Odishan Institute of Maritime & South East Asian Studies (OIMSEAS), Department of Culture, Govt. of Odisha. AtulChandra Bhowmick Former Professor,Department of Museology, University of Calcutta Mahboob Alam Academic Director, The International Centre for Study of Bengal Art (ICSBA) Mohammad Yusuf Siddiq Visiting Professor, The International Centre for Study of Bengal Art (1CSBA) Ranjusri Ghosh Art Historian, Kolkata Sanjay Sen Gupta School of Fine Arts, Amity University, Kolkata (7] Madhu Khanna Civilizations, Jamia Millia Islamia, New Centre for the Study of Comparative Religions and Delhi Swati Biswas Professor, Department of Islamic History &Culture, University of Calcutta Sakir HuSsain and Ramesh Chandra Naik Department of History,Sambalpur University. Najma Khan Majlis Professor, Department of Islamic History & Culture, University of Dhaka 8] Journal of Bengal Art, Vol. 21, 2016, 9-18 1 COINAGEOF MEDIEVAL CHATTAGRAM VWITH A SPECIAL NOTE ON °CHITTAGONG TRADE SERIES' OF 16" CENTURY Sutapa Sinha Abstract: Though Bakhtyar Khalji invaded Bengal urfNadia, the Sena capital on the west of the Ganges in 1205 CE, yet the first invasion of extreme south-eastern border of Bengal overlooking Bay of Bengal and comprising chiefly Tripura-Chattagram hill tract was made in the fourth decade of 14" century by Fakhr al-din Mubarak Shah, the first independent Sultan of eastern Bengal. This is more interesting to note that it took another sixty years when we find that coins of Sultan Ghiaysuddin Azam Shah. the third ruler of the Ilyas Shahi house, issued coins for the first time from a mint in Chatta gram which was written as 'Chatganu' in Arabic with an epithet Arsah and bearing a date 801 hiüri i.e. 1398-99 CE. After him, silver coins and Occasional gold coins from Chattagram were struck quite regularly in the 15 century by Jalaluddin Muhammad Shah, Hindu King Danujamarddana Deva and Mahendra Deva, later Ilyas Shahi ruler Nasiruddin Mahmud Shah. Surprisingly from seventh decade of the 15h century, during the reign of Barbak Shah, Chatganu urf Chatgaon mint ceased to issue coins while maximum number of mint including several new mints came into operation, maritime trade relation was a regular feature and when the port of Chattagram became the most active and important centre of international trade and communication. At the end of fourth decade of the 16 century after the decline of the main stream sultanate ruling in Bengal, we find a special group of silver coinage in circulation till the end of Afghan period in and around Chattagram area after Sher Shah Suri held his sway over entire Bengal. Interestingly this coinage never conforms the typical Suri weight standard of 11.5 gm which became imperial standard at that point of time rather it did stick to sultanate standard of up to 10.6 gm but typologically followed the trend of Suri circulated in and around Chattagram region and are commonlycoins. These coins were used to be known among the numismatist as 'trade coinage of Chittagong". The present day Chattagram was known as Chatigrama in Bengali and Chatgaon in Arabic during the medieval period and became more famous as in the British period. The first Muslim conquest in Chatigrama was made in 1340 CE byChittagong Sultan Fakhr al-din Mubarak Shah, the first independent Sultan of eastern part of 'Bangala' and eventually this invasion opened up a long term relation between Banga and Chatigrama in particular and a broader kingdom of Harikela in general. In the present discourse we will find out the numismatic evidence of the Islamic rulers of Bengal (found from different places of the political boundary of their kingdom) supported by the Arabic inscriptions of them (found from the geographical boundary of Chattagram) to throw light on this issue. JOURNAL OF BENGAL ART 10 Plate 1.1: Ghiyath al-din Azam Shah: Mint Arsah Chatganw Chatgaon, [Photo courtesy: Ashmolean Museum Collection, Oxford]. Plate 1.3: Jalal al-din Muhammad Shah, 2nd reign, 1418-1432, AR tanka (10.51g), Mint: Arsah Chatgaon, AH 829, G-B347, tughra on obverse, nashqon reverse Plate 1.2: Ghiyath al-din Azam Shah: Mint Arsah Chatganu / Chatgaon [Photo courtesy: British Museum Collection]. Plate 1.4: Muhammad Shah, 2nd reign, 1418-1432. AR tanka (10.70g), Chatgaon, A.H. 829, G-B347. tughra obverse, clear mint & date, broad flan, 2 banker's marks & 1test mark, Very Fine, Rare. Plate 1.5: Muhammad Shah, 2nd reign, 1418-1432, Plate 1.6: Danujamarddana Deva, Mint: