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XVII. The Coinage of Nepal
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 15 March 2011
Extract
The coins which are dealt with in the present paper fall under three divisions. First, the coins of the Early Licchavi Sūryavaṁśī dynasty, whose capital was at Mānagṛha, the present Kāṭhmāṇḍū, and those of the Ṭhākurī dynasty who were ruling at the same time over the western portion of Nepal, with their palace at Kailāśa-kūṬabhavana, situated in another part of the same city. Second, the coins of the three Newār Malla dynasties, who reigned contemporaneously over the three kingdoms of Bhātgāon, KāṬhmāṇḍū, and Pātan, or Lalitāpur.
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References
page 669 note 1 Fleet, : “Early Chronology of Nepal,” in the Indian Antiquary, vol. xiv, p. 350;Google Scholar and “The Early Gupta Inscriptions,” Corpus Inscriptionum Iudicarum, vol. iii, appendix, p. 189.Google Scholar
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page 670 note 1 Proceedings Asiatic Society of Bengal for May, 1887.
page 670 note 2 Marsden, : “Numismata Orientalia” (1825), pl. xlix; viz., Pl. II, Fig. 4 = Marsden Mcxxii; Pl. II, Fig. 7 = Mcxxiii; PI. III, Fig. 8 = MCXX; Pl. IV, Fig. 2 = MCX, Fig. 3 = Mcxi, Fig. 4 = Mcxii, Fig. 7 = Mcxiii, and Fig. 8 = MCxv.Google Scholar
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page 672 note 1 Pātan is only two miles south-east of KāṬhmāṇḍū, and Bhātgāon nine miles to the east of it and eight miles from Pātan.
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page 676 note 1 Table for reference to early Nepal coins previously described:—
page 676 note 2 The Indian paṇa, ‘handful,’ derived from pāṇi, ‘the hand,’ “was a handful of cowrie shells usually reckoned at 80. This term paṇ is still used in Bengal, where a paṇ of cowrie shells consists of 20 gaṇḍas, or ‘20 fours’ of cowries. By repeated trials I have found that 80 cowries form a very fair average handful. But the paṇ was also a copper coin of 80 rati seeds in weight (144 grains) and 80 cowries in value” (Cunningham, , C.A.I., p. 1).Google Scholar
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page 678 note 1 C.C.I.M.C., vol. i, p. 150, serial 14, and pl. xix, fig. 15.Google Scholar
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page 686 note 1 Walsh, E. H. C., “The Coinage of Tibet”: Memoirs A.S.B., vol. ii, No. 2, p. 11.Google Scholar
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page 688 note 2 Ibid., p. 58, pl. vii, fig. 155.
page 688 note 3 Mahendra Malla, 1566 A.D.
page 689 note 1 “An Account of the Kingdom of Nepal, being the substance of observations made during a mission to that country in the year 1793,” by ColKirkpatrick, , London, William Miller, 1811, pp. 217, 218.Google Scholar
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page 689 note 3 “Missio Apostolica Thibetana Seraphica. Das is neue durch Päbstlichen Gewalt indem Grossen Thibetanische Reich. Von denem P.P. Capucineren aufgerichtete Mission und über Dolche von R. P. Francisco Horatio della Penna, etc.” München, 1740.Google Scholar
page 690 note 1 The coin is described as follows: “Pl. i, fig. 4, 0.5 in.,
., 28 gr. Rude copy of silver drachma. Diademed head of king to 1. with moustaches. Native legend of five characters behind the head, as in No. 3. Rev.: Horse's head to 1. with Greek letter K. N. B.—These coins are very rare, but there are numbers of very rude copies in two different sizes.”—Numismatic Chronicle, ser. III, vol. ix (1889), pl. xiii, fig. 4.Google Scholar
page 692 note 1 Op. cit., pp. 339–40.Google Scholar
page 692 note 2 Op. cit., p. 211.Google Scholar
page 692 note 3 A Nepalese official.
page 692 note 4 Op. cit., pp. 211–12.Google Scholar
page 695 note 1 “A Journey of Literary and Archæological Research in Northern India,” by Bendall, Cecil, Cambridge, 1886.Google Scholar
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page 697 note 1 Inscription No. 22. Indian Antiquary, vol. ix, p. 192.Google Scholar
page 698 note 1 Wright, , p. 248.Google Scholar
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page 699 note 1 Wright, , pp. 250, 251.Google Scholar
page 699 note 2 The AṣṬa Maṅgala are (1) Matsya, the two golden fish; (2) Catra, the umbrella of sovereignty; (3) Śāṅkha, the hollowed conch shell for blowing as a trumpet; (4) Śrīvatsa, a lucky diagram, also known as “Buddha's entrails”; (5) Dvaja, the banner of victory; (6) Kalaśa, vase of holy water; (7) Padma, the lotus; and (8) Cakra, the wheel of the law.
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page 702 note 2 ProfessorLévi, gives an illustration of this temple: “Le Népal,” vol. i, p. 231.Google Scholar
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page 708 note 1 Wright, , p. 248.Google Scholar
page 708 note 2 Rājya Prakāśa Malla was the younger brother of Jaya Prakāśa Malla of KāṬhmāṇḍū, by whom he was expelled from the country, as the sepoys wanted to make him king instead of Jaya Prakāśa. As Jaya Viṣṇu Malla had no son he appointed Rājya Prakāśa as his successor, which was accepted by the people (Wright, , p. 249).Google Scholar
page 709 note 1 He is the 36th Raja in the Genealogy (Wright's, “History of Nepal,” p. 276).Google Scholar
page 709 note 2 Not the Noakot near KāṬhmāṇḍū, but another far to the west.
page 709 note 3 Viz. Noakot in Nepal (Wright, , 197).Google Scholar
page 710 note 1 Noakot in Nepal.
page 710 note 2 Wright, , pp. 224, 225.Google Scholar
page 710 note 3 Levi, , “Le Népal,” vol. ii, p. 271.Google Scholar
page 711 note 1 Wright, , p. 232.Google Scholar
page 711 note 2 The brief sketch of the history of the Gorkhā dynasty which follows is taken from Professor Lévi's “Népal,” which is fuller and more complete than that given in Wright's History.
page 715 note 1 Wright's History, p. 276.Google Scholar