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To r. a clear Aum monogram, with straight sides. To 1. side view of flower resting on a thick cross-bar, bud on r. of it.

48 to 51. Four other thin coins, averaging 13 grains in weight, have the following dimensions:-1.01 in. by 45 in.; 1.05 in. by 50 in.; 1.05 in. by 50 in.; and 1.10 in. by 50 in. All much worn on both sides.

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52. An additional coin of this type found by Mr. Bell at Anuradhapura,1 at the site with the Buddhist railing,' measured 80 in. by 62 in., and weighed 44 grains.

O. Standing deity, facing f., holding shaft of trident in his r. hand, and perhaps another in 1. hand, which is indistinct. Mr. Bell thought that irregular upright lines near these were the edges of his dress.

R. Raised Swastika, turned r.; plant on 1., of three stems, springing from a cross bar. Indistinct marks on r.

The mean dimensions of the Tissa and heavier Mulleittivu coins are:

Tissa coins, 1.18 in. by 49 in.; weight 46 grains (mean of 3). Mulleittivu coins. 1.13 in. by 67 in.; weight 50 grains (mean of II).

The Anuradhapura coins differ greatly in weight, which varies from 13 grains to 126 grains.

Sir A. Cunningham has given two scales of the weights of ancient Indian money, one for copper coins and the other for silver coins.2 These are as follows:

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In the later Sinhalese coins we find both the copper and silver coinage following the same copper scale. This is seen in the following table, which gives the mean weights of some of the ordinary Massa' coins in my possession, taken

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1 Arch. Survey of Ceylon. Fourth Progress Report, pp. 4 and 13. 2 Coins of Ancient India, pp. 46 and 47.

without selection. I annex for comparison the weight of some coins of the south Indian king Raja-Raja, purchased by me in Madura, from which I have excluded only coins that are evidently cut away at the edges.

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The oblong money can be divided only into a larger and a smaller type, as shown in Fig. 155. The former includes the Mulleittivu and the larger Anuradhapura coins, and has a mean width of 70 in.; the rest of the coins average •50 in. in width. Whether these sizes indicated different values is doubtful.

The great variation in the weights proves that no special scale was followed in them; the plaques were tokens rather than money. Yet they may have answered all the purposes of money in being used as mediums of exchange which probably had fixed values in the country.

Histories and inscriptions alike prove that coins called kahāpanas existed in countless numbers in Ceylon in very early times; yet no other coin which could possibly represent this money has been discovered. That such coins were made of copper is rendered certain by the discovery of the circular coin described below (p. 503), which appears to be a double kahāpana, as Mr. Still stated. Necessarily, this must have been preceded by the single kahāpana and its subdivisions, which could not be formed of a more valuable metal than the money of higher value, and therefore must have been copper coins. Thus, until some other form of copper money of suitable weights has been found it appears to me that

these oblong plaques must be accepted as partly filling the gap. Mr. Bell's spurious oblong Purāna, with a figure on the obverse like those on the plaques, strongly supports this view.

Cast coins of the same size and shape occur in southern India (see p. 506). The slight amount of wear in most of the plaques may be due to their being hoarded as amulets; some are considerably eroded on their faces. In the irregularity of the weights the coins only followed the example of the Purānas found in Ceylon, the weights of which show that while all probably had the same value as mediums of exchange they were in reality tokens, that is, they did not circulate in Ceylon at their intrinsic value. The surprise which the Sinhalese king expressed to the freedman of Annius Plocamus at the exact weights of the Roman coinage is a proof that all the local money varied greatly in this respect.

That the oblong type of coin continued to be issued up to the third or fourth century A.D. is clearly proved by the form of the 'Aum' monogram on the coin numbered 47, the m of which is of a type which is found in some inscriptions of that period. I met with a similar letter cut on the faces of two stones inside the valve-pit or 'bisōkoṭuwa' of a sluice at Hurulla, a tank constructed by King Mahā-Sēna (277-304 A.D.). Large coins of a circular shape made their appearance at about this time, having a similar 'Aum' monogram on them, and it may be assumed that the issue of the oblong money then either ceased or was of less importance than before.

As all probably had a two-fold value as coins and also as protective amulets the discovery of a few isolated specimens about religious edifices of a later date does not quite prove that they continued to be issued up to that time.