AR tanka (10.70g), Dakhil Banjaliya, AH(8)32, G- Chatigrama [Photo courtesy: British Museum B367, tughra on both sides, date on reverse, 1 Collection, London]. banker's mark and 1relatively short test cut, [Photo courtesy: collection]. Stephen Album Internet Archive COINAGE OF MEDIEVAL CHATTAGRAM 11 Plate 1.7: Danujamarddana Deva, Mint: Plate 1.8: Danujamarddana Deva, Mint: Chatigrama, Date: 1339 Saka era [Photo courtesy: Chatigrama, Date: 1339 Saka era [Photo courtesy: Ashmolean Museum Collection, Oxford]. Stephen Album Internet Archive collection]. Plate 1.9: Shri Mahendra Deva Mint: Chatigrama Plate 1.10: Coins of Sher Shah of Chittagong trade Date: 1340 Saka era [Photo courtesy: Ashmolean series bi-lingual Arabic and Sanskrit Museum Collection, Oxford]. script: Nash and Devnagari. Plate 1.11: Coins of Sher Shah of Chittagong trade series, very crude calligraphy. Plate 1.12: Chittagong: Muhammad Ghazi, ca. 1552-1554/55, AR tanka (10.49g), No mint name, Date: AH957, G-B1002. Ra-574 (this coin), 2 nice bankers' marks on reverse, Extremely Fine, Very Rare, ex. John Deyell collection. [Photo courtesy: Stephen Album Internet Archive collection]. JOURNAL OF BENGAL ART 12 Plate 1.13: Chittagong: Bahadur Shah. in Bengal. Plate 1.14: Bahadur Shah, in Bengal, 1555-1560, B1004, broad flan, assigned by Goron to mint of Ramu (near Cox's Bazar south of Chittagong), lovely strike, nice Extremely Fine, Very Rare, ex. John Deyell collection. (this coin), Bahadur's father named Mahmud instead of Muhammad on this piece, without any test marks 1555-1560, AR tanka (10.55g), NM, AH959, G AR tanka (10.36g), NM, AH956, G-B1009. Ra-573 Plate 1.15: Bahadur Shah, in Bengal, 1555-1560, AR tanka (10.43g), NM, ND, G-B1010A. var., obverse inscription in 3 lines, bahadur shah bin muhammad / shah khalad Allâh / mulkahu wa sultanahu, with not room left for a date, 1 [Photo courtesy: Stephen Album Internet Archive collection]. Plate 1.16: Bahadur Shah, in Bengal, 1555-1560. AR tanka (10.45g), NM, ND, G-B, corrupt Nagari inscription below obverse, slightly debased calligraphy, 2 banker's marks, attractive Very Fine [Photo courtesy: Stephen Album Internet Archive interesting bankers' mark on reverse, nice Very collection]. Fine, Extremely Rare, ex. John Deyell collection. Plate 1.17: Jalal Shah, in Bengal, 1560-1563, AR tanka (10.42g), NM, AH969, G-BI005, lovely strike, one tiny test cut on obverse, attractive Extremely Fine, Very Rare, ex. John Deyell collection [Photo courtesy: Stephen Album Internet Archive collection. Plate 1.18: Bengal: Barbak al-din Barbak Shah, fl. 1542, AR tanka (10.55g), NM, AH949, G-B1022, unidentified pretender or rebel, clearly without mint name, each side divided into 9 sections, beautifully toned & without any test marks, lovely Extremely Fine to About Uncirculated, Extremely Rare, ex. John Deyell collection. COINAGE OF MEDIEVAL CHATTAGRAM 13 Contrary to the tradition of Islamic political tenet, the first Muslim conqueror of Chatigram Sultan Fakhr al-din Mubarak Shah did not strike any coin from Chattagram or Chatgaon. It was during the reign of Ghiyath al-din Azam Shah, the third ruler of Ilyas Shahihouse, Chatgaon or Chatganu (Chattagram) as mint name was first appeared on his coin with an epithet Arsah (district or administrative unit) dated 801 CE / 1398-99 AD,' almost after sixty years of annexation of Chattagram with Sultanate kingdom (Plates 1.1 & 1.2). After Azam Shah, none of the lastthree kings of Ilyas Shahi house had ever struck any coin bearing mint name Chatganu or Chatgaon though the relationship of Banga with Chatigrama continued through-out the Iyas Shahi period, house of Raja Ganesh and also during the later Ilyas Shahi rulers. Jadu urf Jalaluddin Muhammad Shah, the converted son of Raja Ganesh issued silver coins from Chatgaon mint from the very beginning of his first reign, i.e. 818 -19 AD /1415 -16 CE with the same epithet 'Arsah'(Plate 1.3). Some of his coins are without mint name but the style is similar to those issued from Chatgaon mint. During second episode of his reign, from 821 AH /1418 AD onwards, Muhammad Shah continued to issue coins of same type as those which were issued during his first reign and Chatgaon became a regular mint to strike coins of Jalal al-din Muhammad Shah. It is needless to mention that Chatgaon, the major port town of medieval Bengal was main centre of commercial activity of this extreme south-eastern coastal region of 'Bangala' during this period. Till