the head in fig. 7, which may be taken either for corrupted Greek, or for the Pehlví of the Sassanian coins, ouo. The central symbol has the form of a trident. Lieut. Burnes informs me that several hundred of these three species of coins were found in Katch in 1830 in a copper vessel buried in the ruins of Puragarh, twenty miles west of Bhoj, a place of great antiquity, and yet marked by the ruins of a palace and a mint. Figs. 10-12 are of a different type, though nearly allied to the former; they are not only found in Gujarát, but at Kanauj, Ujjain, and generally in Upper India. Lieut. Cunningham has just sent me impressions of five very well-preserved specimens procured at Benáres, on which, in front of the face, are seen some letters, very like the Pehlví character, . The Sanskrit, too, is not of the elongated form of the upper group, but exactly like that of Wathen's Gujarát inscriptions. Not having yet succeeded in deciphering them, it is needless to copy out the mere letters at present. The symbol in the centre will be recognised as the peacock, sacred to Kumára, the Mars of the Rájputs, alluded to in the preceding observations. [I extract from the 'Jour. As. Soc., Beng.', (vi. of 1855, N.S., No. lxxvi.), my decipherment of these legends, together with some further observations on the coins and their local associations: CL. 1. KUMÁRa Gupta, xxvii., figs. 10-12. LEGEND—देवं जयति विजितावनिरवनिपति कुमार गुप्तो Dev(0) jayati vijitávanir avanipati(h) Kumara Gupto. LEGEND—देव जयति तिजितावनिरवनिपति श्री बुध गुप्तो Dev(o) jayati vijitávanir avanipati(h) Srí Budha Gupto. When once fairly deciphered, these legends will be seen to present but few difficulties. The lapidary inscriptions have already proved that the Gupta artists indulged in faulty Sanskrit orthography as well as in grammatical errors, so I need not detain my readers by any comments upon minor imperfections, while the general sense of the legend is sufficiently clear. I must mention that, in my Devanagarí transcripts, I have adhered servilely to the original legends impressed upon the coins; the version in the Roman type is corrected up to Sanskrit requirements. There is a superfluous (or possibly an Я) after the on Skanda Gupta's coins, the use of which is not apparent, but which clearly takes the place of the final o in Kumara's legends. I may note that Kumára Gupta's coins display both the old form of and the more specially Gupta outline of that character. ('J.A.S.B.', iv., pl. xlix., figs. 10 and 12.) The is also seen in its transition state from the triple-lined letter of early days to the almost modern form; while, at times, it appears on Skanda's money as a character not easily distinguishable from the later Kumára Я just adverted to. This extensive modification of the, in the numismatic alphabet, is the more curious, as the corresponding lapidary character retains all the essentials of its ancient outline throughout the Gupta inscriptions, from the Allahábád pillar to Budha Gupta's record at Eran ; and even on to Toramana's inscription at the same place. The weights of these coins run as follows: Nine fair specimens of Kumára's mintages average 30.1 grains: highest weight, 33 grains. Eight fair specimens of Skanda's coinage average 31.7 grains: highest weight, 35 grains. Dr. Swiney's coin of Budha (No. 55, pl. ii., 'J.R.A.S.', xii.) weighs 32 grains. Their relative rarity may be approximately inferred by the numbers of the coins of each prince in Col. Stacy's, my own, and Mr. Freeling's collections. These coins of the 'peacock' type would seem to have formed the recognised silver currency of the central and eastern provinces of the Gupta dominions; for, though they are found in limited numbers amid the hoards of the local coinage of the western states, the relative proportions seem to be reversed in the 'finds' of the eastern districts of the Gupta empire. Those in my own collection have chiefly been obtained from Kanauj itself, while Mr. Freeling's centre of operations is Hamirpur on the Jamná; but all his nine pieces were obtained from the eastward of that river. It may be useful to summarize the proved dates, discovered on the various specimens of the 'peacock' coins; the consideration of the grounds whereon these determinations are based is to be found at p. 551, 'J.A.S.B.', No. vii., 1856. Of Kumara's coins, some bear ciphers for one hundred, twenty, and one = 121; others display figures for 124; one piece discloses a unit for 5, and another a sign which I doubtfully class as a 9, but in both these instances the decimal cipher is obliterated. Skanda Gupta's money continues the series in the use of the same figures for one hundred, with the addition of two new symbols in the decimal place. Budha Gupta, in like manner, dates in the first century of the given era, but the value of his second cipher is undetermined. His inscription at Sanchi, it will be remembered, bears date 165. CL. 4.