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Art XVI.—On the Identity of Xandrames and Kraṇanda

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  15 March 2011

Edward Thomas Esq.
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Extract

At the meeting of the Royal Asiatic Society, on the 21st Nov., 1864, I undertook the task of establishing the identity of the Xandrames of Diodorus Siculus and Quintus Curtius, the undesignated king of the Gangetic provinces of other Classic Authors—with the potentate whose name appears on a very extensive series of local mintages under the bilingual Bactrian and Indo-Pali form of Kraṇanda.

Type
Original Communications
Information
Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society , Volume 1 , Issue 2 , April 1865 , pp. 447 - 487
Copyright
Copyright © The Royal Asiatic Society 1865

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References

page 448 note 1 An incident in the life of Buddha, related in the Dulva, would seem to imply that even among his own relations Sákya's success was supposed to be connected with the practice of Magic. “Lhas-byin, one of Ṣákya's cousins, the model of a malignant and rancorous person. How he endeavours to acquire the knowledge of the magical art, or of performing prodigies. He applies to Sákya, and upon his refusal to his principal disciples.” (As. Res. xx. p. 84Google Scholar). “Astrology related by Sákya,” 516. In another place, however (p. 70), “an astrologer” is stated to have been “converted to Buddhism.” The traditions of ancient magic and similar delusions may well have retained a place in domestic legends, over extensive tracts of outlying country, ready to reassert themselves at any moment, under similar conditions of society—which in its singular stagnation retained below the surface most of these ancient elements intact, prepared alike for the reformers, or at the service of those who desired to rehabilitate the older creeds under the mask of the more advanced religions current in the land—which tendency may possibly in itself account for the reception of so many early heresies and marked absurdities into the later Tantrik rituals; See Wilson's, Essays on the Religion of the Hindus, ii. p. 75;Google ScholarAs. Res. xvi., xvii.Google Scholar For other references to magic, see Wilson's Works, Trübner, , London, 1862, i. 23, 26, 248, 255Google Scholar; ii. 377; iii. 168, 175 (Yoga Nanda) 354 (Magic taught) 368, 373; iv. 130, 152; v. 109 (Yoga) 143. Mr. Caldwell has instituted an interesting inquiry into the ancient religion of the Drávidians, the result of which he states as follows: “On comparing this Drávidian system of demonolatry and sorcery with ‘Shamanism’—the superstition which prevails amongst the Ugrian races of Siberia and the hill tribes on the south-western frontier of China, which is still mixed up with the Buddhism of the Mongols, and which was the old religion of the whole Tartar race before Buddhism and Mohammedanism were disseminated amongst them—we cannot avoid the conclusion that those two superstitions, though practised by races so widely separated, are not only similar but identical.” —Drávidian Grammar, p. 519.Google Scholar A connexion MrHodgson, has further illustrated, J.R.A.S. xviii. p.397.Google Scholar See also Maháwanso, p. xlv. “It would appear that the prevailing religion in Lanká, at that period, was the demon or yakkha worship.”

For further illustrations of the general question, see J. R. A. S.; Stevenson, , v. pp. 189–246: vi. 239; vii. pp. 1–64Google Scholar; Wilson, , xii. 238Google Scholar; xiii. 105, 273; Briggs, , xiii. pp. 282 (note 7), 285, 290, 304Google Scholar.

page 449 note 1 Wilson, , J.R.A.S. xii. p. 236.Google Scholar

page 450 note 1 J. A. S. B. vii. 1013.Google ScholarDulva, . As. Res. xx. pp. 61, 64, 65–74, 89, 91, 290, and especially p. 435.Google Scholar

page 450 note 2 Mann. ii. § 17.Google Scholar

page 450 note 3 See the coin figured as No. 1, Plate vii. vol. i. Prinsep's Essays, J. A. S. B. iii. pl. xxv. fig. 1.Google Scholar On this piece we have possibly the first instance of the use of the detached half-moon associated with the name of the Vishṇu deva in the old Pali characters. It is instructive to note further the Royal title of Chandra Gupta, and the real name of Cháṇakya, i.e. Vishṇu Gupta. See also Martin, St., Jour. des Sav. vol. v. (1858) p. 142.Google Scholar

page 450 note 4 Turnour, , Mahawanso, , p. 9;Google ScholarJ. A. S. B. vii. 927.Google Scholar

page 451 note 1 —Diod. Sic. xvii. c. 93.Google Scholar

page 451 note 2 ix, i. § 35. Relicto igitur Sophite in suo regno, ad fluvium Hypasin processit, Hephæstione, qui diversam regionem subegerat, conjuncto. 36. Phegeus erat gentis proximæ rex, qui, popularibus suis ‘colere agros, ut assueverant,’ jussis, Alexandro cum donis occurrit; nihil quod imperaret detrectans.

ii. § 1. Biduum apud eum substitit rex: tertio die amnem superare decreverat, transitu difficilem, non spatio solum aquarum, sed etiam saxis impeditum. 2. Percontatus igitur Phegea, quæ noscenda erant, ‘xi dierum ultra flumen per vastas solitudines iter esse’ cognoscit: ‘excipere deinde Gangen, maximum totius Indiæ fluminum: 3. ulteriorem ripam colere gentes Gangaridas et Pharrasios; eorumque regem csse Aggrammem, xx millibus equitum ducentisque peditum obsidentem vias: 4. ad hæc quadrigarum duo millia trahere et præcipuum terrorem elephantos, quos trium millium numerum explere’ dicebat. [Five variants of the name are given, Agramen, Agrammem, Agrame, Agramen, Aggramem.] 5. Incredibilia regi omnia videbantur: igitur Porum (nam cum eo erat) percontatur, ‘an vera essent, quæ dicerentur?’ 6. Ille ‘vires quidem gentis et regni haud falso jactari’ affirmat; ‘ceterum, qui regnaret, non modo ignobilem esse, sed etiam ultimæ sortis: quippe patrem ejus tonsorem vix diurno quæstu propulsantem famem, propter habitum haud indecorum, cordi fuisse reginæ: 7. ab ea in propiorem ejus, qui tum regnasset, amicitiæ locum admotum, interfecto eo per insidias, sub specie tutelæ liberum ejus invasisse regnum; necatisque pueris hunc, qui nunc regnat, generasse, invisum vilemque popularibus, magis paternæ fortunæ, quam suæ memorem.’—Quintus Curtius, ed. Delph, . London, 1825, vol. ii. 676.Google Scholar

page 451 note 3 Wilford, , Asiatic Researches, v. p. 286.Google ScholarMüller, Max, Sanskrit Lit. p. 279.Google Scholar