date three different types of silver coins were issued from this mint including the famous Tughra type coins of Sultan Jalal al-din Muhammad Shah dated 827, 829, 832, 836 and 837 Hijri Plates 1.4 &1.5. One extremely rare gold coin of 'both side Tughra type' came into light in recent years where mint name Arsah Chatgaon is clearly visible. Another mint name found on the coins of Jalal al-din Muhammad Shah was assigned to Chatgaon but the reading has not yet been unanimously accepted. It consists of two words; first one is Dakhil - that is a gateway and the second word read tentatively, either as Khulna or as Banjalia. Banjala or Banjalia is for Bangala or Bengal which is more plausible than Khuna. During the time of early 15" century Khulna was of very little importance or its existence was doubtful and the reading of the word as Khulna' is not unanimously accepted by the scholars. It is further to be noted that Dakhil Banjalya (the gateway to Bengal) is a more plausible reading and may be a mint in the Chittagong (Chatgaon) area as the coins are very similar to those struck at the Arsah Chatgaon mint' Meanwhile, Hindu chieftain Danujamarddana Deva and his son Mahendra Deva came into power of Bengal for a very brief period for around two years, 1339 -1340 Saka era i.e. 1416 -18 AD. Both of these two Hindu king struck coins from three mints namely Pandunagara, Chatigrama and Suvarnagrama which testify that in this short span of time of two years, not even adequate for consolidating their sovereignty, Danujamarddana Deva and Mahendra Deva had regular control over a large area of this kingdom including Chattagrama, the extreme south-east port town of Bengal overlooking the Bay of Bengal (Plates 1.6, 1.7, 1.8 &1.9). Their coins are especially notable as the language and script used is indigenous of medieval Bengal (proto 14 JOURNAL OF BENGAL ART Bengali) instead of Arabic and thev are dated in Saka era. These coins of Danujamarddana Deva and Mahendra Deva have retained the style and pattem of the Islamic coins introduced by the Muslim rulers of Bengal following the good old theory of continuity of coinage tradition of a particular era to create ready acceptance among their subject population and case of faraway Chatigram was no exception. It was after the death of Jalaluddin Muhammad Shah, a turmoil political situation occurred in Bengal and coins were very rare and sporadic for his immediate successors. Shams al-din Ahmad Shah, the son and successor of Muhammad Shah. uled for less than a year and not many coins of him have been recovered till date. Surprisingly enough, among his rare gold issues, we Tind coins struck from Arsah Chatgaon dated 837.° Silver coins extremely of Ahmad Shah issued from Arsah Chatgaon and Dakhil 'Banjaliya 'are predominant in variety and number than coins struck from other regular mint like Firuzabad." After the establishment of a stable dynasty known as later dynasty by Sultan Nasir al-din Mahmud Shah, allegedly an Ilyas Shahi or restored Ilyas Shahi off-shoot of the House of Ilyas, the number of mints number of coin production increased sharply compare to the earlier period. Several new mints came into operation both in eastern and Chatgaon and Dakhil 'Banjaliya' topped the list of the mintwestern part of Bengal but mint Arsah names. Number of type or variety of coins are certainly larger than coins issued from all other mint in operation during Mahmud Shah's reign, the fact indicates that these two were most active and predominant mints of the period as gleaned from the available numismatic data.' It is quite surprising to note that from the reign of Rukn al-din Barbak Shah (1459-74 CE), son and successor of Mahmud Shah, mint of Chatganu urf Chatgaon mint totally ceased to issue any coins and not a single coin struck by Barbak Shah from Chatgaon mint has ever been encountered, neither in silver nor in gold. Maximum number of mints including several new mints came into operation at this juncture of time and maritime trade in Bengal was a regular phenomenon and the port of Chattagram should have been the most active and centre of international maritime trade and communication. Therefore, question arose whyimportant did Barbak Shah stop minting coins from Chatgaon, the port city and the commercial centre of the then Bengal? Or did he lose control over this faraway hill tract? To answer these questions we had to look into the epigraphic evidence and it is found that an inscription