The coins of Mahmud Ghazni struck in India with Arabic and Sanskrit legends on obverse and reverse respectively, show a number of varieties in so far as the legends, the dates and the lettering and its arrangements are concerned.[1]
Ghaznavid control largely continued in the existing administrative system. Thus Ghaznavid coins issued in North western India have bilingual legends written in Arabic and Sharda scripts . Some carry Islamic titles together with the portrayal of the Shaiva Bull, Nandi and the legend Shri samta deva. The reference in the latter remains ambiguous . A dirham struck at Lahore carries a legend in the Sharda script and a rendering in colloquial Sanskrit of the Islamic Kalima.[2] [3]