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Art. II.—Parthian and Indo-Sassanian Coins
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 15 March 2011
Extract
The design of this paper, in the first instance, was confined to the description of a remarkable coin, communicated to me, in photograph, a year or two ago, by M. Wold Tiesenbausen, whose comprehensive work on “Les Monnaies des Khalifes Orientaux “ placed him in the front rank of Oriental Numismatists. Subsequently, the owner of the piece, M. le Comte S. Stroganofif, was so good as to risk the dangers of International Postal deliveries, and to send me the original coin itself for more exact and critical scrutiny.
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References
page 73 note 1 Text in Russian, St.-Pétersbourg, 1873, folio.
page 73 note 2 Vendidad, 19th Fargard, “I praise the zone Qanirathem, the splendid Hêtumat, the brightly shining, the beautiful.”—Haug, p. 217. See also Anquetil, , Zend Avesta, i. (2) p. 268, ii. 392Google Scholar.
page 74 note 1 Numismatic Chronicle, N.S. vol. xiv. 1874, p. 161. General Cunningham likewise read the name, in the first instance, as HPAoY (Journ. As. Soc. Bengal, 1862, p. 425Google Scholar), but he now tells me that he prefers the initial letters MI, and proposes to date the coins in about 50 B.C.
page 75 note 1 “Túραννºς, strictly Doric for kºíρανºς, from kūρºς, kúρiºς, a lord, master.” The editors add, “The term rather regards the way in which the power was gained than how it was exercised, being applied to the mild Pisistratus, but not to the despotic kings of Persia.” (Liddell and Scott.) The ancient Persians must hare been fully conversant with the use and meaning of the term, in the ‘Eλλησ πоνтíѡѵ μέν τύραννοι of Darius, referred to by Herodotus, iv. cap. 137, who elsewhere seems to admit that its interchange with βασιλεùς was optional and unimportant. Objection has been taken in the Indian Antiquary (1881, p. 215) to this simple interpretation; but is it not probable that the critically relied-on Xоρσν Ʃʋ, etc., are degradations rather than leading forms ?
page 76 note 1 ProfDowson, , J.E.A.S. o.s. Vol. XX. pp. 221, 232, etc.Google Scholar; Prinsep's Essays, vol. i. p. 145.
page 76 note 2 Ancient Inscriptions from Mathura, ProfDowson, , J.R.A.S. N.s. Vol. V. p. 182Google Scholar.
page 76 note 3 Prinsep's Essays, vol. ii. pp. 205–211; Ariana Antiqua, pi. vii. 3, 13, viii. 6.
page 77 note 1 Prinsep's Essays, ii. U.T. p. 72. Regulation 1773 A.D.
page 77 note 2 J.R.A.S. Vol. IX. N.S. 1876, p. 1Google Scholar.
page 77 note 3 Kalpa Sútra, Leipzig, 1879, p. 8:
“These verses (reproduced at p. 15, J.R.A.S. Vol. IX, 1876, from The Indian Antiquary, vol. ii. p. 362), which are quoted in a very large number of commentaries and chronological works, but the origin of which is by no means clear, give the adjustment between the eras of Vira and Vikrama, and form the basis of the earlier Jaina chronology.
The sum of years elapsed between, the commencement of the era of Vikrama and the reign of the Mauryas, as stated by the verses just quoted, is 255 = 4+13+40+60+30+108. By adding 57, the number of years expired between the commencement of the Samvat and the Christian eras, we arrive at 312 B.C. as the date of Chandra Gupta's abbisheka. The near coincidence of this date with the date derived from Greek sources, proves that the Vikrama of the 3rd verse is intended for the founder of the Samvat era (57 B.C), and not for the founder of the Saka era (78 A.D.), because on the latter premiss Chandra Gupta's abhisheka would date 177 B.C The reigns of Palaka (60) and of the nine Nandas (155), in sum 215 years, make up the interval between Chandra Gupta and the Nirvána; adding 215 to 312 B.C, we arrive at 527 B.C. as the epoch of Mahávíra's Nirvána, differing by 16 years from the Nirvána of Buddha, according to the chronology of Ceylon, or 543 B.C.”
Another account states that “155 years after the liberation of Mahávíra, Chandra Gupta became king.” Adding 155 to 312 B.C. “we find that the Nirvána of Mahávíra would, fall in 467 B.C.”
