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Published online by Cambridge University Press: 14 March 2011
Among the many objects of Indian antiquarian research which possess general claims upon the attention of the Royal Asiatic Society, none perhaps can be cited as more peculiarly entitled to its fostering care than the History of the Suráshtran Kings, as illustrated by their Coins. The pages of the Journal of this Society contain the earliest systematic notice of these beautiful medals; and though much has been written, and much additional information gained in other places, little or nothing has since been done by our Association to forward this particular enquiry. Having presided over the first introduction of this investigation into the world of literature, it is but fit the Society should watch over its accepted offspring; and if as yet unable to conduct it to a safe and satisfactory resting-place, it may at the least prove useful in advancing it some stages ou its way.
page 1 note 1 Journ. R. As. Soc, No. XII.
page 1 note 2 The Junír find (August, 1846) consisted of some four hundred coins, comprising specimens of the mintages of most of the early monarchs of the list at present adopted, the series concluding with those of Viswa, the son of Atri, the twelfth king. Of the entire number of medals thus brought to light, a selection of ten has been forwarded by the Bombay Government to the Court of Directors of the East India Company. These have been unreservedly placed at my disposal for publication. About a moiety of the whole Junír collection, in the possession of Dr. Bird, has been brought to England since the body of the present paper was presented to the Royal Asiatic Society; I am indebted to the owner's kindness for an opportunity of inspecting many of these specimens, and am permitted to cite the extra dates inserted—each duly acknowledged—at the close of the detail of these records, to be found under the description of the obverse surface of the medals of the several kings. As Dr. Bird proposes, at some future period, to give to the world his ideas of the history of the series—for which, indeed, he has for some time past been making preparation—I am the more particular in thus expressing my obligation to him for the amount of courtesy just noticed. To this I have now to add, that, since the foregoing sentence has been in type, I have been favoured by Dr. Bird himself not only with a close verification of the dates to which I at first proposed to limit my quotations, but also with a very full detail of many incidental peculiarities attaching to his collection, which, in my own very cursory examination, fairly escaped observation. Most important among thews is to be noted the first recognition of the name of Dámá Sáah. (the 3rd king) on his own proper coins, and the information attendant upon the discovery that he also was the son of Rudra Sáh, he having hitherto been known only as being named on the coins of the 5th, 6th, and 7th kings as their common father. To Colonel Sykes I have to tender my thanks for the liberal way in which the whole of his extensive collection of Guzerát coins—chiefly found at Kaira—was made over, to add to the materials already at command, and to test the value of the information previously made patent through the numismatic contributions of Steuart and Prinsep.
It will be seen that the Cabinets of the Royal Asiatic Society and that of my friend Dr. Swíney have each furnished their quota to the general illustrations.
A. few valuable coins, part of a hoard of some hundreds found at Kamptf (Nagpúr), for the communication of which I am indebted to Lieut.-Colonel Wynch, Madras Artillery, have afforded important additional data.
I have also to add my recognition of the obliging manner in which access to the Prínsep Collection has at all times been accorded by the officers of the Medal Room in the British Museum. And, lastly, I must acknowledge the free reference conceded by C. Stenart, Esq., to the cabinet of his late brother, when necessary to decide any doubts left by the imperfection of the outlines of the Italian ongraver who executed the original plates published in No. XII. J. R. A. S.
page 2 note 2 “Anterior to the fourth century, a.d.” Wilson, , Ariana Antiqua, p. 410.Google Scholar
“Fourth” or “seventh” century, a.d.Sykes, , J. R. A. S., No. XII. 477.Google Scholar
About “153 B.C.” Prinsep, , Journ. As. Soc. Beng., vii. 354.Google Scholar
page 3 note 1 The last ground has been so thoroughly explored by fully competent scholars that it would be almost impertinent to attempt to add to what haa already been cited on the subjects embraced, by modern writers both English and Continental; hence I have limited my task in this respect to the simple adoption of materials ready prepared to my hand, without any needless question of the accuracy of the translations or tedious reproduction of original texts.
page 4 note 1 Albírúní, , Reinaud, , 142, 143;Google ScholarTod's, Annals, i. 801;Google Scholar Inscription at Puttun Somnáth, dated in corresponding epochs of different æras, 662 a.h., Vikrama 1320, Balabhi 945; consequently, An. Valabhi 1 = 318–19 a.d.
page 4 note 2 The following is Wathen's list of the early members of the Valabhi Family:—
The order of succession in Burns' plate passes directly from No. I. to No. VI., omitting the intermediate names.