was found from Rasti Khan Mosque at Jubra, Hathazari in Chittagong.9 We further came to know that Barbak Shah had a strong hold over Chittagong and he deputed one of his governors Majlis Ala Rasti Khan who is said to have built this mosque in 878 AH/1474CE and according to Shamsuddin Ahmed this the second authentic record of the Muslim conquest or occupation of Chittagong, the earliest being the silver coin of Jalalud-din Muhammad Shah, issued from the in mint Chittagong 834 AH (1430 ACy"." The second part of the above statement, i.e. the earliest being the silver coin of Jalalud-din Muhammad Shah, issued from the Chittagong mint in 834 AH' has now been proved incorrect COINAGE OF MEDIEVAL CHATTAGRAM 15 because of the discovery of coins of Sultan Ghiyasu'd-din Azam Shah bearing mint name Arsah Chatgaon issued in 801 AH/ 1398-99 AD!! Another inscription of Shams al-din Yusuf Shah. son of Barbak Shah was discovered from a mosque situated around a mile north of Rasti Khan Mosque and unfortunately the inscription tablet was so much damaged that no other information except the name of Sultan Shams al-din Yusuf Shah can be read with his julus name and hint of his father's name. But like his father's, not a single coin of him has ever been reported bearing mint name Arsah Chatgaon. The last ruler of this dynasty Jalal al-din Fath Shah also did not issue any coin from Chatgaon mint nor do we find any inscription of him found from any part of Chattagram. So far as the establishment of the sovereignty of the Habshi Sultans over Chittagong is concened, neither any archaeological evidence nor any literary evidence can be put forward but it is somehow assumed that they could keep the control over the port of Chattagram. When 'Ala al-din Hussain Shah ascended the power in 1493 CE, he had inherited the port of Chattagram and except a short interval (intrusion of kings of Tipperah and Arakan), all four Husaini Sultans kept their sway over the tract of Chittagong. But only one inscription of Sultan 'Ala al-din Hussain Shah has been found from a mosque at Pustarpar mahalla of Chattagram city which records construction of a mosque by Majlis al-Majalis Majlis Khurshid, the extraordinary keeper of the royal wardrobe and was also the Wazir (minister) and Sar-i-Lashkar of Arsah and thana Chattagram in the year 921 AH (1515-16 AD).' No coin of Husain Shah has still been reported by the numismatist bearing Chatgaon as mint name rather we have found 'Arsah Chatgaon re appeared as mint name on the coins of Nasir al-din Nusrat Shah, his son and successor. Avery rare gold coin of Nusrat Shah bearing the word 'Arsah' has been catalogued by Stan Goron and J P Goenka." Unlike earlier Sultans, silver coins of Nusrat Shah struck fom Chatgaon or Arsah Chatgaon are also very rarely encountered struck with only two dates, 931 and 933 AH /1524 - 26 AD.'S The author herself documented one coin of Nusrat Shah bearing mint name Chatganu with date 932 (written in reverse order) preserved in the coin cabinet of Patna Museum which is a part of Nawdiha hoard found from the then Bihar and present Santhal Pargana, in Jharkhand. lÛ On the coins of last two rulers of Husain Shahi dynasty, namely 'Ala al-din Firuz Shah and Ghiyath al-din Mahmud Shah, 'Arsah Chatgaon' never appeared as mint name though Chandrabad and Sharifabad may be found on the coins of Mahmud Shah till1538 AD.Chandrabad and Sharifabad have also been considered by the numismatist as located somewhere around Chatgaon region, but identification is still doubtful. All these coins we have discussed so far struck from the mint of Chatgaon are mostly of silver, are of 10.6 gm of average weight and legend written in Arabic language and in Naskh script except for a few specimens of Jalaluddin Muhammad Shah which are written in Tughra script. Those which are in gold also conform the standard and style similar to those of their silver counterpart. After 1538, when the Mughal Emperor Humayun marched towards Bengal being concerned with growing power of the Afghans in Bihar and parts of Bengal under Sher 16 JOURNAL OF BENGAL ART Khan Suri, occupied Bengal and stayed for about nine months. He issued silver coins of two different standards, one around 10.4 - 10.6 gm and a heavier rupee standard of 1l.2- 11.4 gm (Plates 1.10, &1.11). Around 1538-39, when main stream Turkish rule in Bengal declined and the Afghans ascended the power, Chattagram did not lose its importance rather played a more