--TORAMÁNA. Silver: wt. 32 grains: unique and unpublished. OBVERSE.-The usual Sáh type of profile, but with the artistic merits still further diminished. The head is turned the reverse way and looks to the left. In front of the profile are seen the figures for eighty with an indeterminate symbol in the unit place. REVERSE.-Device: Peacock greatly debased and facing more to the left. Toramana, it will be remembered, is thus adverted to in the inscription on the Varáha image at Eran in Bhopal: "When the great rája, Toramána, the very famous and beautiful, the king of kings, governed the earth; in the first year of his reign, on the 10th day of Phalguna: " etc. (p. 249.) Prinsep, in noticing this monument, in connexion with the Budha Gupta record on the associate pillar, prefaces his translations with a summary of the relative dates of each inscription as illustrated by their respective contexts. He observes, "The temple was built by Dhanya Vishnu, the confidential minister of Rája Mátri Vishnu, the son of Hari Vishnu, grandson of Varuna Vishnu, and great grandson of Indra Vishnu; in the first year of the reign of Toramana of Suráshtra (?): and— 'The pillar was erected by Vaidala Vishnu, the son of Hasti Vishnu, also grandson of Varuna Vishnu; and at the cost of Dhanya Vishnu, on the 14th of Asarh in the year 165, in the reign of Budha Gupta in Suráshtra, comprehending the country between. the Kalindi or Jamná and the Narmada, or Nerbudda." (p. 248.) ... Prinsep was clearly disposed to infer that the temple was built prior to the erection of the pillar, and in this supposition I myself was formerly inclined to concur; but the degradation of the type of Toramana's imitation of the Gupta 'peacock' coins places the matter beyond a question, and would leave me no alternative but to conclude that Toramana followed Budha Gupta after some inconsiderable interval; but my late admission of Budha Gupta into the direct succession of the Gupta kings, which has been freely conceded on the absolute identity of the style of his silver money with that of the newly-deciphered pieces of Kumára and Skanda Gupta, has already sanctioned the result claimed by the present discovery. But this unique specimen of Toramána's mintage furnishes us with further matter of speculation, in such portion of the date as still remains on its surface. The cipher for hundreds, which should appear opposite the forehead of the profile, seems to have been worn away in the course of the ordinary currency of the piece. The decimal figure is sufficiently well preserved; and though it would be possible to read it as the for one hundred, yet both its position and its outline alike claim for it the value of eighty lowest in order appears a symbol which equally suggests a remote doubt, and, were there any figure, or portion of a figure, in the space below, it might be taken for a ; except that, not only is there no cross-bar to complete that sign, but there is a semblance of an up-stroke beyond the second vertical line, which assimilates it with the Gupta unit entered last in the line in the plate of fac-similes. [pl. xl. a.] If these interpretations be correct, we have Budha Gupta dating up to 165, and Toramana issuing coin in what we may fairly conclude to be one hundred aud eighty odd, or about the very period that might have been selected for his epoch upon other grounds. The style of the coin legend also demands brief notice. It will be seen that the Gupta numismatic practice of arranging both the short and long vowel i above the line of mátrás (or more frequently omitting them altogether), is here so far modern ized that the short is brought down before, and the long after, the consonant to which it is attached. The Budha Gupta inscription at Eran, like the Skanda Gupta writing at Kuháon, still continues to use the old form of the long vowel, while the Toramana record symbolizes the sound by a character similar to that on the coin. The short vowel, on the other hand, is already fully subjected to the modified mode of expression in the Budha Gupta inscription. The Gujarat copper-plates of later days do not, however, accept these new forms, but adhere to the general outline of the ancient superposed vowel.1-E.T.] Figs. 13-15. The popular name for these rude coins-of silver and of copper-is, according to Burnes, in Gujarát, 'Gadhia-ká paisá', 'Assmoney,' or