The jealous scrutiny to which the action of the Patent Laws in England has lately been subjected, has shown how few modern ideas are positively and completely original. Hence, it becomes the duty of the humblest aspirant for the honors of even a new combination, to record, in all fullness, any previously published suggestions towards the same end; however little they may have conduced to the immediate and ultimate result he undertakes to announce. As far as my guidance towards an identification of Xandrames and Nanda is concerned, the earliest claim must unhesitatingly be conceded to the much abused Wilford; to whom, I think, fair credit has never yet been given by succeeding critics. It was easy to say an Englishman was in the hands of his Pandits in those days; they all were!—but the singular fact remains, of how much information, based upon honest though imperfect interpretation, and how comprehensive, though at times overstrained, a faculty his master mind was able to bring to bear on the amalgamation and elncidation of Eastern and Western knowledge, as tried by either one or the other test in India, at the commencement of the present century.

Wilford, in 1797, endeavoured to substantiate the identity of Xandrames and Chandra Gupta, under the approximate rendering of Chandramas as the local equivalent of both the Greek and the Sanskrit version of the real name (As. Res. v. 286Google Scholar). He subsequently, in 1807, clearly abandoned this mere suggestion, and took up the position that the Xandrames of Alexander's historians was simply the reigning Nanda of that day (As. Res. ix. 94Google Scholar). Max Müller, possibly without being aware of the one assimilation, or the other more complete association, seems to accept in a measure the nominal similitude, though securing himself by supposing that Xandrames might be “the same as the last Nanda” (Sanskrit Literature, p. 279Google Scholar). General Cunningham, who has always had a leaning towards phonetics—in his younger and bolder days used to say that Kuṇanda, as the name so manifestly suggested, was one of the nine Nandas—but as even this “courageous etymologist,” as Wilson called him (J. R. A. S. xvi. 230Google Scholar), has not ventured to adhere to his guess in his more mature writings (Topes, Bhilsa, 1854, p. 355Google Scholar), I conclude he will not now seek to disturb the grave of Wilford.

page 453 note 1 Lib. lxii. 8:Google Scholar—Plut, . Vitæ Parallelæ, Lipsiæ, 1843, iii. 208.Google Scholar

—Arriani Exped. Alexandri. Lib. iii. c. xxv.Google Scholar

page 454 note 1 Masaudi, chap. xxvi.

[One MS. No. 23,266 Mus. Brit. gives the name as ].

page 454 note 2 Sháh Námah, Chap. (headed)

Also, Chap.

Macan, iii. p. 1299.Google Scholar

page 455 note 3 Majmal-al-Tawáríkh.

Reinaud, M. “Fragments Arabes et Persans.” Paris, 1845, p. 1.Google Scholar

page 456 note 1 Maháwanso, , p. 21:Google Scholar “Kálásóko had ten sons; these brothers (conjointly) ruled the empire, righteously, for twenty-two years. Subsequently there were nine; they also, according to their seniority, righteously reigned for twenty-two years. Thereafter the Brahman Chánakkó, in gratification of an implacable hatred borne towards the ninth surviving brother, called Dhana-nando, having put him to death,” etc.

Maháwanso, p. xxxviii.Google Scholar from the commentary (the Ṭîkâ): “Subsequent to Kálásóko, who patronized those who held the second convocation, the royal line is stated to have consisted of twelve monarchs to the reign of Dhammásóko, when they (the priests) held the third convocation. Kálásóko's own sons were ten brothers. Their names are specified in the Atthakathá. The appellation of ‘the nine Nandos’ originates in nine of them bearing that patronymic title. The Atthakathá of the Uttarawiháro priests sets forth that the eldest of these was of an extraction (maternally) not allied (inferior) to the royal family, and that he dwelt in one of the provinces: it gives also the history of the other nine. In aforetime, during the conjoint administration of the (nine) sons of Kálásóka, xxxix.: His brothers next succeeded to the empire in the order of their seniority. They altogether reigned twenty-two years. It was on this account that (in the Maháwanso) it is stated that there were nine Nandos. Their ninth youngest brother was called Dhana-nando, from his being addicted to hoarding treasure. [He is subsequently stated to have] abandoned his passion for hoarding, becoming imbued with the desire of giving alms,” etc.

Bhuddhaghosa's Aṭṭhakathá has “the ten sons of Kálásóko reigned thirty-two years. Subsequently to them, Nawanando reigned twenty-two years. Chandagutto twenty-four years.”—J. A. S. B. vi. 726;Google ScholarMaháwanso, p. ii.Google Scholar

page 457 note 1 Paráṇa, Vishṇu, p. 467:Google Scholar His son will also be Nandi-varddhana; and his son will be Mahánandi. These ten Ṣaiṣuṇágas will be kings of the earth for three hundred and sixty-two years. The son of Mahánanda will be born of a woman of the Ṣúdra or servile class; his name will be Nanda, called Mahápadma, for he will be exceedingly avaricious. Like another Paraṣuráma, he will be the annihilator of the Kshatriya race; for after him the kings of the earth will be Ṣúdras. He will bring the whole earth under one umbrella; he will have eight sons, Sumálya and others, who will reign after Mahápadma; and he and his sons will govern for one hundred years. The Brahman Kauṭilya will root out the nine Nandas. Upon the cessation of the race of Nanda, the Mauryas will possess the earth, for Kauṭilya will place Chandra Gupta on the throne.

