The book presents a comprehensive account of the politico-economichistory of Bengal, from AD 125 to 1576. It has made extensive useof coins and epigraphs to interpret and substantiate the historicalnarrative culled out from the contemporaneous chronicles andtravelogues. The first six chapters trace the political history.The topics like the date of Bakhtiyar Khalji's conquest of Bengal;the rule of the Governors and later of the independent Sultans;Bengal's relations with the neighbouring kingdoms; and its role inthe regional politics and economy in different phases of history,have been discussed in the light of some hitherto untappedhistorical material. The debate of Bengal's isolation from thenorth and south India has also been revisited. The seventh chaptertraces the administrative hierarchy, power and functions of thestate functionaries while in the eighth chapter the economy of theregion, inter-local, coastal and foreign trade as well as thecurrency pattern have been described. The entire narrative isenriched by a corpus of rare coins spread over 32 plates. Twoappendices, the first giving the revised chronology of the rulersof Bengal, and the second listing the mint towns, together withthematic maps, make the book a veritable reference work formedieval Indian history and numismatics. \n