DrBühler, , in the Indian Antiquary (vol. ii. p. 363)Google Scholar, notices a point of much importance in the history of, Indian dates, viz. that the Jaina sect of Swetambaras date in the Vikramaditya era, while the Digambaras make use of the Saka era; and that the parallel systems each give the return of 526 B.C for Mahávíra.
Prof. Jacobi adds in a note, “I call attention to the fact that this date of Chandra Gupta's abhisheka coincides with the beginning of the Seleucidan era. MrThomas, Ed. (Records of the Gupta Dynasty in India, pp. 17, 18)Google Scholar believes that the Seleucidan era maintained for a long time its ground m Upper India, etc. If the correctness of Mr. Thomas's theory could be demonstrated by direct proof, it would be easy to account for the rather puzzling fact that the Jaina date of Chandra Gupta's abhisheka comes so near to the truth.”
It will be remembered that Wilford, in vol. ix. pp. 94, 98, Asiatic Researches, 1807, first detected the curious coincidence “of the expiation of Chanacya,” and “the accession of Chandra Gupta to the throne,” in 312 B.C., as “a famous era in the chronology of the Hindus.”
page 78 note 1 J.R.A.S. Vol. IX. p. 6.
page 78 note 2 Prinsep's Essays, vol. ii. p. 175. Numismatic Chronicle, 1842, Table of Dynasties, p. 175. See also his later papers in the same Journal, vol. ix. N.S. p. 38.
page 79 note 1 P. 108.
page 79 note 2 The Epoch of the Guptas in India, p. 36; Archæological Survey of Western India for 1874–5, London, 1876, p. 51Google Scholar.
page 80 note 1 Lindsay, , History of the Parthians, Cork, 1882, pl. iii. fig. 2, pp. 146–170Google Scholar; Trésor de Numismatique, pl. lxviii. fig. 17.
page 80 note 2 Ibid. pi. v. fig. 2, p. 181.
page 80 note 3 Ibid.pl. iii. fig. 60; v. fig. 4, pp. 148, 170; Trésor de Numismatique, pl. lxviii. fig. 18; pl. lxix. fig. 5.
page 80 note 4 Ibid.pl. iii. figs. 61–63.
page 80 note 5 Lindsay, p. 46; Rawlinson, , The Sixth Monarchy, p. 182Google Scholar.
page 80 note 6 Wilson, 100 B.C.; Lassen, 120 B.C; Cunningham, after 126 before 105 B.C.; Prinsep's Essays, vol. ii.
page 81 note 1 Numismatic Chronicle, vol. xv. o.s. plate p. 180, fig. 3; and vol. xii. N.S. plate iii. fig. 3.
page 81 note 3 J.R.A.S. Vol. IV. N.S. p. 1. Reprinted in the Numismatic Chronicle, vol. x. N.S.P. 139. See also a later notice of these coins in my essay on the “Epoch of the Guptas,” p. 38, note.
page 84 note 1 Sachau's Translation, London (Orient. Tr. Fund), Allen & Co., 1879, p. 109Google Scholar.
page 84 note 2 Text and Translation, by de Meynard, M. Barbier, Journal Asiatique, 1865, pp. 249, etc.Google Scholar
page 85 note 1 
. Lugd. Bat. 1858, pp. 58, et seq.
page 85 note 2 Masaudi, iv. 130.
page 85 note 3 Tabari, iii. 518; iv. 123.
page 85 note 4 Khallikan, Ibn, Oriental Translation Fund, vol. iv. p. 302Google Scholar. D'Herbelot, , under Jacub Leith, p. 466Google Scholar, speaks of “Darham” prince of Sejestàn; Masaudi, however (vol. viii. pp. 41, 415), refers to “Dirhem bin Naar.”. Yakut has 
. —Istakhri, Goeje, p. 246.
page 85 note 5 Elphinstone (Kabul, p. 391) estimated the area of the Duráni possessions as 400 miles by from 120 to 140, i.e. “larger than England,” with a population of 60,000 families, at the period of Nadir Sháh's invasion.
page 88 note 1 “ And with the ears and the mane; and the mane served instead of a crest.” —Cary, Bonn's ed. p. 430. The Vishnu Purána has a somewhat similar reference to horse-headed creatures, i. 82. The Gúrkhar, or wild-ass, is common in Sind, Elphinstone p. 7; Burnes, iii. 321; and Conolly, E., J.A.S. Bengal, 1840, p. 723Google Scholar.
page 88 note 2 J.R.A.S., I. o.s. 1834, p. 231. See also Wood's Oxus, Yule's edit. p. 35.