[Professor Wilson adds the following additional notes:—]

“The Bhágavata calls [Nanda] Mahápadmapati, the lord of Mahápadma! which the commentator interprets ‘sovereign of an infinite host,’ or of ‘immense wealth;’ Mahápadma signifying 100,000 millions. The Váyu and Matsya, however, consider Mahápadma as another name of Nanda.”

The Bhágavata also “[has, ‘he and his sons];’ but it would be more compatible with chronology to consider the nine Nandas as so many descents. The Váyu and Matsya give eighty-eight years to Mahápadma and only the remaining twelve to Sumálya and the rest of the remaining eight, these twelve years being occupied with the efforts of Kauṭilya to expel the Nandas.”

The several authorities agree in the number of ten Ṣaiṣunágas, and in the aggregate years of their reigns, which the Matsya and the Bhágavata call 360; the Váyu has 362 … … The Váyu and Matsya call the Ṣaiṣunágas Kshatrabandhus, which may designate an inferior order of Kshatriyas: they also observe, that cotemporary with the dynasties already specified, the Pauravas, the Várhadrathas and Mágadhas, there were other races of royal descent, as Aikshwákava princes, 24; Pánchálas, 25 … Kálakas or Kásakas or Káseyas, 24; Haihayas, 24; Kálingas, 32. ṣákas, Aṣmakas, Kuravas, Maithilas, Ṣúrasenas, and Vitihotrás.—See also Wilson's, Essays on Sanskrit Literature, i. 133.Google Scholar

page 457 note 2 For further evidence of the co-ordination of the nine Nandas, see Wilson's, ‘Mudrá Rákshasa,’ Hindu Theatre, ii. pp. 144–5–6.Google ScholarPreface: “The king when he grew old retired from the affairs of state, consigning his kingdom to these nine sons,” etc. Text, verses 155–7, p. 181:

A subsequent passage incidentally proves that the idea of joint kings was by no means foreign to the practice of the day.

“Vairodhaka and Chandra Gupta, seated

On the same throne, installed as equal kings,

Divided Nanda's empire.”

See also Asiatic Researches, v. 266.Google Scholar

page 457 note 3 Diod. Sic. ii. c. 39, § 38:Google Scholar

page 458 note 1 Exped. Alexandri. c. xxiv.Google Scholar

page 458 note 2 Ibid. c. xxv., quoted p. 453 ante.

page 458 note 3 Arrian Indica. xii. 10:Google ScholarThe passage varies in Strabo, xv. c. 1, § 40.Google ScholarBut he elsewhere adverts to an aristocratical form of government, xv. c. 1, § 37.Google Scholar See also Pliny, , Hist. Nat. vi. 20.Google Scholar

page 458 note 4 As. Res. xx. 439.Google ScholarJour. As. Soc. Bengal, vii. 1013.Google ScholarTopes, Bhilsa, p. 29.Google Scholar

page 458 note 5 MrTurnour, remarks in a note, p. 992, vol. vii. J. A. S. B.:Google Scholar “These rájas or rulers were of the Lichchhawi dynasty, the capital of whose dominions, called Wajji, was Wesáli. The union of the Wajjian states is stated to have consisted of a confederation of chiefs or princes.”

page 458 note 6 As. Res. xx. pp. 66, 69, 72;Google ScholarJ. A. S. B. i. 4.Google Scholar

page 458 note 7 Foekoueki, 240, 251, note 8, Klaproth: “II paraît que quoique les habitants de Vaïśali eussent une forme de gouvernement républicaine, ils avaient pourtant anssi un roi.”

page 459 note 1 Jour. R. A. S. (1848), vol. xii. pp. 39, 40, 41;Google ScholarPrinsep's Essays, vol. ii. p. 92.Google Scholar

page 459 note 2 See Sir H. M. Elliot's Glossary of Indian Terms, sub voce Bhyáchára and his Settlement Circular orders, N.W.P.

page 460 note 1 Clinton, p. 190, 8vo. edition, Oxford, 1851.Google Scholar

page 460 note 2 Clinton Fast. Hellen. iii. 482, note.Google Scholar

page 460 note 3 Turnour, J.A.S.B. vi., pp. 722.Google Scholar

page 460 note 4 Müller, Max, Sanskrit Literature, p. 264.Google Scholar

page 461 note 1 Turnour, J.A.S.B. vi. (1837) pp. 718, 720,Google ScholarMahawanso, , p. li.Google Scholar

page 461 note 2 Csoma, Tibetan Grammar, p. 199.Google Scholar Professor Wilson also cites no less than thirteen different dates, collected by a Tibetan author, ranging from 2420 R.C. to 453 B.C., three figures which suggest in themselves an erroneous transposition of the copyist for 543. Wilson, J.R.A.S. xvi. p. 247,Google Scholar and DrRost's, edition of Wilson's works, vol. ii. p. 345.Google Scholar

page 461 note 3 Suivant l'Histoire de la vie de Hiouen-thsang, p.304,Google Scholar le Ta-thang-si-yu-ki a été redigé en 648. D'après ce premier calcul, (1200 b.c.) l'époque du Nirváṇa remonterait à l'an 552 avant J.C. La seconde opinion (1300 b.c.) le fait remonter à 652; la troisième opinion (1500 b.c.) à, 852, et la quatrième (de neuf cents à mille ans) entre 252 et 352. La première date est celle qui rapproche le plus de celle des Çingalais (543), qui paraît généralement adoptée. Stan. Julien. ii. 335.Google Scholar General Cunningham, who has a tendency to averages, arrives by that unsatisfactory method of rectification at a still closer approximation to the Ceylon date, in the return of 544. Topes, Bhilsa, p. 74.Google Scholar

page 462 note 1 Turnour, J.A.S.B. vi. (1837) pp. 507, 717.Google ScholarMaháwanso, , p. xxx. and chapter xxxvii., p. 250.Google Scholar

page 462 note 2 J.A.S.B. vi. 725.Google ScholarMaháwanso, , p. lii.Google Scholar

page 462 note 3 Col. Tod's average of 119 kings gives a return of 22 years per reign (i. 52). Wathen (J.R.A.S. v. 346Google Scholar) with an average extending over 535 years produces 25 years, while the Walter Elliot inscriptions (J.R.A.S. iv. 5Google Scholar) reduce the term to 17.7 years. See Note J.R.A.S., xii. p. 36.Google Scholar

page 463 note 1 “The chronological data contained in the Aṭṭhakathá on the Pitakattaya, and in the Maháwanso, connected with the history both of India and of Ceylon, exhibit, respectively, in a tabular form, the following results:—

page 463 note 2 Bhilsa Topes, p. 75.Google Scholar Lassen also proposes to give an extra 66 years to the Nandas, but he spoils the whole rectificatory process by limiting the remainder to 22 years.