page 4 note 3 J. A. S. B., iv. 481.Google Scholar
page 4 note 4 J. A. S. B., vii. 966.Google Scholar
page 4 note 5 Mr. Wathen, at the time of the first publication of his Valabhi Tamba patra decipherments (J. A. S. B., iv. 481Google Scholar), was disposed to render the date of the earliest of these records as 
Samvat 9 of the Valabhi Æra: subsequently (J. A. S. B., vii. 963Google Scholar) he found reason to distrust this reading, and without attempting to fix the value of the figures employed, to decide that the date inscribed referred to the Vikramáditya Æra. Prinsep, in one of his latest papers on these subjects (J. A. S. B., vii. 354Google Scholar), had also expressed his conviction that, whatever cycle might be understood as applicable to certain other dates then under consideration, the Vikramáditya Æra alone “must” be held to hare been in use in the Valabhi Copper-plate Grants.
A reference to the numerous Indian Inscriptions published in Vols. IV. and V. J. R. A. S., by Messrs. Wathen and Elliot, shows most distinctly the general prevalence of the official use of the Saliváhana or Saka Æra (79 a.d.), and amid the ample series of the grants thus made known, some are dated as early as Saka 411 = 490 a.d. (iv. 5, v. 343), and an inscription is quoted, bearing date Saka 488 = 867 a.d. (iv. 9). The extensive diffusion of the practice of expressing dates in the years of this cycle is also confirmed by its repeated employment in the Rája Taringini (Troyer, ii. 376, 378Google Scholar), by the frequent appearance of the words Sál Saka among the epochal references in the Mackenzie MSS. (Wilson, i. 163, 264,Google Scholar &c.; Taylor, J. A. S. B., vii. 389, 469, 496,Google Scholar &c.); and, finally, Tod distinctly asserts that the æra of Saliváhana “set aside that of the Tuar in the Dekhan”—a practice which may well have extended westward as well as southward.
These facts are perhaps sufficient to authorize an inference that the Saliváhana Cycle was used in many of the earlier instances wherein modern Commentators have heretofore supposed that the Vikramáditya was the æra employed; and hence, in the absence of any designation of the æra intended to be understood, it may be held as more than probable that both the early Gupta and Valabhi Inscriptions had their dates recorded in this cycle.
Adapting the Saka Cycle to the various dates referring to theee families, the several epochs recorded will correspond as follows with the years of our own æra:—
1st. The Chandra Gupta Inscription at Sanchí, No. 1 (J. A. S. B., vi. 455)Google Scholar, dated in figures 
or Saka San 93 = 172 a.d.
2nd. The No. 1 Valabhi Grant of Wathen (J. A. S. B., iv. 481Google Scholar), dated thus 
Three hundred and odd Saka, corresponds with the early part of our fifth century.
3rd. The third Valabhi Copper-plate Grant (J. A. S. B., vii. 966Google Scholar) with the figured date 
(Ibid., pl. XX.), assumed to refer to some period in the second half of the fourth century Saka, falls in with the middle of the fifth century a.d.
It may be necessary to explain briefly the reasons which justify the supposition that the first Valabhi Grant should be held to precede the third by a period of half a century, more or less; and this may he most satisfactorily done by quoting the independent evidence comprised in the following comments annexed to the original translation of the latter document:—“But though there were six successions to the Gadi [between the execution of the first and third Valabhi Grants], these must have been of less than the ordinary duration, for the minister who prepared the Grant in Srí Dhara Sena's reign was Skanna Bhatta; whereas the minister who prepared the present Grant is named as Madana Hila, son of Skanna Bhatta; thirty or forty years will therefore be the probable interval occupied by the reigns of all the princes named as having intervened between Sri Dhara Sena I. and Dhruva Sena III.”
page 6 note 1 “Quant au Goupta kâla (ère del Gouptas), on entend par le mot goupta des gens qui, dit on, étaient méchants et puissants; et l'ère qui porte leur nom est l'époque de leur extermination. Apparemment Ballaba suivit immédiatement les Gouptas; car l'ère des Gouptas commence aussi l'an 241 de l'ère de Saca.” Albí-rúní, Reinaud, , 143.Google Scholar Annexed is the Arabic text of the original.
page 6 note 2 Wilson, , Ariana Antiqua, 409Google Scholar; Prinsep, , J. A. S. B., vii. 364.Google Scholar
page 6 note 3 Mill, (J. A. S. B., vi. 11Google Scholar), referring to the passage whence his inference regarding the age of the Guptas is drawn, designates it as an “enumeration, strongly indicative of the disturbed and semi-barbarous condition of affairs which caused the suspension of all the ancient records, and in which synchronous dynasties might easily be mis-stated as successive ones, and the sum of years readily palmed on the Hindu reader, to enhance the antiquity of the classical and heroic ages of the country” [yet he trusts this text sufficiently to add the enumeration] “is succeeded, in the last period immediately preceding the rise of the Guptas, by something more resembling the records of earlier time.” The result of his examination of the whole question is thus stated:—“It is scarcely possible to fix the subjects of our present inquiry, the Guptas, higher than the age of Charlemagne in Europe, if we suppose them identical with the Guptas of the Purána.” Page 12, idem.