vital role as the nodal pont of multiple powers like the Afghans, the Arakans, the Tripura Kings, the Portuguese traders and later on of the Mughals. In 1539, Humayun set out for Delhi after receiving a newS of rebellion in Delhi and was intercepted by Sher Khan at Chausa on the Ganges and was retained there for three months till the agreement made that Sher Khan should be sovereign of Bengal. Humayun managed to flee westwards and Sher Khan proclaimed himself as Sher Shah and took control of Bengal. He split the province into a number of administrative sections and appointed governors to administer them. Humayun's authority was acknowledged as far east as the former frontier of the Bengal Sultanate along the River Meghna and when Sher Shah took over the lands, Chittagong remained loyal to the officers appointed by Ghiyath al-din Mahmud Shah. In 1539, Sher Shah sent a small expedition to Chittagong which was imprisoned by the Portuguese for six months till the captain sailed further south in 1540. Then Chittagong acknowledged the sovereignty of Sher Shah. So far as the coinage of the Chattagram is concerned, the Sultans of Bengal and the Kings of Tripura struck coins from the mint or mints of Chattagram intermittently from 1398-99 to 1538 AD but it was the rulers of Arakan who issued coins on regular basis from 1575 AD onwards. The fiscal situation prevailing in Bengal between the incursion of Humayun in 1538 and the re establishment of firm Mughal rule under Akbar's general Man Singh in 1575-76, is not very clear from the numismatic evidence to the extent that scholar lke Abdul Karim stopped the purview of his famous work Corpus of the Muslim Coins in Bengal down to l1538 AD. Later on, though, he wrote a separate article on the Coins of Afghan in Bengal who held their Sway over Bengal from 1539-1576 AD, the style of which Supremacy did not match the regional tradition of Islamic coinage in Bengal rather followed the imperial series of the Suri coinage in India. Sher Shah introduced a new rupee coinage of 11.6 gm weight and traditional silver tankas of the Bengal Sultans weighing 10.6 gm (in average) became obsolete and were replaced by the heavier silver rupaiya. But in contrast toother parts of the province, during the period from 1540 to 1575-76, in and around Chittagong and Comilla area, an unusual series of silver coins which were quite odd in nature and crude in execution was in On one hand they were retaining older weight standard of around 10.4 to 10.6 gmcirculation. of legends in Arabic, on the other hand the name of the ruler was silver and bearing inscription or in Devanagari script, a tradition of striking bi-lingual coin introduced by Sher Shah. Thisinscribed series of coins has been termed by the numismatists as 'Chittagong Trade Coinage'. COINAGE OF MEDIEVAL CHATTAGRAM This trade coinage of Chittagong did not found much importance in numismatic literature but John S. Deyell' and Michacl Mitchiner" has put their significant contribution on this series in their respective works. As we have already mentioned that the coins are distinguished from all other coins current in the arcas west of Meghna during middle of 16" century by retaining tankah weight standard. None of them adhered to rupee standard like the case of Tripura and Arakan, the two most intluencing neighbouring states of Chittagong. These coins are also distinct by never mentioning their mint name like Tripura and Arakan series and almost two-thirds of these coins bear fictitious dates, either anticipatory or posthumous and rarely bear a correct date. Most of these coins have been found from Chittagong district. Coins were issued in the names of the Suri Sultans Sher Shah. Islam Shah, Mohammad Adil Shah; Afghan Sultans Mohammad Ghazi Shah (Plate 1.12), Bahadur Shah (Plates 1.13-1.16) and Jalal Shah (Plate 1.17); Mughal Emperor Akbar and also in the name of the Arakan Governors like Adam Shah, Adam Humayun, Vamar Shah and Sikandar Shah."" As a result, there can be little doubt that minting of this coinage was done by the sanction of the local authority of Chittagong, that is to say the Governors of Chittagong and without the authority of the sovereignty, name of whom were actually inscribed on sanction of the central the coins. The necessity and subsequent decision for of this coinage may have come from the materialization necessity to cater the practical needs of the trade and traders, both regional and intermational, from Bengal