names and titles. To set the comparison in the clearest light, the two lowest coins in the page have been inserted, fig. 16 from Gen. Ventura's, fig. 17 from Col. Smith's, cabinet, to shew the identity of the two classes. The description of them in detail belongs to the next plate, where, instead of deteriorating, they will be found to improve, while they become Indianised. An opposite effect is, however, observable in a second branch derived from the same stock, which it is difficult to account for, unless by supposing a divided realm, one portion flourishing and patronising the arts, while the other maintained nought but the shadow of its pristine glory and ancestry. This declining gradation is exemplified in figs. 14 (Ventura); 13 (Stacy); and 15 (Karámat 'Alí); wherein at last it is barely possible to trace the semblance of the sacrificing rája on the obverse, or of the female on the reverse; although, from the insensible gradations in a multitude of specimens, such are undoubtedly the figures. Fig. 15 is a very common coin in silver and copper: one was extracted from the Manikyála tope, and was then supposed to bear the representation of a crab and a dagger! That coin, it will be remembered, bore the obvious Nágarí letters

. Many other have been since discovered with the same; and it should be remarked, that the form of Nágarí in these differs essentially from that of the collateral branch.

Here then we have the Indo-Scythic paternity of the Kanauj coinage proved by the best evidence: and now we will proceed to examine, in detail, its Hindú offspring, before entering upon the natural enquiry whether such a fact is borne out by the meagre remnants of history and tradition that are applicable to this obscure period.

[My readers will not have accompanied me thus far without appreciating the difficulty I have experienced in selecting the most suitable position among these miscellaneous essays for the introduction of extraneous information, as pertinent to one or other of a detached series of papers following out any given section of Indian archæology. In no instance has this embarrassment presented itself in more force than in regard to the complicated articles on the Gupta coinage.

In this case I have endeavoured to meet the objection to scattered notes, either historical or numismatic, applicable to each coin in turn, by prefixing to the whole range of articles

devoted to the special subject, a general assemblage of the data for historical illustration; and, leaving Prinsep's text descriptive of coins and legends untouched, I have ventured as a sequel upon the experiment of an entirely new serial arrangement of the gold coinage of the Guptas, which gives me the opportunity of supplying all the latest readings without the unpleasant office of correction, and enables me to insert in the general catalogue such new specimens as have become available since Prinsep wrote the whole being cast into one concise view, instead of following the somewhat perplexing order of the plates, whose distribution was necessarily faulty, both in the then novelty of the subject and the irregular incoming of specimens !

1

I commence my extracts with a copy of Prinsep's revised translation of the Gupta inscription on the Allahábád Lát.' The previous decipherment of this record by Dr. Mill, (which appeared in vol. iii. ‘Jour. As. Soc. Beng.'), had been based upon an imperfect fac-simile of the original. The admirable impressions of the writing on the column taken off on cotton cloth and on paper, by Capt. E. Smith, Bengal Engineers, in 1837, placed at Prinsep's command the full means of checking and correcting the errors of the early copy, while his own more mature experience in the normal forms of these and other Sanskrit characters rendered his lithographed transcript and transliteration more than usually trustworthy.

The wood-cut in the margin represents the style and dimensions of the Allahábád Monolith, upon whose surface this inscription is graven; it may be necessary to note that the more ancient writing on

Shaft 35.

Base, 7'7"

this stone, and for whose exhibition we may conclude the pillar to have been expressly fashioned, consists of a counterpart of the Edicts of Asoka, which appear severally on the Lát at Dihlí, the rocks of Girnár on the western coast, and Dhauli in Cuttack-in addition to the transcript in the Semitic character on the rock at Kapurdigiri.

The capital figured below does not directly belong to this monument, but is taken from the original on the Gandak Lát, of which we have a second similar example. Hence we assume that a figure of a like character once crowned the Allahábád column.]

TRANSLATION OF THE INSCRIPTION ON THE ALLAHÁBÁD LÁT.

(Beginning, at the fifth line, with yasya, which has reference to a preceding eulogistic epithet in the genitive case. This verse is No. 2 in Dr. Mill's translation.)

(2). . . . In the midst of pleasurable things, happy in body and mind; levying his revenue in strict conformity with the Shastras1...

(3). . . . Destroying unhappiness, and putting an end to those who cause it; greedy for eulogistic praise, glory and extended rule:

(4).. Whose enemies, amazed at his cavalcade and warlike armament, ask, What manner of man is this? Among his elevated counsellors . . . . (5) ... Whose eyes filled with the tears of affection, when, in consequence of his written mandate, (? his son or wife had been re-called)

(6). . . . Having seen his former good acts, delightful as nectar, his wife was much pleased.

1 Which enjoin that one-sixth of the produce of the land belongs to the king.

(7). . . . Inflamed with vigorous wrath against the presumptuous, but when submissive.

(8). In battles, with his own arm humbling continually those who exalt themselves.

...

(9). Cherishing (his subjects) with an affectionate, sweet, and contented disposition.

(10). . . . The force of his arm being gradually strengthened by youthful exercise, by himself were killed. . . .

(11). (This verse is too much effaced to be made out.)

(12). Whose fame is spread (over the earth), as it were a cloth, white as the moon-beam..

...

(13). The lustre of his 'Who is there that is not his?'

skill in well-directed learning causes exclamations, (He is a fortress), and they are, as it were, grass upon his ramparts, and much wealth is locked up within him.