So also Wilson, (Ar. Ant., 419)Google Scholar:—“These considerations harmonize with the inference afforded by the coins, and restrict the most modern period of the Gupta Kings of Magadha to the seventh or eighth century.”
Prinsep hesitated in his entire acquiescence in Mill's conclusions, and would have moved up the date of the Purána itself “a few centuries,” with a view to placing the Guptas in the very age it is now proposed to assign them to. J.A.S.B., v. 644.Google Scholar
page 7 note 1 The Arabic void Balhara, as need in reference to the Valabhís (Reinaud, , Relation des Voyages, i. 24, 26, ii. 26;Google ScholarMasaudí, , O.T. F., i. 179, 193, 389;Google ScholarGildemeister, , Script. Arab., pp. 13, 145, &c.)Google Scholar, has been the subject of much and various speculation, in the hope of tracing through its derivative identification a connecting indication of the origin of those who, in later times, are seen to have borne it (Wilford, , As. Res., ix. 179)Google Scholar. Tod, (Annals, i. 801)Google Scholar endeavoured to show that as “Balnáth, the deity worshipped in Puttun Somnáth, the City of the Lord of the Moon, was the Sun-God Bál, hence” came “the title of the dynasties which ruled this region, Bál-ca-Raé, the Princes of Bál, and hence the capital Balicapur, the City of the Sun,” was “familiarly written Balabhí,” and the word “Balicarae” eventually “corrupted by Renandot's Arabian Travellers into Balhara.” Wathen, (J. A. S. B., iv. 481)Google Scholar was disposed to consider the term either as a corruption of Bhatarca 
Cherishing Sun (a royal title), or as a titular distinction locally derived from the name of a district near “Ballabhipura,” called “Bhala,” which, with the addition of Rai, would have furnished the Arabs with the designation in question. More lately an attempt has been made to prove the connexion of the word with the supposed Palahra on the coins of Vonones (Prinsep, , J. A. S. B., vii. 650)Google Scholar. Of all these, perhaps the only derivation upon which complete reliance can be placed is Tod's concluding identification, and that adopted by Gildemeister, whose notice on the subject may be best given in his own words:—“Nomen quod 
vel 
scribitur, Indopleusta et Masûdio auctoribus commune erat omnibus ejus familiæ regibus; secundam Hauqaliden desumptum est de regionis, quam tenebant, nomine. Utraque sententia reete se habet. Quinam Indieus rex Balharâ ille fuerit, diu latuit, nunc autem certo diei potest, postquam ea dynastia tum ex inscriptionibus, tum ex inscrptionibus, tum ex indigenarum anna-libus, tum ex Sinensium relationibus nobis innotuit. Ea in urbe Valabhî, Guzeratæ peninsulæ olim capite, hodie Balbhi vocata, decem milliaria Anglica septen-trionem versus et occidentem a Bhownnngger sita, inde a quarto sæculo exstitit, et ab urbe vel regione Valabhî denominata est. Itaque vocabulum 
ortum est ex prâkrita forma 
pro 
. Quum eorum regnum Gurg'arum et Saurâsht'ram complecteretur, omnino recte Arabes ejus finium descriptionem tradiderunt; postea tamen multa in Balharam transtulerunt, quæ in alios Indæ reges valent. * * Posteriores deinde omnia conturbarunt, et Balhaæ ascribunt Kanog'æ regnum vel alia.” Scriptorum Indicis, Arabum de Rebus, pp. 42, 43, 44.Google Scholar
page 8 note 1 “Leur extermination,” &c., note, p. 6.
page 8 note 2 It may be necessary to remind the reader that Albírúní lived under this monarch.
