Mudranusilana: Articles of the Seminar on Coins of Bengal and North-East India (An Old and Rare Book with Pin Holed)

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Sometime in September 2003, it was proposed by my humble self to the Astatle Society, Kolkata, to organize a seminar on Coins of Bengal and North East India" on the occasion of the 87th Annual Conference of the Numismatic Society of India from December 19 to 21, 2003, hosted by the Astatic Society. The proposal was generously accepted by the esteemed members of the Council of the Astatle Society and the seminar was decided to be held on December 22, 2003. It was also decided to invite Professor Dr. J. P. Singh, Chairman of the Numismatic Society of India, to inaugurate the seminar with a suitable speech. Mr. Nicholas G. Rhodes, Secretary General. Oriental Numismatic Society, London, to deliver the Key-note Address, and the author of these few lines for being the President of the Academic Sessions of the seminar. Since time was very short and available resources did not allow to invite scholars from long distances, the number of invitees for presentation of papers at the seminar was restricted to ten. However. all the invited scholars for both the Inaugural and Academic Sessions turning up and presenting their papers, the one-day seminar, organized on an aspect of Indian Numismatics for the first time in its history by the Society, with an exhibition of coins related to its subject-matter, went on very successfully. We want to record here that Sri Dilip Kumar Ray, Senior Assistant now looking after the work of the Public Relation Officer of the The Asiatic Society, Kolkata, worked relentlessly under the guidance of the then General Secretary and now Treasurer of the Society. Professor Dilip Coomer Ghose, not only for the comforts of the delegates attending the seminar, but also for everything that required immediate attention for making the occasion worthy of the name of the Society. We sincerely thank Sri Ray. Subsequently, when it was decided to publish in a book-form all the addresses and the papers presented at the seminar, sometime in July, 2004, Professor Ghose, requested me to edit the work and sent to me the copies of the articles, till then received, for necessary action. A few papers were sent to me later on.

The papers published in this volume were read in a seminar organized by the Asiatic Society on December 22. 2003. The importance of numismatic studies, related to the unravelling of historical facts, can hardly be overestimated. The "Key-note Address" of Mr. Nicholas G. Rhodes, the "Presidential Address" of Professor Dr. Samaresh Bandyopadhyay, followed by the writings of nine other scholars, bring to light a number of not much known or hitherto unknown historical facts of great importance. The coins studied by these scholars belong to different historical periods. It is hoped that the readers of this book would derive considerable knowledge of history from reading these well-researched papers. The work has an exhaustive Index.

When preparation for the 87th Annual Conference of the Numismatic Society of India from December 19 to 21, 2003, was going on in full swing, sometime in September, 2003, a distinguished Life Member of our Society and an eminent numismatist Professor Dr. Samaresh Bandyopadhyay, Vice-Chairman of the Numismatic Society of India and Vice-Chairman of the Organizing Committee for the 87th Annual Conference of the Numismatic Society of India, sent to us a proposal to hold along with the Conference a seminar on "Coins of Bengal and North-East India". Since there has been a lull in the promotion of numismatic study and research by the Society, although this was one of the main thrust areas of study from the very beginning of the establishment of the Society in 1784. as rightly pointed out by Professor Dr. Bandyopadhyay, the proposal was readily accepted by the respected members of the Council and the Society decided to hold a seminar of one day on December 22, 2003, on the proposed theme.