as well as from Portugal. They certainly had a strong influence behind manufacturing of this series. It is well known that trade at Chittagong was based principally on the use of coined money rather than bullion. Traders had a strong interest in ensuring that any silver they bought to Chittagong would be minted into coin of a form that would be acceptable in the local markets. Local merchants also required to coins purchase the trade goods of Bengal, Tripura and Arakan. Apart from the huge demand of coins in trade, coins were alsoneeded to fund the administration and to pay the wages of his garrison. Local trade of a market place mayGovemor's well have been funded by cowries, but major local trade transaction required coinage. It may further be mentioned that Chittagong was a major outlet for the trade goods of Bengal and Tripura including all those commodities which arriving down the Brahmaputra trade route and thus traders took coins back to Bengal and Tripura. Classification of these coins made by John difference of shape of the letter 'He' of Muhammad used in the Kalima while Deyell is based on classification of the same made by Michael Mitchiner is based on flan size, arrangement of the Kalimaand the fabric and execution of the coins. They have also suggested that the coins were produced out of two mints Chittagong and Ramu which can be distinguished. The entire series formed two distinct phases, the second of which terminates with issues by the Arakan rajas in 1575-76 AD. If two separate minting places were responsible for the two series, as seems likely, then at least one of them was absorbed into the Arakan state in the late 16h century. The first series of coins catalogued by John Deyell, bear dates of issue ranging from AD 1539 to 1574 (AH 946 982). During this particular period neither the Sultans of Bengal nor the Kings of Tripura or Arakan appear to have been in the clear ascendency in Chittagong. As far as JOURNAL OF BENGAL ART we can determine, none of these political contenders issued any tanka from Chitagong itself unng these years. The political control of Chittagong was mostly under the govemors appointed by the sultans and later on by the kings of the Arakan. During the last Bengal sultan Mahmud Shan, an inscription was engraved for completion of Hammad's mosque close to Chittagong. So it may be concluded that a nexus of traders, bankers or officials engaged in the production Ofconage operated actively for a period of some four decades. The production and circulation of this trade coinage could be reliable as medium of exchange but was quite spurious as a message bearing medium. The last production of these coins, the later dates are to be trusted was coterminous with the establishment of a royal Arakanese mint at Chittagong and perhaps this was the reason for permanent suspension of production of Chittagong trade coinage series. Notes and References: 1. Goron, Stan and Goenka, J,P., 2001, The Coins of the Indian Sultanates, New Delhi, B240, p. 179 2 (hereinafter be referred as CIS). CIS,pp. 194-6. 3 Ibid. B364, p. 195. 4 Hussain, Syed Ejaz, 2003, The Bengal Sultanate Politics, Economy and Coins (AD 1205-1576), New 5 Delhi, pp. 112-13. CIS, p. 144. 6. Ibid, B385, p. 197. 7 Ibid, B388, B389, B390 &B391, pp. 197-98. This deduction is based on the typological catalogue of coins of Nasir al-din Mahmud Shah cited in CIS, pp. 200-10 and also on the basis of unpublished thesis of the author where mint and coin 8 production ratio has been analyzed. 9 Karim, Abdul, 1992, Corpus of the Arabic and Persian Coins of Bengal, Dhaka, p.174. 10. Ahmed, Shamsuddin,1960, Inscriptions of Bengal,Volume IV,Rajshahi, p. 91. 11. CIS, No. B240, p. 179. 12. Hossain, Shamsul, 2006, Seven SultaniTanks in Chittagong' in Journal of the AsiaticSociety, Vol. XLVIII, No. 2, pp. 66-75, see p. 66. 13. Tbid. 14. CIS, B790, p. 242. 15. CIS, B803, 804, p. 244. J6. Sinha, Sutapa, 2013, A note on the coins of the Sultans of Bengal in the collection of Patna Museum, Bihar, Journal of Bengal Art, Vol. 18, The International Centre for Study of Bengal Art, Dhaka, pp. 143-158. 17. Deyell, John S., 1995,"The trade coinage of Chittagong region in the mid-sixteenth century", Journal of the Asiatic Society of Bangladesh, Vol. 40, No.2, Dhaka. 18. Mitchiner, M., 2000, The Land of Water, Coinage and History of Bangladesh and Later Arakan, Circa 300 BC to the Present Day, London. 19. For details see, CIS, Nos. 1000 - 1023, pp. 263-66.