page 8 note 3 The date of the Gupta Alphabet seems to have been ruled from the assumed date of the dynasty; and to show how little reliance can be placed on the inference, in itself, by which the use of the characters of the Gupta Lát Inscription is held to have originated at so modern a period as is claimed for it by some, it is to be remarked that James Prinsep himself, although he entered this alphabet in his comparative Palæographic Table as dating from the fifth century, had already admitted that its employment would apply equally well to the third century a.d. (J. A. S. B., vi. 556)Google Scholar, an opinion indirectly confirmed by his own expressions at the moment of the publication of the Table itself (vii. 275), and distinctly repeated afterwards (vii. 348). In like manner, those who would follow the erroneous identification of the Phi che li (Vaisáli) of Fa Hian with the ancient Prayaga, the modern Allahabad (J. R. A. S., vi. 301)Google Scholar, are to be warned against indulging in any inference, regarding the antiquity of the Guptas, based upon Fa Hian's omission to mention the Asoka and Gupta Lát, which he might possibly have seen had he visited the true Prayaga. (See Ki, Foe Koue, p. 242;Google ScholarJ. R. A. S., v. 128, &c.)Google Scholar
page 8 note 4 J. A. S. B., November, 1838.Google Scholar
page 8 note 5 “From the great Sovereign himself, the sole Monarch of the entire world.” (J. A. S. B., Wathen, , iv. 485.)Google Scholar Mr. Watheu adds—“This evidently refers to some one of the successors of Vikramaditya and Salivahana, the Pramara or Powar Kings of Ujain or Kanouj.”
page 9 note 1 The Táteríah Dirhems 
noticed as current in the ninth century, by Renaudotí, convey too recent a reference to furnish any assistance in the recognition of the Valabhí currency; the money alluded to by the first of these authors may possibly be identifiable with the silver “Gadhia ká paisa,” which must have been current about this time, and which agree sufficiently with the weight indicated by the Arab authority, 1½ dirhems (which is proved to be equal to 67½ gr.; Marsden, xvii). Specimens of this Ass-money are extant, weighing over 66 gr., though the average weight of worn specimens is of course somewhat less. (See Renaudot, , Reinaud, , i. 25;Google ScholarScript. Arab., pp. 28, 166;Google ScholarMasaudi, , O. T. F., p. 389;Google ScholarPrinsep, , J. A. S. B., iv. 687;Google ScholarWilson, , Ar. Ant., 413.)Google Scholar
page 9 note 2 It may indeed be a question whether these and other types of the ample Skanda Gupta coinage did not constitute the bulk of the entire currency under, if many of them were not actually struck by, the earlier members of the Valabhi Dynasty, while acting as local sovereigns, on behalf of the Gupta suzerain.
page 9 note 3 Prinsep, indeed, assumed the fact as a matter of course (J. A. S. B., vii. 37).Google Scholar So also Wilson, , in an uncertain way (Ar. Ant., 409).Google Scholar
page 10 note 1 “Magadha, Ujjayani, and Surasena are omitted; these, therefore, in all probability, were under his [Samudra's] immediate rule.” Prinsep, , J. A. S. B., vi. 975.Google Scholar
page 10 note 2 J. A. S. B., vii. 348.Google Scholar “ I may here so far satisfy curiosity as to state that this third inscription, the longest and, in some respects, the best preserved, though, from the smallness and rudeness of the letters, it is very difficult to decipher, is in a more modern character—that allotted to the third century after Christ—or the Gupta alphabet; and that in the opening lines I find an allusion to Skanda Gupta, one of the Gupta family, whose name has also been found upon a new series of the Suráshtra coins.” A facsimile of this inscription, taken with much care by Messrs. Westergaard and Jacob, has been published in the Journal of the Bombay Branch R. A. S. for April, 1842, No transcript or translation has been attempted.
page 10 note 3 J. A. S. B., v. pl. 34, fig. 17.Google Scholar
page 10 note 4 Idem, vii. 356, pl. XII. figs. 18, 20.
page 10 note 5 Annexed Plate II. figs. 39, 40, 41, 42.
page 10 note 6 Mill, , J. A, S. B., vi. 9.Google Scholar It may he useful to annex a detailed reference to the several Gupta Inscriptions at present known:—Allahabad, Mill, , J. A. S. B., iii. 257;Google ScholarMill's, Bhitárí Lát, vi. 1;Google Scholar revised by Prinsep, , vi. 969;Google ScholarGupta, Skanda, vii. 37; vii. 348;Google ScholarGupta, Chandra, at Sanchi, Bhopal, vi. 455;Google ScholarGupta, Budha, Ságor, , vii. 634.Google Scholar
The following is an authoritative list of the Gupta Kings, as extracted from their Inscriptions:—
Mill, , J. A. S. B., vi. 8.Google Scholar
page 11 note 1 See J. A. S. B., vii. 356.Google Scholar Prinsep, at the time he proposed this reading, did so with but small confidence. A comparison of an extended series of this class at Suráshtran coins with the Indo-Scythic pieces of the Kanerkí gold series, leaves no doubt of the accuracy of the identification. Indeed, if any additional faith is to be given to an independent though subsequent recognition of one and the same fact, it may be mentioned that my first detection of the real meaning of the corrupt Greek letters on the first-named coins was suggested by a transcript of the legend of a Kanerkí coin, to be found among Mionnet's fac-similes of Barbarous Greek (viii. pl. iv. fig. 28), before I became aware that Prinsep had already published a similar rendering.
