The Ancient Geography of India. I. The Buddhist Period, including the Campaigns of Alexander, and the Travels of Hwen-Thsang c6.s2.3

c6.s2.3

According to Ibn Khordâdbeh,† who died about A.D. 912, the *Tâtariya* dirhems were current in the country of Hazar; and according to Ibn Haukal, who wrote about A.D. 977,‡ these dirhems were also current in the kingdom of Gândhâra, which at that time included the Panjâb. Sulimân says the same thing of the kingdom of the Balhara, or the present Gujarât; and we learn incidentally that the same dirhems were also current in Sindh, as in A.H. 107, or A.D. 725, the public treasury contained no less than eighteen millions of Tâtariya dirhems.§ The value of these coins is variously stated at from 1 1/8 dirhem to 1 1/2, or from 54 to 72 grains in weight. From these data I conclude that the Tâtariya dirhems are the rude silver pieces generally known as Indo-Sassanian, because they combine Indian letters with Sassanian types. They would appear to have been first introduced by the Scythic or Tâtâr princes, who ruled in Kabul and north-western India, as they are now found throughout the Kabul valley and Panjâb, as well as in Sindh, Râjputâna, and Gujarât. Colonel Stacy's specimens were chiefly obtained from the last two countries, while my own specimens have been procured in all of them. In weight they vary from 50 to 68 grains; and in age they range from the fifth or sixth century down to the period of Mahmud of Ghazni. They are frequently found in company with the silver pieces of the Brahman kings of Kabul, which agrees with the statement of Masudi that the Tâtariya dirhems were current along with other pieces which were stamped at Gândhâra.[*] The latter I take to be the silver coins of the Brahman kings of Kabul, whose dynasty began to reign about A.D. 850, or shortly before the time of Masudi, who flourished from A.D. 915 to 956. I have also found some of the Indo-Sassanian or Tâtâr dirhems in central India to the east of the Aravali range, as well as in the Upper Gangetic Doâb; but in these provinces they are extremely scarce, as the common coin of Northern India in the mediæval period was the Varâha, with the figure of the Boar incarnation of Vishnu, varying from 55 to 65 grains in weight. From this examination of the coins I conclude that the kingdom named Hazar or Juzr by the early Arab geographers, is represented as nearly as possible by Western Râjputâna.