Wilson's notice in the 'Asiatic Researches,' vol. xvii., which were taken from coins in his and my own cabinets. This gentleman was the first to attribute them to their rightful place in history, although he had but one wellascertained name (Govinda Chandra) to guide his judgment. Upon a careful examination of the several collections mentioned above, I have now succeeded in adding five new names to his list, so rapid is the progress and success of the efforts now directed to this line of research.

The figure on the obverse of all these coins is of precisely the same character;-a rudely-executed front view of a male or female (it is difficult to say which), seated in the native fashion, with a glory round the head, and some incomprehensible objects in her hands. Wilson names her Lakshmí, on the ground that the princes of the Rahtor dynasty were of the Vaishnava sect. In this case, we may recognise in her the female holding the cornucopia of the former Kanauj group, sadly altered for the worse in point of execution.

The inscriptions on the reverse are, with one exception, easily legible; they are in a much more modern style of Devanagarí than the last, differing little from the present form, except as to the vowel inflection e, which falls behind the consonant to which it is attached, as in the Gaur or Bengálí alphabet. The same remark applies to the letter j (fig. 8), which assimilates to the Bengálí and Tibetan forms, and serves admirably to shew the transition of this letter from its original shape in the most ancient alphabet, where it closely resembles the Roman E, to its present modified form, .

The figures in my plate are not placed with any regard to chronological order, but rather according to their comparative frequency of occurrence: figs. 1 and 2 being by far the most numerous of the set.

माय ॥

On fig. 1, we make out the words◄ || Sri mad Jádjeya deva. This variety is comparatively common in gold. Lieut. Cunningham has one of silver.

On fig. 2, the most common of the class, are the very distinct words श्री मनोविदचद्रदेव; below the letters वि and च are dots, which supply the place of the n or anusvára, so that the full reading should doubtless be श्री मद् गोविन्द चन्द्रदेव, Sri mad Govinda Chandra-deva. The gold of some specimens of this variety is of inferior quality.

Fig. 3 is the one I have noted as being difficult to decypher. I have as yet only found one of the sort; it is of Col. Stacy's cabinet. The letters visible are श्री मद्रा महवेचे णम, Sri mad Rüma have che nam. The v may possibly be an r, making the reading Ráma Hari; but we must wait the discovery of duplicates before we can complete or rectify this uncertain name.

Fig. 4 (Karámat 'Alí) is more easily legible,

Srí mat Kumara Pála deva.

a za

Fig. 6, from the same collection, is a small coin of the same prince. Fig. 5 is equally distinct-a Sriman Mahí Pála deva. It is from a single coin in Col. Stacy's collection.

Figs. 7 and 8 (Stacy), one of copper, the other of silver, help to decypher one another. The complete legend isu za Sri अजय देव Ajaya deva.

Lieut. Cunningham has sent me an impression of a copper coin of the same class, on which the name appears to be श्री मदल मी देव probably Sri mad Lakshmi (Pála or Chandra?) deva.

[I have examined the now somewhat comprehensive series of this class of money in the British Museum and East India House collections, with a view to confirm and extend Prinsep's readings from the limited number of specimens submitted to his scrutiny. I may summarize the results as follows:

No. 1. श्री मद्गाङ्गेय देवः

In this case I must confess that the new rendering is nearly as open to objection as the original transcript. However, I am forced, for consistency's sake, to reject the previous assignment of

the compound suffix as, when a seemingly identical form is made to do duty in No. 3 for ; even if the palæographic necessities did not otherwise imperatively demand the concession! (See also Ariana Antiqua,' xx. 23.)

(2) श्री मनोविंदचंद्र देव ॥

(Also Ariana Antiqua,' xx. 22.)

(3) श्री महमद वेने साम ॥

(Also 'Ariana Antiqua,' xxi. 25.)

This type of Muhammad bin Sám's local coins is comparatively rare. There are five specimens in the East India House.

(4 and 6) श्री मत्कुमर पाल देव ॥

(Also Ariana Antiqua,' xx. 24.)