page 88 note 3 J.R.A.S., XII. o.s. p. 841.
page 88 note 4 Prinsep's Essays, vol. i. pl. xxxiii. fig. 3, p. 410; vol. ii. p. 115. See also Ariana Antiqua, pl. xvii. figs. 5, 7.
page 89 note 1 “Tout le monde sait quel développement la croyanee au nom tout-puissant et caché de Dieu a pris chez les Juifs talmudistes et kabbalistes, combieu elle est encore générale chez les Arabes. Nous voyons aujourd'hui d'une manière positive qu'elle Tenait de la Chaldée. Au reste, pareille notion devait prendre naissance dans une contrée où l'on concevait le nom divin, le schem, comme doué de propriétés si spéciales et si individuelles qu'on arrivait à en faire une hypostase distincte. C'est le cas de retourner le mot céleèbre de Varron, en disant nomen numen.”—Le Magie chez les Chaldéens, Paris, 1874, p. 41Google Scholar. Curiously enough, Sir A. Burnes discovered that the idols at Bamiàn were called ”Súmach” by the residents of the place.—J.A.S.B. vol. iii. p. 561.
page 89 note 2 Collection de Monnaies Sassanides, de M. J. de Bartholomaei, par Dr. B. Dorn, St.-Pétersbourg, 1875.
page 90 note 1 J.R.A.S. Vol. V. N.S. 1871, p. 439Google Scholar.
page 90 note 2 Erskine's Translation, London, 1826, p. 148Google Scholar.
page 91 note 1 Numismatic Chronicle, vol. i. N.S. 1881, p. 122Google Scholar. Report of Third Congress of Orientalists (St.-Pétersbourg), 1876, Lerch, M. Pierre, p. 423Google Scholar. Indian Antiquary, 1879, p. 269.
page 91 note 2 See coin No. 59, p. 318, J.R.A.S. Vol. XII. o.s. 1840Google Scholar. The Antai may now be corrected into Hutai. The original coin was struck at Herát, in A.H. 67?
page 91 note 3 Calcutta Text, vol. i. p. 313.
page 91 note 4 Avesta, Zend, Anquetil, i. (2) 78Google Scholar, 
‘Patan Shame Ddtar Anhuma.’
page 92 note 1 Vol. ii. p. 138.
page 92 note 2 Jour. Asiat. Soc. Bengal, vol. iii. pl. xxx. 6Google Scholar. Prinsep's Essays, vol. i. pl. vii. 6. Ariana Antiqua, pl. xvii. 9.
page 92 note 3 J.R.A.S. Vol. XI. o.s. (1849), p. 126Google Scholar. Albírúní, Sprenger's Map, enters 
as 
the alternative capital is not noticed; Reinaud, from the same sources, give 
, p. 114, Fragments; see also Mémoire, pp. 156, 196, and Journal Asiatique, vol. x. p. 94Google Scholar. Masaudi, vol. viii, p. 127. Elliot's Historians, vol. i. pp. 48, 63, 467.
page 93 note 1 J.R.A.S. Vol. IX. o.s. 1848, p. 177Google Scholar. Prinsep's Essays, vol. i. p. 313. SirBayley, E. C., Num. Chron. 1882, p. 128Google Scholar.
page 93 note 2 J.R.A.S. Vol. XII. N.S. p. 343.
page 93 note 3 Masaudi, vol. i. p. 151. 
. The author, writing in 332 A.H., tells us of how “Brahman le grand” deposited in the maison d'or (à Moultán), the astronomical and other calculations of the past, and the records of the primitive history of the land. See also Elliot's Historians, vol. i. pp. 14, 21, etc.
page 93 note 4 Longperier, Paris, 1840. pl. xi. fig. 3, p. 78: “les cheveux séparés des deux côtés de la tête et flamhoyant sur le soinmet.” The original coin is engraved also in SirOuseley's, W. work as No. 8, and has been reproduced in Canon Rawlinson's Monarchy, vol. vii. 1876, p. 531Google Scholar.
page 94 note 1 See Ariana Antiqua, pl. xiv. fig. 17, and pl. x. figs. 13, 16; and recent discoveries in Afghánistán, in Proceedings Asiatic Soc. Bengal, 1879, plate iii. figs. 1 to 9.