rather, the money of Gadhia,' a name of Vikramaditya, whose father Jayanta, one of the Gandharbas, or heavenly choristers, is reputed to have been cursed by Indra, and converted into an ass. Wilford, in his Essay on the Era of Vikramáditya, ('As. Res.', ix. 155) endeavours to trace, in this story, the Persian fable of BahrámGôr's amours with an Indian princess, whence were descended the Gardabhina dynasty of Western India (gardabha being the Sanskrit equivalent for gor, an ass.') The story is admitted into the prophetic chapters of the 'Agni-Purána,' and is supported by traditions all over the country. Remains of the palace of this Vikrama are shewn in Gujarát, in Ujjain, and even at Benáres! The Hindús insist that this Vikrama was not a paramount sovereign of India, but only a powerful king of the western provinces, his capital being Cambát or Cambay and it is certain that the princes of those parts were tributary to Persia from a very early period. The veteran antiquarian, Wilford, would have been delighted, could he have witnessed the confirmation of his theories afforded by the coins before us, borne out by the local tradition of a people now unable even to guess at the nature of the curious and barbarous marks on them. None but a professed studier of coins could possibly have discovered on them the profile of a face after the Persian model, on one side, and the actual Sassanian fire-altar on the other; yet such is indubitably the case, as an attentive consideration of the accumulation of lines and dots on figs. 13, 16, will prove. The distortion of the face has proceeded from an undue relief being given by the die-cutter to the forehead and cheek: and this has by degrees apparently deceived the engraver himself, who at last contents himself with a deeply projecting oblong button, encircled by dots, (figs. 1618)! Should this fire-altar be admitted as proof of an Indo-Sassanian dynasty in Saurashtra, we may find the date of its establishment in the epoch of Yesdijird, the son of Bahrám-Gor; supported by the concurrent testimony of the Agni-Purána, that Vikrama,' the son of Gadhárúpa, 1 [Wathen, 'Jour. As. Soc. Beng.', iv., pl. xl.] should ascend the throne of Málavá (Ujjain) 753 years after the expiation of Chánakya, or A.D. 441. Fig. 17 is one of several very curious coins in Stacy's cabinet. The obverse shews it to be a direct descendant of 15 or 16, the 'Choukadúka' of Stacy; while the Nágarí inscription of the reverse is at once perceived to agree with the second, or Gaur, series of the Kanauj coins. I adverted to this fact before, and stated that it seemed to point to the paramount influence of the Pála family of Kanauj from Gaur in Bengal to Gujarát. The inscription has the letters श्री सा... लदेव probably Sri Samanta or Sámara Pála-deva. Fig. 18 is a more modern variety of the 'Choukadúka,' on which the fire-altar is replaced by Nágarí letters of the eleventh or twelfth century. The reading appears at Srí Kauja (?) but it is more probably Sri Kála, for we find a Kála-deva in the Gujarát list towards the close of the eleventh century, whom Wilford would identify with Vísala-deva of Dihlí. Figs. 19, 20. I have placed these two novelties from Stacy's cabinet in juxtaposition with the Saurashtra group, because we see in them the evident remains of the 'fire-altar' device of figs. 13, 15. The body of the altar only is removed and replaced by the Sanskrit श्री Sri; the opposite face has the very legible letters- हासस ४० or ४१ Hásas, 40 or 41. The explanation of in Wilson's Dictionary is'the moon (in the language of the Vedas)'; but it would be hazardous to interpret Srí Hásas as indicative of a lunar worship, or an adoption of a lunar motto, in contrast with the solar effigy and the fire emblems that preceded it. Sri, by itself, is still impressed upon the Sháh'Alam coin of Málwá, which is denominated from this circumstance the Srí-sáhí rupce. It is an epithet of the goddess Lakshmí, and denotes pure Hindúism in the reigning dynasty. Hás, taken separately, may be a contraction of Hastinápur or Hánsí, the place of coinage, and 80 may be 'Samvat 40' or 41, the year of reign. Figs. 21 and 22 should rather have found a place among the Pála coins of Kanauj; for on the reverse of both, sufficient of the Gaur alphabetic characters are seen to enable us to fill up the whole reading as Sri Ajaya-deva. The obverse seems to be a rude outline of a horse or a bull. At the foot of this plate I have inserted a few miscellaneous coins, which I was doubtful where to place with propriety, or which have reached me since the foregoing plates went to press. 1 Sec vol. ii.-'Useful Tables,' p. 68. |