page 11 note 2 Page 418.
page 12 note 1 See also the identity of reverses of Ghatot Kacha coin, J. A. S. B., v. 38,Google Scholar fig. 12 and of the Ardokro Indo-Scythic piece, J. A. S. B., 1845, p. 440, pl. 12, fig. 10.Google Scholar
page 12 note 2 J. A. S. B., v. 644.Google Scholar
page 12 note 3 Prinsep remarks, “It does not appear who succeeded him [Skanda Gupta], or whether the Gupta Dynasty there terminated; but I think it is open to conjecture that the whole power was usurped by the Minister's family, because,” &c. J. A. S. B., vii. 38.Google Scholar
page 12 note 4 Since the above was read before the Royal Asiatic Society, Colonel Sykes has communicated to me the following observations, conveyed in a late letter from Captain Kittoe. The deductions in question, valuable in themselves, as derived from entirely new sources, and as the result of independent inductive reasoning, will be seen to corroborate in a remarkable manner the date of the rise of the Guptas already pointed at in the text.
“I have had four valuable copper-plates, from Nagode, in Bundulkund, of Sri Hastina, a cotemporary of Samudra Gupta, for he is named by the latter in the Allahabad Inscription (see J. A. S. B.), translated by Mill. These plates fix the number of years passed of the Gupta Dynasty at that time, viz., 163; this will prove the correctness of the Vansavali, as given on the pillar, and will prove, I think, that the Guptas reigned from the second to the fifth century a.d.”
page 13 note 1 Bhitárí Lát (Ghazípúr District), “Kosala” (Oude) of Allahabad Inscription, J. A. S. B., vi. 971.Google Scholar Nipál, idem, 973.
page 13 note 2 Skanda Gupta Inscription at Girnár, J. A. S. B., vii. 348.Google Scholar
page 13 note 3 Yaudheya, , J. A. S. B., vi. 973.Google Scholar
page 13 note 4 Gupta, Chandra, J. A. S. B., v. 650;Google Scholar Skanda Gupta, infrâ, Pl. II. fig. 51.
page 13 note 5 Wilson's, Vishnu Purána, 479.Google Scholar The date of this Purána is fixed by Wilson about 954 a.d. Mill quotes the passage thus:—“And in Padmávatí, Kánti purí, Mathurá and on the Ganges from Prayága, shall the Magadbas and the Guptas rule over the people belonging to Magadha.” J. A. S. B., vi. 10.Google Scholar
page 13 note 6 Histoire des Rois du Kachmîr, ii. 76Google Scholar (Troyer); Wilson, , As. Res., xv. 38.Google Scholar
page 13 note 7 As. Res., xv. 81.Google Scholar
page 14 note 1 Histoire des Rois du Kachmír, ii. 365, 378.Google Scholar
page 14 note 2 Cunningham, , Num. Chron., vi. 18.Google Scholar
page 14 note 3 Wilford, , As. Res., ix. 117.Google Scholar
page 14 note 4 Taking the term Saka in its generic sense, as it was probably used, without entering into the divisional distinctions of Tochari, &c., noticed in Ar. Ant., 138, 139.
page 14 note 5 Pl. II. fig. 51; III. No. e; and Appendix, Pl. VII. fig. 1.
page 14 note 6 “L'ère de Saca, nommée par les Indiens. Sacakâla, est postérieure á celle de Vikramaditya de 135 ans. Saca est le nom d'un prince qui a régné sur les contrées situées entre l'Indus et la mer. Sa résidence était placée au centre de l'empire, dans la contrée nommée Aryavartha. Les Indiens le font naître dans une classe autre que celle des Sakya: quelques-uns prétendent qu'il était Soudra et originaire de la ville de Mansoura. Il y en a même qui disent qu'il n'était pas de race indienne, et qu'il tirait son origine des régions occidentales. Les peuples eurent beaucoup à souffrir de son despotisme, jusqu'à ce qu'il leur vînt du secours de l'Orient. Vikramaditya marcha contre lui, mit son armée en déroute, et le tua sur le territoire de Korour, situé entre Moultan et le château de Louny. Cette époque devint célèbre, à cause de la joie que les peuples ressentirent de la mort de Saca, et on la choisit pour ère, principalement chez les astronomes. D'un autre côté Vikramaditya reçut le titre de sri (grand), à cause de l'honneur qu'il s'était acquis. Du reste, l'intervalle qui s'est écoulé entre l'ère de Vikramaditya et la mort de Saca, prouve que le vainqueur n'était pas le célèbre Vikramaditya, mais un autre prince du même nom.” Albîrúní, , Reinaud, , pp. 140, 141, 142.Google Scholar
page 15 note 1 Note upon Ma-twan-lin, , J. A. S. B., vi. 63;Google Scholar also Pauthier, , “Thian-tchu,” extract from the Journal Asiatique, 1839, note, p. 9.Google Scholar
page 15 note 2 Pauthier, M. (Thian-tchu, Journal Asiatique, 1839)Google Scholar notices a curious enquiry, suggested by the similarity of meaning existing between the words Youë chi and Chandra Vansa: subjoined are M. Pauthier's translation of the Chinese text and his own notes on this head:—
“Dans la Relation dea contrées occidentales (Si-yu), le royaume du Thian-tohu est nommé par quelques-uns Chin-thou; et on le dit situé au sud-est des Youë-chi ou ‘peuple de race lunaire’ à la distance de quelque milliers de li. Les mœurs de ses habitants sont les mêmes que celles des Youë-chi.“Youe-chi, mots éethniques qui signifient de race lunaire, absolument comme le terme Sanskrit 
tchandra-vansa. Voy. la notice sur ce peuple célèbre (que l'on crolt être les Indo-Scythes des historiens occidentaux), que nous avons traduite du Pian-i-tian, liv. LII. art. 2.”
