Lakhnautī Mint

Coins were issued from the Lakhnautī mint by:

Bengal Sulṭāns
	INO Jalālat al-dīn Raḍīyya	Gold	B55
		Silver	B56, B57, B57A, B57B, B58
	Nāṣir al-dīn Ibrāhīm	Silver

History (from Banglapedia)

A capital city of ancient and medieval Bengal. Laksmanavati came to be known as Lakhnauti under the Muslim rulers. It was named after laksmanasena most probably in imitation of Ramavati (Ramuti of the Ain) founded by rampala in the region of gaur. Lakhnautī stood on the west bank of the Ganges close to its junction with the Mahananda, about twenty five miles below rajmahal. Bakhtiyar Khalji, immediately after the conquest of Nadia in1205 AD, hurried to Lakhnautī, made it his capital and established mosques, madrasas, Khanqahs etc there. iwaz khalji constructed an embankment to safeguard the city from inundation of the Ganges and connected the capital with devkot in Dinajpur and Lakhnor in Birbhum by constructing a road. All these are reported to have been noticed by Minhajuddin Siraj, the author of tabaqat-i-nasiri.

The city continued to be the capital of the Muslim rulers (with a break of six years from 1206-1211 AD) up to 1342 AD. Ilyās Shāh shifted the capital to pandua in 1342 AD. Lakhnautī provides us with the earliest specimen of mintage in Bengal. The importance of this city lies in the fact that it was the centre from where the Muslims established their rule in Bengal.

It is interesting to note that from the 15th century AD the name of Lakhnautī does not appear in the sources. It then became identical with the ancient city of Gaur, remains of which are now spread over the Maldah district of West Bengal and the Nawabganj district of Bangladesh. During the rule of the sultans, Gaur sprawled over an area of about 40 square kilometres. In Abul Fazl's time (late 16th century) Lakhnautī is reported to have existed as a pargana in Maldah district. The changes in the courses of the Ganges might have caused this transition of the city.

Barani's (14th century) reference to the city of Lakhnautī indicates that it had a two miles long big bazar. Its main street, running from south to north, was broad and straight. Shops in the market places were well arranged in rows. It appears that besides the old palaces of Ballalbari in the northern suburb of Phulwari, there was a new palace in Patalchandi, the southern suburb of the city. cunningham, surveying the adjoining regions, came to the conclusion that the medieval city of Lakhnautī was situated on the northern part of the present site of Gaur and was four miles long and two miles broad. The city then included the famous sites of Phulwari, Kamalabari, Patalchandi, Ballalbari, Sagar Dighi, Ramkeli etc. At present, the whole area looks like a far-flung village with some remains of forts, gates, tanks and streets. [Md Akhtaruzzaman]

Bibliography JH Ravenshaw, Gaur: Its Ruins and Inscriptions, London, 1878; A Cunningham, The Archaeological Survey of India Report, XV, Calcutta, 1882;Abid Ali Khan & HE Stapteton, Memories of Gaur and Pandua, Calcutta, 1931; ABM Husain et al (ed), Gawr - Lakhnawti, Dhaka, 1997.