General Cunningham, expresses himself aggrieved by two statements in my last paper in this Journal (5th 07, 1862, vol. xx. p. 99).Google Scholar I should not have alluded to so personal a subject in this place, had not General Cunningham imported a certain degree of asperity into his reclamations, and coupled them with an inuendo of a design on my part to elevate another at his expense.

The first item is easily disposed of: in my notice of Col. J. Abbott's coin of Epander (Note 2, p. 99) I associated it with the term of “a new king” As the name did not occur in any of the lists I was then in the act of quoting, the words merely amounted to a conventional expression, though indeed, as far as I was then aware, the coin itself was essentially unpublished, notwithstanding that its existence had been long known to Indian Numismatists (Col. Abbott himself, Col. Bush, etc.) before the coins themselves left Calcutta. I, individually, arrogated no merit in the bringing forward of this novelty, though I imagined it to be a unique specimen of a Bactrian sovereign previously unknown in Europe. However, it seems that Gen. Cunningham, had, in an obscure corner of the J. A. S. B. for 1860, devoted to miscellaneous notices—fairly and fully published, in India, the fact of his own possession of a similar piece. But in his attack upon me, he completely ignores the very qualifying incident, that my article was avowedly put forth as interrupted, and incomplete, and for the major part prepared two years previously, when I first had an opportunity of examining Col. Abbott's collection in November, 1859. Had I by hazard chanced to have seen General Cunningham's notice, other portions of it would have proved really valuable to me for the very enquiry I was then engaged upon, as furnishing an important illustration of the contemporaneous numismatic record of another Suzerain and Satrap, in the conjunction of the names of Antiochus and Agathocles. The second charge against me is eccentric in the extreme: it purports, by implication, that I designedly gave credit to Babu Rajendra lal, a fellow-labourer in our own field of research, for a discovery General Cunningham claims for himself (the exceptional words made use of are—“has enabled Mr. Thomas,” etc.) My inoffensive note, out of which all this jealousy has arisen, has furnished the groundwork for a very pretty quarrel and literary combat in India, in which I have happily escaped taking part—but which seems to me to have been energetically and efficiently conducted, to what may be hoped to be the end, by the Babu himself (vol. xxxii. p. 439).

All I am called upon to explain is my wrongdoing, in publishing a passage so liable to misinterpretation, but truly, if it were worth while to revert back and examine the original note (vol. xx. p. 108, note 1,) it will at once be manifest that I was quoting from a single detached number of the J. A. S. B., without being aware of or at the moment capable of verifying, what had been published in previous numbers; hence, I was specially on my guard, and resorted to the general phase of “who has been identified with Hushka,” instead of saying by Babu Rajendra lal, a reserve demanded for the very sufficient reason, that the article from which I drew my knowledge was so inexplanatory in itself that I hardly knew whether the Mr. Bayley, cited elsewhere in the paper, was not the originator of the disputed identification. The entire difficulty, in either case—so far as I am concerned—arose from the too limited circulation in England of that excellent Journal of our fellow-society, the Asiatic Society of Bengal. A plea I shall individually be henceforth incompetent to avail myself of, as under the liberal arrangements now in force, as an honorary member I regularly receive their publications.

page 465 note 1 J. A. S. B. vii. pls. xiii. xiv.,Google Scholar and Prinsep's Essays, vol ii. pls. xxxviii. xxxix.Google Scholar

page 466 note 1 J. A. S. B. vol. xxiv (1855) p. 21.Google ScholarPrinsep's Essays, ii. p. 41.Google Scholar etseq.

page 466 note 2 de Körös, Csoraa, As. Res. xx. 290.Google Scholar Among the rest are mentioned Yavana and Húṇa, Lalita Vistara (Tibetan version) M. Foucaux, Paris, 1847, pp. 122, 123. Mitra, Rajendra Lal (Sanskrit text) Bibliotheca Indica, Calcutta, 1853, p. 143 et seq.Google Scholar The Sanskrit version omits the Yavana.

page 467 note 1 Prinsep. J.A.S.B. vii. 444.Google Scholar“My desire is that in this very manner, these (ordinances) shall he pronounced aloud by the persons appointed to the stupa,” pp. 445, 447.Google Scholar“This edict is to be read,” etc. 452.Google ScholarBurnouf. “Lotus de la bonne loi,” pp. 672–3, 680.Google Scholar “Sur ce Stûpa a été promulguée la règle morale … … Aussi est-ce là ce qui doit être proclamé par le gardien du Stûpa qui ne regardera rien autre chose (ou bien, aussi cet édit a dû être exprimé au moyen du Prâkrita et non dans un autre idiome).”