b “Sou-yu-youē-chi-thoung: mores cum (
) Youē-chi (moribus) iidem. Quelque extraordinaire que cette assertion paraisse, elle confirmerait le soupçon que nous avons déjà émis ailleurs, que les Youë Chi ou hommes de race lunaire pourraient bien aroir la même origine que les rois Indiens, aussi de race lunaire, tchandra-vansa.”
May not these coincidences, conjoined to the curious verbal similarity to be detected between NANAIA and NANO, suggest the possibility of the meaning of the latter referring to the moon, and thus PAO NANO PAO being, the King, the Lunar King, or King of the Lunar Race?
See also remarks bearing upon the general subject in J. A. S. B., iv. 677, 684;Google Scholar and Tod, , Trans. R. A. S., i. 207;Google Scholar also Annals of Rajpootana, i. 24, 563.Google Scholar
page 15 note 3 Wilson, , quoting Foe kue ki, Ar. Ant., 307.Google Scholar See also Foë kouë ki, 83—”Les rois des Yuě ti continuèrent d'exercer l'autorité dans ces díverses contrées jusque dans le IIIe siècle. Au commencement du Ve siècle, on parle encore de leurs incursions dans l'Inde.” M. Rémusat.
page 16 note 1 Compare Nos. 1 to 12 with a, b, c, d, e, Pl. III. Prinsep had already remarked that “The Asoka alphabet (the Sanskrit one) agrees very closely with that of our Surashtra coins, which may thence be pronounced to be anterior to the Gupta Series.” J. A. S. B., vii. 275.Google Scholar
page 18 note 1 Periplus, Vincent's, p. 98,Google Scholar and note on Mámbarus at the conclusion.
“I have attributed the sovereignty of Aríake or Concan to Mámbarus, and I am now convinced that his dominion was Guzerát. * * I made the Parthian power at Minnagar, on the Indus, extend over Guzerát, whereas in reality it embraced only Scindi and Kutch.”
page 19 note 1 Vincent, “about 63 a.d.,” Commerce of the Ancients, ii. 57 and 685;Google Scholar Heeren, “during the first, or, at latest, during the second century a.d.” Asiatic Nations, ii. 565, Lond., 1846.Google Scholar
page 19 note 2 “Ozênè” is noticed in the Periplus “as formerly the seat of government” (p. 102). This would be by no means an unimportant piece of information, as showing that in the time of the second Arrian, Ujein was no longer an Imperial metropolis, were it not that it is somewhat difficult to reconcile this statement with the assertion of Ptolemy, who calls it “the capital of Tiástanus, and his royal residence.” Vincent, Commerce of the Ancients, ii. 406.Google Scholar
page 18 note 3 Lassen, , quoting Ptolemy, J. A. S. B., 1840, pp. 756, 757.Google Scholar
In support of the conclusion arrived at above respecting the Scythian conquest of Guzerát, it may be expedient to cite the decisive opinion expressed on this head by so able a Numismatist as Capt. Alexander Cunningham, Bengal Engineers, an Antiquary who has moreover devoted special attention to the subject of the geographical limits of the Bactrian and Indo-Scythian monarchies:—“In the most flourishing period of their rule, the Indo-Scythians, under Kanerki and his immediate successors, must have possessed not only Kashmir itself, but also the whole of Gandhara on the Indus; and from Kabul on the west, as far as the Ganges on the east, down to Barygaza or Baroach on the south.” Num. Chron., vi 2Google Scholar, Article, “The Ancient Coinage of Kashmir;” see also Num. Chron. viii. 175Google Scholar, “Chronological and Geographical Table of Alexander's Successors in the East.”
