Silver Sri Tapana drachm with an arabic word "Allah", early 700's AD - Ummayad g

Description

Stylized head right within a dotted border, Brahmi letter "Pra" on the forehead / Stylized Sassanian altar with the shaft replaced with three dots, stylized Brahmi letter "Sri" above, four characters "Ta-Pa/Ku-Ra" (probably should be read counterclockwise from "Sri", giving an inscription "Sri Tapana"), "Allah" in arabic in the central field. 14mm, 0.68 grams, Multan mint. Mitchiner ACW -; Mitchiner NIS -; Album -
These coins are derived from the earlier "Sri Tapana" pre-Islamic Multan coins. The overall design is the same, but the word "Allah" ("God") in arabic is added in the central field on the reverse. These probably have the distinction of being among the very first Islamic coins struck in India. These early Islamic types were first discovered some 10 years or so ago, and were never properly studied or published. They are often attributed to the Habbarid rulers of Sindh and Multan, but the names on these coins do not correspond to the names of the known Habbarid rulers, and these coins are probably . I am currently working on an article on these coins which will be hopefully published in this summer's issue of JONS.