it may

ble letters; on fig. 5 they are still more distinct, possibly be intended for II Sri Mahárájá, leaving us still in the dark for a name.

On the reverse of fig. 4, under the bull, are the letters fa an vijaya vag... a form that will be found more developed in another branch of this curious series below.

In the next variety, figs. 7 and 8, of which Dr. SWINEY boasts the largest supply, the Sassanian head is no longer retained, but the chakra remains coupled with a kind of cross which may be read as the syllable ku of the old alphabet. The bull of the reverse is now accompanied by an attendant exactly in the fashion of the inferior Kadphises or OKPO group of the Mithraic coins.

In the succeeding variety, figs. 9, and 10 (SWINEY), the chakra gives place to the trident (of SHIVA?) and the bull takes an attitude of repose à la Nandi. The letters ų Vídí sagu or Vedèsagu are bounded by the marginal dots, and must therefore be complete, however unintelligible. Were there room for a final we might conjecturally read faя Vidèsagupta, “cherished by foreigners ;" which would tally with the notion of a Parthian interloper.

In fig. 11 (which I also engraved in the Kadphises plate of vol. III.) the trident has the letters tri, as if for trisula.

In figs. 12 and 13 the symbol is more like the original fire-altar :— to the former are adjoined the letters, or perhaps Rudra, a name of SHIVA.

In figs. 14, 15, (STACY,) and 16, (SWINEY,) the standing figure has quitted the bull to take the chief post on the obverse-the marginal inscription of 14 commences with and the last letter is .

In figs. 17, 18, (SWINEY,) the bull is again replaced by the chakra, with two Sanskrit letters or 7-sense unknown.

And now we advance or perhaps it would be more correct to say retrograde to a much more satisfactory group, forming as it were a link between these Indo-Sassanians, and what have been called the Buddhist coins.

The specimens of this series, christened the "cock and bull" by Colonel STACY, and first made known by him, were deficient in preservation; but Mr. TREGEAR of Juanpúr has since been fortunate enough to procure a considerable quantity of various sizes with the epigraph beautifully distinct. They were found in company with copper coins of the GUPTA series, which are in the same style both as to the letters and their horizontal situation in what is called the exergue of western numismatics. As pointed out by Mr. TREGEAR, there are three varia

tions in the reading. On 20 and the coin below it; faE Satya mitasa. On the fine coins figs. 21, 22; af Saya mitasa. And on Nos. 19, 23, 24 and 25; fasafnae Vijaya mitasa. The variable portion of these, satya, saya, and vijaya, are evidently epithets, the perfect, the true, the victorious,-but the name to which they are applied, mitasa, whether of a person or thing, is unfortunately only open to conjecture. From the analogy of the okro bull, and the evident descent that has been traced in these plates to a Mithraic origin, I feel strongly inclined to read the word famitrasya, of the true, the victorious sun," the Mithras.-Mitra has also the signification "ally," if it be preferred to confine the title to a mundane ruler.

If the possessive termination be not made out, the terminal s may possibly be used in place of the visarga.

In figure 22, the trilingual symbol brings us directly to the extensive and oldest of our Hindu series. Of these we have, thanks to Mr. TREGEAR and Col. STACY, enough to fill another plate or two, but they must be kept distinct; while to close the present plate more consistently, I have inserted in figs. 26, 27, two small silver coins found by Capt. BURNES at old Mandivi or Raipur in Cutch, having Sassanian heads, and reverses respectively corresponding to figs. 7 and 12.

The little copper piece 28, from the same place, has the Nágarí letters Sri Bhima; the last letter uncertain.

To balance these I have selected three copper coins of Dr. SWINEY'S store, on account of their having the chakra or the bull for obverse. On No. 31 we can read the titles a.... Srí . . . Mahárája; the name as usual provokingly obscure! Dr. S. reads it ganapati.

Plate XX. Ceylon Coins.

After wading through the doubtful maze of obscurity exemplified by the foregoing coins, where we have almost in vain sought a feeble landmark to guide us even as to the race or the country whence they sprung, it is quite a relief to fall upon a series of coins possessed of their true and legitimate value as unequivocal evidence of the truth of history.

The peculiar coins of ancient Ceylon have been long known to collectors they have been frequently described and depicted in books, and the characters they bear identified as Deva-Nágarí, but little more. MARSDEN and WILSON, as will be seen below, were quite at fault in regard to them, and so might we all have remained had not the Hon'ble Mr. G. TURNOUR published his Epitome of the Ceylon History from the Buddhist Chronicles. Upon my publishing in vol. IV. a sketch of the coin which ranks first in the present plate, and suggest

ing the reading Srí Mayátraya Malla, I remarked that, although princes of this family name were common in Nepal, I could find none in the Ceylon list to correspond. This observation elicited the following note from Mr. TURNOUR, which in justice to his sagacious and correct prediction ought to have been published long ago.

"Note on Hindu Coin, fig. 22, of Pl. L. vol. IV.-In your valuable paper in the Dec. Journal, on Hindu Coins, you say that the name of Malla does not appear in my Catalogue. He is doubtless identical with Sahassa Mallowa in my epitome published in the Almanac of 1833. In the translation No. 6 of the inscription published in 1834, you will also find him called Sahasa Malla. That inscription contains a date, which led to an important correction in my chronological table explained at page 176. He commenced his reign in A. D. 1200. His being a member of the Kalinga royal family-his boastful visits to India and Dambodinia (which you have called Dipaluinna) becoming the capital in about 30 years after his reign, where the former similar coins were found ;-all tend to shew that the coin in question may be safely given to him. inscription that his title was Sirri Sangaba Kálinga Wijaya baku, surnamed Sahasa Malla.

:

Kandy, 17th March, 1836.

You will observe also by the

GEORGE TURNOUR."

There was no other Malla in the list, and therefore the assignment was probable, but I laid little stress on it from the total variance of the rest of the name. In August, 1836, Captain ORD, of Candy, sent me impressions of the coins he had met with, and pointed out that the first letter of the third line was not formed like but open like . To pursue the train of small causes leading to an important result, when lithographing the Delhi inscription of the 10th century in vol. V. page 726, the very first letter struck me as resembling in the squareness of its form, the Ceylonese letter I had before mistaken for . The enigma was thus in a moment solved, and every subsequent reading, (for coins of this prince are exceedingly common compared with others,) has confirmed the reading ¤¤¤ Srí mat Sáhasa Malla, in accordance with Mr. TURNOUR's conjecture. In some few specimens the t of mat is either omitted through ignorance, or worn away; but in general it is quite distinct. MARSDEN'S reading was я Maya daya malla.

The ice once broken, it became comparatively easy to find owners for all the other specimens either published in former notices, or existing unpublished in cabinets on the island.

Capt. ORD, not content with sending me drawings of those in his