page 94 note 2 Gen. Cunningham prefers “Shahi tigin,” Arch. Eeports, vol. v. p. 121. He objects also as to the 
N in Nárih, but if the other 
n's retain their proper forms, the old 
n follows of necessity, in the ordinary alphabetical order, and need not be forced into a 
j, or any other dubious consonant. On the other part, his suggestion of Hitivi for India has much ground of probability.
page 94 note 3 The Persian 
“precious,” hence Arabic 
“forma arabica persicæ vocis eadem significations” Vüllers; s.v.
page 95 note 1 Prinsep, , J.A.S.B. vol. iii. 1834, p. 439, pl. xxi. figs. 10, 11, and vol. vii. 1838, p. 419, and plate xxiiGoogle Scholar. Ariana Antiqua, p. 401, pi. xxi. fig. 22. Prinsep's Essays, vol. i. p. 402, vol. ii. p. 110. J.R.A.S. Vol. XII. o.s. p. 343.
page 95 note 2 There is an uncertainty among the later Arabian authors as to the short vowels and the coincident meaning of this Persian word. This question is completely set at rest by Yakubi, who tells us in the full terms—
And again—
page 95 note 3 Lat. 24° 11' Long. 67° 44'.
page 95 note 4 The modern Gazetteers (Thornton's collection, Allen, 1844Google Scholar) describe Bamian as “a celebrated valley on the route from Kábul to Turkestán, it is generally regarded as the boundary of the Hindú Khúsh. … It is of very great importance, being ‘the only known pass,’ across these ranges, ‘practicable for artillery or heavy carriages. It is also the great commercial route.’ … On the southern or Afghán side, are four principal passes, … on the northern, or Kundúz side, three … somewhat complicated, but ‘that all are at Bamian restricted to one line, which holds its course through the valley.’”
page 96 note 1 At p. 455, vol. i, “Documents Geographiques,” the speech and writing of the Tokhári is described as, “Leur langue parlée diffère peu de celle des autres royaumes; les caractères primitifs de leur écriture se composent de vingt-einq signes qui se multiplient en se combinant ensemble et servent à exprimer toutes choses. Ils éerivent horizontalement de gauche à droite.”
page 96 note 2 
Paramewara, “The supreme being,” though not exclusively the title of Siva, is perhaps preferentially so. Durgá is likewise known as Parameswearí. At Benares, Siva as Visveswara is “The Lord of all” (Wilson's Essays, vol. i. p. 188). But the 
deva 
ndri, “the female divinity,” brings us much nearer to Saivism, in the Arrdha-náríswara “Siva half-feminine,” so many exemplifications of which detestable association appear on the Indo-Scythian coinage (J.R.A.S. Vol. IX. N.S. pl. ii. figs. 13, 25, 26, p. 214). That the Sassanians themselves were not always averse to adopting Hindú gods, may be seen by the appearance of the identical reverse of ‘Siva and his Bull’ on the coins of Hormuzdays II. (Num. Chron. vol.xv. o.s. plate, p. 180, fig. 11; and vol.xii. 1872, p. 115.)
page 97 note 1 Tiesenhausen, No. 234; Mordtmann, Zeitschrift D.M.G. 1879, p. 109.
page 97 note 2 Prinsep's, Essays, i. p. 64, London, 1858Google Scholar.
page 98 note 1 Vol. XIII. 1852, p. 411, etc. Vol. V. N.S. 1871, p. 432. Ockley, p. 141. Masaudi, vol. iv. p. 192.
page 98 note 2 Text and Translation, in Latin, I.M.E. Gottwaldt, St.-Pétersburg, 1846.
page 98 note 3 Masaudi, , chap. lxxv. French Translation, vol. iv. p. 179Google Scholar.
page 99 note 1 “ Il y eut [en cette année] à la Mecque, an temps du pèlerinage, quatre drapeaux différents, appartenant à quatre Imâms, dont chacun était opposé à l'autre; … On pouvait craindre qu'il n'y eût des luttes entre ces différents partis, dont chacun se rendait à 'Arafât avec son drapeau, et accomplissait la prière séparément. Les pèlerins des différentes contrées, qui prenaient part au pélerinage, étaient étonnés à, ce spectacle et se demandaient quel était le véritable imâm.”—Tabari, French Edition, vol. iv. p. 102.
page 99 note 2 Bohn's edit. p. 292 et seq.
page 99 note 3 Ibn Khallikan, vol. ii. p. 522.
page 99 note 4 Tabari, vol. iv. p. 121. Masaudi, vol. v. pp. 230, 314, 350, etc. Price, Muhammadan History, p. 453.