Two years ago Mr. Still mentioned that he had examined some 200 specimens, among which were three cast ones with outward-curving sides, found near the Thūpārāma. Another cast one was found in the excavation inside the Kiribat dāgaba, and a fourth near the Thūpārāma. (Journal, R.A.S., Ceylon, 1907, p. 199 ff.).

The special Swastika symbol of all the early Sinhalese coins, including also the large circular coin just mentioned, which will be described later on, is cut at the beginning or end of three pre-Christian inscriptions in Ceylon, and it was also discovered by me engraved on the outside of pottery taken out of the lowest stratum of the remains at Tissa. Its occurrence there proves that it had been adopted in Ceylon as early as the second or third century B.C. It is cut at the beginning or end of the inscriptions numbered 69, 70, and 75, which belong to the first century B.C. The central bar and four side uprights are found in the symbol which precedes the inscription numbered 62, by Prince Sāli, which dates from about the middle of the second century B.C. Although I believe it does not occur at any inscription of post-Christian date, its presence on the oblong coin No. 47 and the large circular coins shows that it continued to be employed as a local symbol until the fourth century A.D., or later. It appears to be unknown in India.

The Indian meaning of the Swastika, the cross with bent arms, is Su + asti, 'it is well,' that is, ' may it be well.' It indicates its luck-bringing power as an auspicious wish, and the words themselves in the form Swasti are cut at the commencement of numerous later inscriptions in Ceylon. But the symbol goes back to a date that is far anterior to any such interpretation. Its earliest occurrence is, I believe, at the first city on the site of Troy, the inhabitants of which are considered by Mr. R. H. Hall to have been 'just on the border between the Age of Stone and the Age of Metal'1; and their latest date is stated by this authority to be about 2500 B.C. (op. cit. p. 49). As the Swastika was found by Dr. Schliemann on pottery at the bottom of the stratum belonging to this early race it may belong to the fourth millennium B.C. It also occurs in Egypt as a decorative motive in the ceilings of the Theban tombs of the eighteenth dynasty (1700-1400, B.C.). Its

1 The Oldest Civilization of Greece, p. 23.

2 Perrot and Chipiez, Hist. of Art in Ancient Egypt. Vol. ii, p. 359 (from Prisse); Prof. Maspero, Egyptian Archaeology, p. 16; Erman, Life in Ancient Egypt, pp. 102, 397, and 479.

highly developed form in that country proves that it was known there long prior to its use in these tombs.

It may have been carved at the inscriptions, and may also be placed on the coins, as a special emblem of Good Luck or Prosperity, which acts as a protection from evil influences.

In describing the inscriptions I have already suggested that the four short basal uprights may typify the Four Great Buddhist Truths, as supporters, or more probably, especially on the coins, the four-fold forces-chariots, elephants, cavalry, and foot-soldiers-of the sovereign protecting the emblem, the prosperity of the country being supposed to depend largely on its ruler. In that case the central pole on which the Swastika is elevated might represent the sovereign as upholder of the prosperity of the country.

In other countries the Cross is sometimes drawn with a short bar across or near the end of each arm, and it is of interest to observe that in the case of the Swastika on coin No. 14 two thin bars are thus shown across the terminal parts of each of the two arms the ends of which are visible, as well as across the ends of the short uprights. A Swastika with one bar of this kind is also represented on coin No. II of Plate X in Cunningham's Coins of Ancient India. As every line in ancient symbolism has its own meaning there must be a special reason for inserting these peculiar cross-bars.

The only explanation with which I am acquainted, of this barred, or as he terms it 'guarded' Swastika, is that given by Mr. J. M. Campbell, of the Indian Civil Service, in Vol. 24 of the Indian Antiquary (1895)—that such lines are due to a belief that any cross, or, in its usual Indian form, the Swāstika, is a favourite house for spirits. He supposed that the crossbars at the ends of the arms were intended to prevent the ready egress of good spirits who might have been induced to reside in it, and thus to ensure its beneficial or protective action. It is evident that, as he also remarked, they might equally be drawn to prevent the entry of evil spirits who might desire to take up an unauthorised abode in it, and this is the more

1 On the Spirit Basis of Belief and Custom, p. 164.

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