page 20 note 1 Ma-twan-lin, , Pauthier, Asiatic Journal, LXXIX. and LXXX., 1836;Google Scholar the same, Stan. Julien, Journ. Asiatique, X. 95 (1847);Google Scholar so also Tchu, Thian, Pauthier, Journ. Asiatique, 1839.Google Scholar “A cette époque [159 a.d.] tous ces royaumes (Kaboul et les divers etats de l'Hindoustan) appartenaient aux Youë Chi, ou peuple de race Lunaire. Les Youë Chi avaient fait mourir leurs rois, et établi à leur place des commandants militaires pour gouverner tous leurs sujets.”
page 20 note 2 Ar. Ant., pl. xi. fig. 9.
page 20 note 3 Ar. Ant., 348. See also Cunningham, , Num. Chron. vi. 7 (1843).Google Scholar
page 21 note 1 Ma-twan-lin, , J. R. A. S., 1836;Google Scholar also Journ. Asiatique, 1839;Google ScholarLassen, J. A. S. B., 1840, p. 765 (40 b.c.);Google ScholarCunningham, Num. Chron., viii. 175;Google Scholar Ar. Ant., 301.
page 21 note 2 “The rock containing the inscriptions is about a mile to the eastward of Junágad, and about four miles from the base of Girnár, which is in the same direction.” Rev. Wilson, J., J. A. S. B., vii. 337.Google Scholar See also a subsequent paper in the same volume (p. 865), by Lieut. Postans, giving a full account of the adjacent localities.
page 21 note 3 On first arranging the materials of the present paper, I was prepared to rely implicitly upon Prinsep's translation of the Girnar Bridge Inscription; but on its subsequently coming to my knowledge that a second more perfect facsimile of the original record had been taken by Major Jacob and Mr. Westergaard, and a lithograph copy of the same made public in the pages of the Journal of the Bombay Branch Asiatic Society, I was induced to apply to this transcript, with a view, at the least, of checking any possible errors in the more prominent names of men and countries that might have crept into the less perfect copy of the inscription furnished to Jas. Prinsep by Dr. Wilson, from which the original decipherment was obtained. In the progress of my examination, I was startled to find very extensive variation, both in the number and value of the letters as given in the two copies; indeed, the mere discovery that the opening name, read by Prinsep as Ari Dámá, was in the new transcript clearly and unquestionably Rudra Dámá—the identical designation that occurs in the concluding portion of both copies of the inscription—was enough to satisfy me that a complete revision of the entire document was now absolutely requisite. Under these circumstances, I at once applied to Professor Wilson, who readily undertook the task, permitting me, in the most liberal manner, to make full use of his new translation, which I am gratified in being able to announce will shortly be published in a separate form, illustrated by the needful notes and remarks. Such being the case, I have confined my notice of the inscription to such extracts and observations as were indispensable to elucidate the special subject of the coins of the Sáh. kings.
page 22 note 1 This word is exceedingly doubtful in the Bombay facsimile, the initial letter occurring after a lengthened break in the context caused by the nearly entire loss of a number of letters on the edge of a fissure in the rock. The head lines of both the first and second letters of the word suggested are also only imperfectly visible.
page 23 note 1 In number 30 kings, supposed to spread over 435 odd years. Wilson, Vishnu Purána.
page 23 note 2 Prinsep, , J. A. S. B., vii. 346;Google ScholarWilson, , Purána, Vishnu, 474, note 63.Google Scholar
page 23 note 3 Validior deinde gens Andaræ, plurimis vicis, xxx oppidis quæ muris turri-busque muniuntur, regi præbet peditum cm, equitum mm, elephantos M. Pliny, Hist. Nat., vi. 19.Google Scholar
page 23 note 4 Wilson, though he says, “According to the computation hazarded above from our text, the race of Andhra kings should not commence till about twenty years b.c., which would agree with Pliny's notice of them,” adds the important admission, “but it is possible that they existed earlier in the south of India, although they established their authority in Magadha only in the first centuries of the Christian æra.” Vishnu Purána, p. 475.
page 23 note 5 This objection might certainly be overruled by supposing that Swámí Rudra Sáh, the son of Swámí Rudra Dámá, upon whose coins alone the latter name occurs, finding it advisable to distinguish, by some means or other, his own name —already so common in the family—from the analogous designations of his predecessors, adopted the expedient of carrying out this object by the introduction of the extra title of Swámf, which, in appropriating to himself, he may have thought necessary to apply to his father, though his father himself, in rejoicing in a denomination hitherto unused by any monarch of the dynasty, found no occasion to employ the same distinctive word. This title is seen from the inscription to have pertained to Chandana, the father and grandfather of these Rudras (?)—a honorary prefix by no means necessarily or invariably bestowed upon the fathers of kings. (See Varsha, coin No. 1, Detail of Coins.)