page 467 note 2 Nehemiah viii. 7, 8, 9–13.Google Scholar

page 468 note 1 Bhilsa Topes. In one hundred and ninety six inscriptions, there occur only “three” examples of “compound letters,” p. 268.Google Scholar

page 468 note 2 J.R.A.S., ProfWilson's, H. H. Rock Inscriptions, xii. 153.Google Scholar

page 468 note 3 Ariana Antiqua, 239 et seq. Prinsep's Essays, ii. 182 et seq.Google ScholarNumismalic Chronicle (1864), vol. iv. 196.Google Scholar

page 468 note 4 ProfessorDowson's, Article J.R.A.S., xx. p. 222.Google Scholar

page 468 note 5 J.R.A.S., xx. 238, etc.Google Scholar

page 469 note 1 I recapitulate the leading inscriptions in this alphabet:—1. Hidda (No. 13), near Jallálábád, in Afghánistán. An earthen jar, having an Arian inscription, written in ink, and dated in the year 8. Ariana Antiqua, p. 111,Google Scholar and plate, p. 262, 2. A steatite vase from Bimarán (Jallálábád), with a legend scratched on its surface, undated. Antiqua, Ariana, pp. 52, 70, pl. ii. fig. 1;Google ScholarPrinsep's Essays, i. 107, pl. vi.Google Scholar 3. The Wardak (30 miles W. of Kabul) Brass Vase, now in the Indian Museum, inscribed with dotted letters, dated in the year 51, and recording the name of Hushka, the OOHPKI of the coins; see Ariana Antiqua, p. 118;Google ScholarPrinsep, i. 104, pl. x.;Google ScholarJour. As. Soc. Bengal, No. iv. of 1861;Google ScholarJour. Eoyal As. Soc., xx. 37.Google Scholar 4. The Taxila Plate, dated 78, bears the name of Moga, identified with the Moa of the coins; Num. Chron., vol. xix. Bactrian List, No. xxv. 5. Manikyala Stone Slab (now in the Bibliothèque Impériale, Paris), dated in the year 18, contains the designation of Kanishka; Prinsep's Essays, i. pl. ix.;Google ScholarJourn. Royal As. Soc, xx. 251.Google Scholar From the same site was obtained the Brass Cylinder now in the British Museum; Prinsep, pl. vi. To these may be added two inscriptions from the Yusafzai country, one dated 60; Journ. As. Soc, Bengal, 1854, p. 705;Google ScholarPrinsep, i. pl. ix;Google Scholar and the bi-literal inscription at Kangra (Arian and Indo-Páli), Prinsep, i. 159, pl. ix.,Google Scholar as well as the Mathura Inscription in Indian Páli letters, but dated in Bactrian figures, Journ. As. Soc Bengal, 1861, p. 427;Google Scholar and Coins, Prinsep's Essays, ii. 197.Google Scholar

page 469 note 2 A collateral branch of this enquiry suggests itself in the course and survival of the Greek alphabet in India, which followed the conquering progress of the Bactrian Hellenes, as the affiliated alphabet of Semitic origin attended the domestication of the Aryan races. The accessory incidents differed, however, in this respect, that the classic language was naturally less completely domiciled, and was retained more exclusively by the ruling classes, though its literal system was preserved in a degraded form, possibly even beyond the duration of the currency of the Arian character. Its geographical extension may be defined as nearly parallel to that of the Arian writing towards the Gangetic provinces, while it penetrated in a comparatively independent identity to the Western coast. It is singular that there is no trace of any solitary inscription in the Greek language in all India, but in its numismatic form it remained the leading vehicle of official record, with a subsidiary vernacular translation, during more than two centuries under Greek and Scythian auspices. It was similarly employed in conjunction with Arian legends by the Kadphises Indo-Scythians (Ariana Antiqua, pl. x. figs. 5, et seq.), while the Kanerki Horde used it exclusively in the definition of their barbarous titles. (Ariana Antiqua, pls. xii. xiii. and xiv.) The gold coins of the latter merge into those of the Guptas, but the degraded Greek gives place to a cultivated type of Indian Páli letters (Prinsep's Essays, i. 227, &c.Google Scholar); while the Gupta silver money, based upon the standard of the Western currencies of the Sáh Kings, retains, in scarcely legible outlines, the titular PAO NANO PAO, of Kanerki origination (J. R. A. S. xii. p. 11Google Scholar). At a period much antecedent to the spread of the Guptas, which is variously assigned to the second, third, or even fourth centuries (Lassen, Ind. Alt., p. ii. 752, etc.;Google ScholarPrinsep's Essays, i. 276.Google Scholar) a.d., a very imperfect form of Greek had found its way into Guzerát, where it figures on the obverse of the coins of these Sáh kings of Surashtra, in association with an elegant and highly-finished Sanskrit legend on the reverse. The nearest approach to sense, any of these debased imitations of Greek admit of, is furnished by a coin of Rudra Sáh, the son of Jiwa Dama (J. R. A. S. xii. 52;Google ScholarIbid., ii. 88; Lassen, Ind Alt. ii. 794Google Scholar), where something like the name of Dionysius (, sic.) may be seen.—Num. Chron., vol. iii., N. S., p. 233.Google Scholar

Since the preceding sheet has been set up in type, I have seen Mr. Newton's paper on the Sáh Kings (Bombay Br. R. A. S., 10 Sept., 1863). The ample materials supplied to the author by native friends on the spot have enabled him to add three new names to the list of fifteen previously known. As MrNewton, comments on my article in this Journal (vol. xii. 1848),Google Scholar I may have occasion to review the whole question hereafter; but I may mention that Mr. Newton makes the complete series of the eighteen kings date from 102 to 294, or 192 years in all, which he assigns to the era of Vikramáditya, thus fixing the epoch of the dynasty at from “a.d. 30 or 40 to a.d. 240, 250.” In my last examination of this subject (Journal Asiatique, 10, 1863Google Scholar) I came to the conclusion that the limited numbers I had observed on the coins ranged from 187 to 290, which numbers, tested by the Seleucidan era to which. I gave, and continue to give, the preference, corresponded with B.C. 125 to B.C. 22. In still adhering to this cycle, I must explain, that I reject all Mr. Newton's dates between 102 and 170, as I distrust the reading of the early numbers and observe that the author continues to interpret as 7 instead of the established 70. On the other hand, I am quite prepared to accept the improved reading of Varsha prathame, “in the first year,” on the coins of I'ṣwara datta; but I interpret the record to mean, “the first year” of his election by Republican suffrage to an office of determinate tenure—and not to the first year of absolute sovereignty, a distinction the modesty of his titles would alone imply, if the absence of a patronymic does not also justify the inference that he was one of the earliest representatives thus elevated.

