A NOTE ON THE SILVER COINS OF THE SULTAN MAHMUD OF GHAZNA IN THE COLLECTION OF LAHORE MUSEUM

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MUHAMMAD MUJEEB KHAN, GUL RAHIM KHAN

Abstract

The paper consists of 295 silver dirhams of Sultan Mahmud Ghaznavid lying in the collection of Lahore Museum. These coins occurred in 15 different types and varieties which shed light on the political history and economic scheme of that period. The subject coins also reveal religious elements known from the time of predecessors. The most significant feature of these are the titles given by the contemporary Abbasid caliphs and those adopted by the king himself on the occasion of different events. Another importance of this collection is the large number of bilingual coins of Mahmud issued from the so-called Lahore mint. Besides this the monolingual coins (Arabic legend) of present collection were issued from six mint mints. The analytical study of this collection highlights various features of the coins such as floral motifs, calligraphic styles, treatment of the surface decoration and individual Arabic letters

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