(14). Of him, who is able to engage in a hundred battles, whose own arm's strength is his only ally: he with the mighty chest.

(15). Whose person is become beautiful, from the marks of wounds received, and the scratches caused by his wielding the battle-axe, the arrow, the poniard, the elephant-spike, the cestus, the scymitar, the javelin, the club, the iron dart, the dagger,1 and other weapons:

(16). The sovereign of Kausala, the tiger-king of the forests, the manṭaraja of Kauráṭṭa, the sovereign of Arggháshṭapura, the lord of Míri and Uddyára, the just prince of Dattairaṇḍa, the níla-rája of Sápávamukta: 2

(17). The king Hastivarma of Vinga, Ugrasena of Pálakka, Kuvera of Devarashtra Dhananjaya of Kausthalapura, etc., and all the kings of the southern roads (dakshinápatha):-from his favors to all these (I say) becoming more dignified and prosperous.

(18). Whose power increases by the force or clemency respectively exercised towards Rudradeva, Matila, Nágadatta, Chandravarma, Ganapati, Nága, Nágasena, Achyuta, Nandi, Balavarma, and the other rájas of Aryavarta: who has made servingmen of all the Deva-rájas.

(19). The magnitude of whose authority takes pleasure in exacting attendance, obedience, and tribute from the kings of the neighbouring hilly countries of Samata, Táravakra, Kámarúpa, Nepála, Kartripura, and from all the rájas of Málava, Arjunáyana, Yaudheya, Mádraka, Abhíra, Prárjuna, Sanakáníka, (or Sanaka Aníka) and Kákakhara :

(20). Who is famous for his great aid in restoring (to their thrones) the royal progeny of many deposed rájas:

(21). Whose most powerful dominion over the world is manifest in the maidens freely offered as presents, the jewels, the money, the horses, the produce of the soil, the ornaments of the precious metals brought as tribute by the heaven-desceended monarch, the Sháhán-Sháhí (of Persia), the Scythians, the Huns, by him of Sainháṭṭa, and of other places; by the kings of all the isles, etc. :-who, mounted on his war chariot, has no competitor in the world:

1 Parasu, sara, sanku, śrini, prasa, asi, tomara, vatsapála, náracha, vaitasti, etc. I have translated them as described to me rather than on dictionary authority, for in Wilson, Nos. 2, 3, 4, 5, and 9, are all given as varieties of arrows; vatsapála and vaitasti, I do not find, the latter is probably derived from vaitasa,. ‘a ratan.'

2 A country (lately) freed from a curse,'-perhaps some physical calamity.

(22). Whose majesty exults in the princes endowed with hundreds of virtues and good qualities prostrate at his feet: a man inspiring fear as of instant annihilation: altogether incomprehensible; yet tender-minded to those who are submissive and bow before him; and extending mercy to hundreds of thousands whom he has subdued : (23). Who lends a willing ear, and a consoling tongue to the case of the poor and destitute, the orphan, and the sick: is very kind to the brave of his army; is comparable to Dhanada (Kuvera), Varuņa, Indra, and Antaka (Yama1):

(24). Who has won and again restored the riches of many kings conquered by his own right hand: a man who strictly keeps his word, whose accomplishments in fashion, in singing and playing, put to shame the lord of the immortals (Indra) Vrihaspati, Tumburu, Nárada, etc.; who is called 'the king of poets' from his skill in making verses-the livelihood of the learned!-whose excellent conduct proceeds from the observations stored in his retentive memory:

(25). Who regularly performs all the established ordinances :—who is a very god among men the great-grandson of Mahárája Srí Gupta; the grandson of Mahárája Srí Ghatot Kacha; the son of Mahárája Adhirája Srí Chandra Gupta.

(26). Born of Mahádeví Kumára Deví, the daughter of Lichchhavi; Mahárája Adhirája Srí Samudra Gupta: how he filled while alive the earth with the fame of his conquests, and is now departed to enjoy the supreme bliss and emancipation of Indra's heaven, this lofty pillar, which is, as it were, his arm, speaks forth: a standing memorial to spread his fame in many directions:-erected with the materials accumulated through the strength of the arm of his liberality (now in repose), and the sufficiency of the holy texts.

(Verse). The clear water of Gangá that issues from the artificial pool formed by the encircled hair of the lord of men (Siva) purifies the three worlds.

May this poetical composition of the slave of the feet of the great king, whose mind is enlightened by the great favor of admission to the presence, son of the administrator of punishments (magistrate), Dhruva Bhúti,-the skilled in war and peace, the counsellor of the young prince, the great minister Harisena, afford gratification and benefit to all creatures!

Executed by the slave of the feet of the supreme sovereign, the criminal magistrate, Tilabhaṭṭa.

When restored to its natural order we find the epithets applied to the deceased emperor of Hindústán, not only much less hyperbolical, and reposing less upon mythological allusions, but crowding in a short. space a most unexpected and curious survey of the political divisions of India at the time, containing even the names and titles of very many of the reigning families, and extending beyond the boundaries of India proper into the regions of the 'great king' of Persia and the hordes of the Huns and Scythians! It may be poverty of imagination in the poet that has wrought us this good; for, once laying hold of an idea, he rings the changes upon it as long as he can find words, and then draws up with an inelegant 'etc.' Thus, in the fourteenth and fifteenth lines he enumerates no less than nine warlike weapons the

1 Gods of the earth, water, air, and fire respectively.