page 471 note 1 I annex M. Reinaud's translation of the passage in question. As we have no MS. of Al Bírûní's Táríkh-i-Hind in England, whereby to check or improve the French version, I allow it to stand without comment:—“On compte plusieurs écritures dans l'Inde. La plus répandue est celle qui porte le nom de siddhamatraca on substance parfaite; elle est usitée dans le Cachemire et à Benarès, qui sont maintenant les deux principaux foyers scientifiques du pays. On se sert également de cette écriture dans le Madhya-Deça, appelé aussi du nom ď Aryavartta. Dans le Malva, on fait usage d'une écriture appelée nagara : celle-ci est disposée de la même manière que la première; mais les formes en sont différentes. Une troisième écriture, nominée arddhanagary c'est-à-dire à moitié nagari, et qui participe des deux premières, est usitée dans le Bhatia et dans une partie du Sind. Parmi les autres écritures, on peut citer le malcáry , usité dans Malcascheva , au midi du Sind, près de la côte; le besandiba , employé à Bahmanava, ville appelée aussi Mansoura; le karnâta , usité dans le Karnate, pays qui donne naissance aux personnes appelée, dans les armées, du nom de Kannara l'audri, employé dans l'Andra-DeÇa ou pays d'Andra ; le dravidi, usité dans le Dravida ou Dravira; le lari, dans le Lar-Deça ou pays de Lar; le gaura , dans le Purab-Deça ou région orientale (le Bengale); et le bikchaka dans le Oudan-Pourahanâka . La dernière écriture est celle dont se servent les bouddhistes .” M. Reinaud, Mémoire sur 1' Inde, p. 298;Google Scholar MS. No. 584, Folio, 39 verso.

page 472 note 1 General Cunningham, one of our earliest and most persevering coin collectors, speaks of this money “as both of silver and copper, found chiefly between the Indus and the Jumna” (Topes, Bhilsa, p. 334Google Scholar). Mr. E. C. Bayley, another very devoted numismatist, concurs with me in placing their nidus further to the eastward (Prinsep's Essays, i. p. 204Google Scholar). The Stacy collection produced only 23 specimens of the class, out of a total of between six and seven thousand coins brought together, during many years of patient labour and personal search, over a large range of country (J. A. S. B. xxvii. p. 255Google Scholar), while the immense accumulations of Masson in Afghánistan, did not contribute a single example (Antiqua, Ariana, p. 415Google Scholar). A number of Krananda's coins are engraved in pi. xxxii. vol. vii. (1838), J. A. S. Bengal (p. 1051)Google Scholar, but their places of discovery are not noted.

page 472 note 2 Manu ii. 17.Google Scholar “The tract, fashioned by the gods, which lies between the two divine rivers, Sarasvatí and Dṛishadvatí, is called Brahmávartta. The usage relating to castes and mixed castes, which has been traditionally received in that country, is called the pure usage. The country of Kurukshetra (in the region of modern Delhi), and of the Matsyas (on the Jumna), Pánchálas (in the vicinity of modern Kanauj), and Ṣúrasenas (in the district of Mathurá), which adjoins Brahmávartta, is the land of Brahmarshis (divine Rishis).” “The tract situated between the Himavat and the Vindhya ranges to the east of Vináṣana and to the west of Prayága, is known as the Madhyadeṣa (central region). The wise know as Áryávartta, the country which lies between the same two ranges, and extends from the eastern to the western ocean.”—Muir, , Sanskrit Texts, ii. 147.Google Scholar For the comparative geography of this tract, see J. A. S. Bengal, ii. 106–7;Google ScholarColvin, Major, vii. 752;Google ScholarMrEdgeworth, M. P., ix. 688Google Scholar; Baker, Lt, xiii. 297Google Scholar; Major Mackeson; and Elliot's, Glossary of Indian Terms, article Bhṭṭíána, p. 78.Google Scholar

page 472 note 3 J.A.S.B. iii. 222.Google ScholarPrinsep's Essays, i. p. 76.Google Scholar

page 473 note 1 Masson, , J.A.S.B., iii. 153.Google ScholarPrinsep's, Essays, i. 81.Google Scholar

page 474 note 1 Wilford, (As. Res. v. 242)Google Scholar quotes a Pauránik account of Nanda's treasures, which are fabulously rated at “1,584,000,000 pounds sterling in gold coin alone; the value of the silver and copper coin, and jewels, exceeded all calculation; and his army consisted of 100,000,000 men.”

page 474 note 2 “Opening the door (of Nanda's palace) with the utmost secrecy, and escaping with the prince out of that passage, they fled to the wilderness of Winjjhá. While dwelling there, with the view of raising resources, he converted (by recoining) each kahápanan into eight, and amassed eighty kótis of kahápaná. Having buried this treasure, he commenced to search for a second individual entitled (by birth) to be raised to sovereign power, and met with the aforesaid prince of the Móriyan dynasty, called Chandagutto.”—Maháwanso xl.

page 474 note 3 It is a curious fact, in connection with this enquiry, that no single coin of Chandra Gupta, Vindusára, or Asoka, has as yet been discovered; it is possible that the ample issues of Kraṇanda sufficed for the wants of the provinces, for which they were originally designed, during the succeeding three reigns, while the limited demand for coined money continued in the south; and in Asoka's time Greek currencies came opportunely to supply all northern demands.

page 475 note 1 In Akbar's reign, gold was coined in four cities only, silver in fourteen, and copper in no less than forty-two.—Áyín-i-Akbari, i. 36.

page 475 note 2 On some coins the lotus is inserted in the field below the body of the stag (J. A. S. B. vii. plate xxxii. fig. 4Google Scholar). On other specimens the letter [Vihdra?] occupies the vacant space.

page 476 note 1 Professor Goldstücker suggests that the kra, in combination with Nanda, may possibly stand for kṛi, “a million,” or some vague number corresponding with Mahá padma (100,000 millions), under the supposition that the latter designation was applied to one of the Nanda family, in its numerical sense, as a fabulous total, and not in the more usually received meaning of “a large lotus.” However, as I do not suppose that Kraṇanda and Nanda Mahápadma were one and the same person, I need not press the similitude.