There are no less than sixteen of these coins in the East India House.

I have no new specimens of No. 5, wherewith to check the first decipherment.

In addition to the above, I may cite a sufficiently common coin, hitherto unpublished, bearing the epigraph of

श्री मत्पृथ्वी देव

as well as the following variety of Muhammad bin Sám's mintages, of which there are no less than twenty-one examples in the East India Company's cabinet.

श्री हमीर महमद साम

(See also 'Ariana Antiqua,' xx. 25, 26.)

No. 27 of Ariana Antiqua,' xx., is proved by the original coin to bear the same inscription.]

It was, as I have said above, the occurrence of the name of Govinda Chandra-deva which led Mr. Wilson to ascribe this group to the Rahtor princes of Kanauj, who held the sceptre of that ancient city for a century prior to the overthrow of their last and best known Rája, Jychand (Jaya-Chandra), by Shaháb-ud-dín. One of

our coins undoubtedly belongs to the former prince, and it may perhaps be allowable to give the last two, figs. 7 and 8, to Jychand himself, whose proper name may have been Ajaya Chandra-deva; the family name Chandra being frequently omitted both in writings and in inscriptions. But the remaining coins of our series, two of them having the family name Pála, cannot be reconciled with any of the princes in the short Rahtor line, of which every individual, from the first conqueror, Chandra-deva, in A.D. 1072, is known to us through the concurrent testimony of several inscriptions. What was the antecedent dynasty? has been a question hitherto imperfectly answered; the traditions cited by Tod being, as stated in my last paper, at total variance with inscriptions. The latter, indeed, only record two names, Yasovigraha (or Srípála ?) and Mahichandra, prior to the conquest of Chandra-deva. The latter of these should probably have been Mahipála, of whose reign in the early part of the eleventh century, the inscriptions at Sárnáth, Dinajpur, and Amgáchí supply ample evidence, now indeed confirmed by the superscription of his coin in fig. 5. Yasovigraha, in like manner, may be referred to the Vigrahapála-deva of the Dinajpur inscription, and thus the surname of Pála may be restored to both these princes.

Although Gaur in Bengal was the original seat of the Pála family, there is no reason to doubt that they had acquired the paramount sovereignty of India, and that the seat of their government was fixed, for a time at least, in Kanauj. Indeed, branches of the same family may be traced to the westward-to the Pálas of Málwa, one of whom (Ananga-pála) rebuilt Dihlí, or re-established it as

his capital; and perhaps even to Gujarát, where we find the occurrence of a Kumára-pála in 1100, who may probably be the owner of our coin, fig. 4, especially as his son is named Ajaya Pála, who may be the Ajaya-deva of figs. 7, 8. In evidence of the identity of this family, may be sufficient to note a few facts, referring to the elaborate observations of Wilford, and the subsequent notices of Colebrooke, and those of Fell and Wilson, in the Asiatic Researches,' vol. xv.

it

1

The list of the kings of Gwálíár, noticed by Wilford, consists of eighty-five names, all having the affix of Pála, ' in accordance with the prediction of Guapála the hermit, their progenitor.' Now the founder of the Gaur family of Bengal is equally a Go-pála, though some authorities call him Bhú-pála, a name of much the same import, and denoting his rustic extraction.

Again, the grandson of Ananga-pála, the Tuár conqueror of Dihlí, is stated to have returned to Gaur, 'his native country,' after the defeat and death of Prithivi Pála, or Pithaura. Thus, Ananga-pála too was of the Bengal family moreover, he was either the grandson or the fifth in descent from Chandra Pála,2 or Chitra Pála (Wilford) of Málwa, 'who swayed all India,' after Jayananda; and the Musalmán writers affirm that 'after Gebál (or Chait Pála), the Balhára kings of Gujarát became paramount emperors of India.' It is not, however, absolutely necessary to travel so far to the west for a Kumára Pála, since in Abú-'l-Fazl's list we find a prince of this name immediately following Ananga-pála in Málwa; and Ferishta also makes a Kunwer Ray (Rája

3

3As. Res.', ix., 164.