but I incline to think these characters of the Dihlí type, and the Bactrian monogram should decide their locality. Mr. Wilson and Schlegel both call them Indo-Scythic, and the latter, with Colonel Tod, names the figure 'Siva with his bull Nandí.'1 Schlegel thinks it curious that such marks of the Hindú faith should appear on these Tatar coins, but, considering the Indian origin of the Saca, does not this rather prove the same of their successors, instead of their Tatar descent? It is more curious that the fire-altar should continue on all of the series, but the fact of its being a fire-altar at all is still matter of great uncertainty.

FIG. 16.-Copper coins of this device are met with throughout Upper Hindústán :-they constitute the third series of Colonel Tod's plate, and some in his possession have decided Greek characters upon them. On the obverse is the same warrior with spear and altar. On the reverse is what he supposes to be a priest about to sacrifice the bull; but in the coin before us the dhoti is so precisely the costume of the Brahmans, that he inclines rather to look upon the animal (especially as he has the hump) as the sacred bull of this country; denoting the prevalence or predominance of the Bráhmanical faith in the Indian dependencies of Menander or Eucratides' dominion.

FIG. 18. This type of coin is, if anything, more common than the last and the inscriptions are no longer Greek; but either of the unknown character of the Dihlí column, or genuine Hindí. The figure astride upon the elephant is always much out of proportion, and the Rájá with the altar more rudely executed. The elephant is, like the horse, preserved in subsequent coins of the Hindús; thus

FIG. 17 represents one of these procured by Lieutenant Burnes in his tour. The same device is still common in Southern India. The form of the Nágarí characters on this and Fig. 14 agrees with those on copper grants of land 700 or 800 years old.

[Professor Wilson discovers the name of Srí Vanka-deva

Ce qui me parait la circonstance la plus remarquable dans ces médailles, ce sont ces preuves du culte brahmanique adopté par les rois Tartares. Ils regnaient donc certainement sur des provinces où ce culte était etabli.'-'Journal Asiatique,' Nov. 1828.

3

1

کنک

on these coins ('Ariana Antiqua,' p. 430). I myself formerly accepted this reading, and was inclined to identify the monarch so designated with the last of Albirúnís Kutúr kings, whose name is given in the Arabic texts as Kanak2 or Gang (the 'Kank' of M. Reinaud's French translation), but I confess that there are difficulties in the way of the association; and, moreover, the name, in its Sanskrit form, is by no means assured, as it may be interpreted in various ways, but preferably, I think, varka. It has been proposed to render the name as чpákka, but to this transcription there are manifest objections, as it is usual to duplicate theby a second character similar to the leading form of that letter. This practice, at all events, will be seen to have been followed in the majority of Indian inscriptions. (See Gupta coins, 'Ariana Antiqua,' plate xviii., fig. 4; also Allahábád Inscription, plate lv., vol. vi., ‘Journal of the Asiatic Society of Bengal ;' Gaya Inscriptions, ibid, plate xxxiv., etc.) Again, in regard to the initial up, whatever may be the authoritative form of that letter, it is sufficient to say, in justification of my reading, that the outline of the character on the several coins almost uniformly agrees with that of the final v in deva. But as I shall have to revert to this description of coins under Article XI., I defer any further remarks to the more appropriate occasion.-E.T.]

I do not mention Lieutenant Burnes' Muhammadan coins, as it is better to keep them distinct from the present engraved series, to which I may have soon to add a valuable supplement, containing a selection from Dr. Swiney's and General Ventura's discoveries. My task increases upon me daily, but I shall be amply rewarded

1 ['Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society,' ix., 179.]

2 ['Jami'-ul-tawáríkh,' etc., quoted in the 'Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society,' ix., 194.]

3 [Fragmens Arabes et Persans relatifs à l'Inde,' 'Journal Asiatique,' 4th series, vol. iv., 1844.]

if my humble notice of the discoveries of others shall, by connecting them with ancient history, eventually turn these most interesting reliques to the true end of numismatic study.