page 476 note 2 Prinsep's Essays, ii. 158, 162.Google Scholar

page 477 note 1 Asoka's Páli Inscriptions vary the form as Rája, Lája; while the Bactrian Transcript gives Raña and Ráya, as in the Taxila Plates. J. R. A. S. xii. 153;Google Scholar xx. 222.

page 477 note 2 The Girnár Inscription has a far greater number of compound consonants than the more eastern texts, but the simple letters out of which these combinations are formed follow the usual configuration. It is curious to trace in these normal lapidary epigraphs the crude methods adopted for effecting the conjunction of consonants, and the disregard shown for the position of the leading letter of the compound, which was at times placed below the sequent character, and at times in its now universally recognised place, above the following letter. As, for instance, in Bámhaṇa (Tablet viii. 3), Magavyá (viii. 2), Dhauli

page 479 note 1 The association of these symbols with a somewhat advanced phase of Buddhism is shown in the retention of the deer, the Bodhi-tree, the Stúpa, and the serpent, which is placed perpendicularly on some specimens, on the reverse of a coin, the obverse of which displays the standing figure of Buddha himself, having the lotus and the word Bhágavata, his special designation, in the marginal legend.—Prinsep's Essays, i. pl. vii. fig. 4;Google ScholarJ. A. S. Bengal, iii. pl. xxv. fig. 4.Google Scholar

page 479 note 2 Foe koe ki, cap. xxxiv. Tsang, Hiouen, i. p. 354Google Scholar. J. A. S. B. vol. xxxii. p. xcvii.Google Scholar

page 479 note 3 Csoma Körösi remarks:—The different systems of Buddhism derived from India, and known now to the Tibetians, are the following four:—1. Vaibháshika. 2. Sautrántika. 3. Yogáchárya. 4. Madhyámika.

The first consists of four principal classes with its subdivisions. They originated with Shákya's four disciples, who are called in Sanskrit, Ráhula, Káshyapa, Upáli, and Kátyáyana. 1. Ráhula, the son of Shákya. His followers were divided into four sects. …. The distinctive mark of this class was an utpala padma (waterlily) jewel, and tree-leaf put together in the form of a nosegay. 2. Káshyapa, of the brahman caste. His followers were divided into six sects. They were called the “great community.” …. They carried a shell or conch as a distinctive mark of their school. 3. Upáli, of the Súdra tribe. His followers were divided into three sects. …. They carried a sortsika flower [No. 10 of the Jaina list infrà?] as a mark of their school. They were styled “the class which is honoured by many.” 4. Kátyáyana, of the Vaisya tribe. His followers were divided into three sects. …. They had on their garb the figure of a wheel, as the distinctive mark of their school. They were styled “the class that have a fixed habitation.”—J. A. S. B. vii. (1838) p. 143.Google Scholar

page 479 note 4 J. A. S. B. v. (1835) p. 625.Google ScholarAs. Res. xx. 86.Google Scholar “A man of the religious order must have on his seal or stamp a circle with two deer on opposite sides, and below the name of the founder of the Vihára. A layman may have either a full length human figure or a head cut on his signet.”—Dulva.

page 480 note 1 Lieut. Massey, in his admirable drawing of the Náchṇi (pl. xiv. Bhilsa Topes), has vividly reproduced the beau idéal of the Buddhist sculptor, from the Sanchí gateway. The general design of the figure is in singular accord with the tenor of the poet's description. My own artist's drawing has suffered sadly from imperfect engraving.

page 480 note 2 Ante, note, p. 476. J. A. S. B. i. 2.Google Scholar Dulva, 426, “Padma-chenpo.” As. Res. xx. 300,Google Scholar. “A white lotus or the true religion.” See also p. 544, and Transactions, R. A. S. iii. 107.Google Scholar

page 481 note 1 Symbols of the deified saints or arhats of the Jainas:—1, a Bull; 2, an Elephant; 3, a Horse; 4, an Ape; 5, a Curlew; 6, a Lotus; 7, a Swastika; 8, the Moon; 9, Makara (a marine monster); 10, a Ṣrivatsa (a four-petalled flower); 11, a Rhinoceros; 12, a Buffaloe; 13, a Boar; 14, a Falcon; 15, a Thunderbolt; 16, an Antelope; 17, a Goat; 18, Nandavarta (an arabesque device formed by a continuous prolongation and parallel repetition of the lines of the original Swastika): 19, a Jar; 20, a Tortoise; 22, a Conch; 23, a Serpent; 24, a Lion.—Colebrooke, , As. Res. ix. 304.Google Scholar

page 481 note 2 The gems of Kuvera, the Indian Plutus, are thus described by Wilson:— “The Padma, Mahápadma, Sankha, Makara, Kachhapa, Mukunda, Nanda, Nila, and Kharva, are the nine Nidhis.” … Some of the words bear the meanings of precious or holy things; thus, Padma is the lotus, Ṣankha the shell or conch. Again, some of them imply large numbers; thus Padma is 10,000 millions, and Mahápadma is 100,000 millions, etc.; but all of them are not received in either the one or the other acceptation. We may translate almost all into things; thus, a lotus, a large lotus, a shell, a certain fish, a tortoise, a crest, a mathematical figure used by the Jainas (Nandavarta, No. 18 of Jaina list). Nila refers only to colour; but Kharva, the ninth, means a dwarf. …. Agreeably to the system of the Tántrikas, the Nidhis are personified, and upon certain occasions, as the worship of Lakshmi, the goddess of prosperity, etc., come in for a share of religious veneration. They have also their peculiar mantras or mystical verses. Megha-dúta, verse 534, vol. ii. note, p. 380.Google ScholarWilson's Works. London, 1864.Google Scholar

page 481 note 3 Bhilsa Topes, p. 354.Google Scholar

page 481 note 4 So written on the Rock at Dhauli—though the vernacular Books have Thupa, etc. The Sanskrit Stúpa is said by the Native grammarians to be derived from the root to heap, but the application of in seems to negative this deduction.

page 481 note 5 Zend, tap, tafnu; Persian, ; Latin, tepo, tepidus, etc.; Italian, Tufo, Tufa, hence Tuff. M. Pictet has collected a long array of other Aryan coincidences in p. 506 et seq. Les origines Indo-Européennes.

The Latin Tumulus is asserted to be derived from tumeo, to swell; but it seems very like a corruption of the Greek τύμβος. The name of Chaítya is borrowed; and the Dághopa is scarcely satisfactorily explained by Dhátu gubbhan ‘womb of a relic’ (Maháwanso, p. 5Google Scholar). It would be more reasonable to derive the term from the root “to burn;” Zend, daj, whence dakhma, “lieu de combustion.” Cf. also, and the Arabic .

page 482 note 1 Turnour, , J.A.S.B. vii. p. 1005;Google ScholarDulva, , As. Res. xx. 312;Google ScholarPrinsep's Essays, note p. 167, vol i.Google Scholar For other references to the subject of Topes, see As. Res. v. 132, x. 131;Google ScholarElphinstone's Cábul, London, 1842, p. 108;Google ScholarFergusson, , J.R.A.S. viii. 30,Google Scholar and Handbook of Architecture, i. 8;Google Scholar Maháwanso, 107, et seq.; Masson, in Ariana Antiqua; GenCunningham, “Bhilsa Topes,” London, 1854;Google ScholarBurnouf, , Introd. Bud. Ind., Paris, 1844, pp. 355; ii. 672Google Scholar.

page 482 note 2 Masson, , in Ariana Antiqua, p. 118,Google Scholar etc.; Maháwanso, p. 211;Google ScholarBombay Br. R.A.S. 1853, p. 11.Google Scholar

page 483 note 1 J. A. S. B. iii. p. 315,Google Scholar and vol. xxiii. p. 699; also, Prinsep's Essays, i, pp. 93, 101.Google Scholar

page 483 note 2 Maháwanso, , p. 4;Google ScholarWilson, , Ariana Antiqua, p. 39.Google Scholar

page 483 note 3 Maháwanso, , pp. 107, 190;Google Scholar Bhilsa Topes, 322, et seq; Masson, , in Ariana Antiqua, p. 60.Google Scholar

page 483 note 4 Thsang, Hiouen, p. 216.Google Scholar

page 483 note 5 Bhilsa Topes, plate iii.

page 483 note 6 Low, , Tr. As. Soc., iii. 99.Google Scholar

page 483 note 7 Coins, , Marsden Num. Orient.;Google ScholarPrinsep's Essays, ii., N. T., p. 68.Google Scholar

page 483 note 8 Stevenson, , J. R. A. S., vii. 8; viii. 331;Google ScholarSykes, , J. R. A. S., vi. 450;Google ScholarTopes, Bhilsa, plate xxxii. p. 359Google Scholar, and Cunningham, , J. R. A. S., xiii. p. 114.Google Scholar I do not concur in the fanciful derivation here suggested.

page 484 note 1 Burnouf, , p. 625Google Scholar. Herefers also to Maháwanso, chap.xi. p. 70,Google Scholar line 3. “(Waḍ1E0D;hamánaṇ) kumárikaṇ.”

page 484 note 2 Rawlinson, . J. R. A. S., vol. i., N. S., p. 224.Google Scholar

page 484 note 3 Prinsep's Essays, vol. i., pi. iii., figs. 10,Google Scholar etc.

page 484 note 4 Ibid, fig. 14. See also Ariana Antiqua, pl. xxii., figs. 155, 159, 160, 162.

page 484 note 5 As. Res. ii. 293.Google Scholar The device of the 17th lunar mansion is described as a “row of oblations.”—Goldstücker's Dictionary.

page 485 note 1 Wilson's Works, ii. 23;Google Scholar iii. 45; 194,317. Burnouf, , Lalita Vistara, Foucaux, pp. 11, 88Google Scholar. Tsang, Huen, i. 94;Google Scholar ii. 323. “Two Kings of Dragons named Nanda and Upananda.”

page 485 note 2 “Then shall the ancient Tree, whose branches wear

The marks of village reverence and care.”—Megha Duta, 157.

[Wilson's Note.]—A number of trees receive particular veneration from the Hindus: “as the Indian fig, the Holy fig-tree, the Myrobalan trees, etc. In most villages there is at least one of these, which is considered particularly sacred, and is carefully kept and watered by the villagers, is hung occasionally with garlands, and receives the Praṇám or veneratory inclination of the head, or even offerings and libations.”—Wilson's Works, iv. 336.Google Scholar

Ward gives a list of seven Sacred Trees, independent of the Tulasi ( Ocymum sanctum).—Ward's Hindus, iii. 203–4.Google Scholar

So also, Curtius, Quintus, “Deos putant, quicquid colere coeperunt, arbores, maxime, quas violare capital est.” viii. 9, § 34.Google Scholar

In like manner Chaitya ( originally implied “Any large tree held in peculiar sanctity; though the name was ultimately appropriated to the Buddhist Stupa, etc. See Wilson's Glossary, sub. voce, and Burnouf, i. 348.Google Scholar See also Stevenson, , J. R. A. S. vol. v. p. 192.Google Scholar Sykes, ibid, vol. vi. p. 452.

page 485 note 3 Turnour, , J.A.S.B. vii. 814.Google Scholar

page 486 note 1 Goldstücker, , “Panini, his place in Sanskrit Literature,” London, 1859, p. 59,Google Scholar “There is a rule of his (vi. 3, 115) in which he informs us, that the owners of cattle were at his time in the habit of marking their beasts on the ears, in order to make them recognizable. Such signs, he says, were, for instance, a swastika, a ladle, a pearl,” etc.

page 486 note 2 The Tao-szu or “Sectaries of the mystic cross are noticed by Fa-Hien (cap. xxii. xxiii.). Their doctrine is stated to have formed the ancient religion of Tibet, which prevailed until the general introduction of Buddhism in the ninth cent. a.d.

page 486 note 3 Num. Chron. N.S. vol. iv. the earliest Indian coinage, plate xi. Prinsep's Essays, pl. xx. fig 26.

page 487 note 1 Topes, Bhilsa, p. 354,Google Scholar and plate xxxi, figs. 10, 11, and xxxii. fig. 6.