page 24 note 1 “The Sanskrit character of the third century b.c. differs only so much from the original form [the Buddhist alphabet of the fifth century b.c.] as the habits of a class of writers, distinct in religion [?] and more refined in language, might naturally introduce.” Prinsep, , J. A. S. B., vii. 275.Google Scholar
page 24 note 2 “All doubt as to the pre-existence of the Sanskrit in its purest state being set aside by the simultaneous production of a monument of Asoka's time, I need not trouble myself to prove the necessity of the existence of a higher and more remote model to account for the marked difference between the dialect of Guzerát and that of Cuttack. * * The dialect of Girnar, then [of the Buddhist Edict], is intermediate between Sanskrit and Páli.” J. A. S. B., vii. 277.Google Scholar
page 25 note 1 This symbol “occurs on the Pantaleon Greek coins—on the Indo-Scythic group—on the Behat Buddhist group—on similar coins dug up in Ceylon—and here at the extremity of Indía. It is the Buddhist Chaitya, the Mithraic flame—Mount Meru, Mount Aboo!” Prinsep, , J. A. S. B., vi. 389.Google Scholar
“In the centre of the reverse is the so-called Chaitya symbol 
: Which, had it only occurred on these descendants of a Mithraic coin, I should now be inclined to designate a symbol of the holy flame, trilingual and pyramidical, of the Sassanian fire-worship.” Prinsep, , J. A. S. B., iv. 686.Google Scholar
page 25 note 2 Stenart, , J. R. A. S., xviii. 274.Google Scholar
page 25 note 3 Ar. Ant., pl. xv. fig. 14; also J. A. S. B., vii. pl. xii. fig. 12; infrâ, pl. i. fig. 19.
page 26 note 1 See Ar. Ant, pi. xvi. figs. 4, 6, 16, 17; pl. xvii. 1, 2, 3, 4, &c., and especially No. 1.
page 26 note 2 Longperier, Médailles Saesanides, obverse figs. 3,4, pl. I.; reverse figs. 2, 3, Pl. IX.; see also X., XI., &c.
page 26 note 3 “Saurashtra, or the region of the worshippers of the sun, comprised the whole of the peninsula at present called Kathiawar.” Wathen, , J. A. S. B., iv. 482.Google Scholar
page 26 note 4 “The earliest objects of adoration in these regions (Méwar, &c.) were the sun and moon,” Tod, , ii. 301.Google Scholar “The only temples of the sun I have met with are in Saurashtra,” idem.
It is a prominent fact connected with the survival of this form of religion that Dharapattah, the fifth Valabhí, is noticed in the text of Wathen's first Copper-plate Grant as “the great adorer of the sun.” J. A. S. B., iv. 485.Google Scholar In corroboration of this also, we learn from Tod that “in the mythology of the Rajpoots, of which we have a better idea from their heroic poetry than from the legends of the Brahmins, the Sun-god is the deity they are most anxious to propitiate; and in his honour they fearlessly expend their blood in battle. * * Their highest heaven is accordingly the Bhan-t'han or Bhánuloca, the region of the sun; and like the Indu-Scythic Gete, the Rajpoot warrior of the early ages sacrificed the horse in his honour, and dedicated to him the first day of the week.” (Annals, i. 563.Google Scholar) Hiuen-thsang found a temple of the sun at Multán in the seventh century, which was still in existence when the Arabs first entered India. (Reinaud, Analyse d'un Mémoire Géographique, 14.)
The following observations are also illustrative of the general subject:—
“Nous en citons quelques traits dans une traduction fidèle, pour amener le tableau que nous devons faire des éléments qui ont constitué à l'origine le panthéon indien:—
“‘Le culte était simple [dit Goerres]: point de temples on d'images. Les regards s'élevaient de la terre vers le ciel; létait véritablement l'lempire du feu; là brûlait perpétuellement le soleil; là êtincelaient les étoiles et les planètes comme autant de flammes au sein de l'obscurité; là resplendissaient dans leurs sources intarissables les feux, qui ne projetaient sur la terre que des clartés affaiblies. Le culte du feu est devenu l'adoration du soleil; le soleil, l'armée des cieox, les élémens qui leur obéissent, telles sont les puissances immortelles, et tels sont tout à-la-fois les prétres du ciel; le monde est un reflet de la divinité; il existe par lui-même, il n'est limité par rien; en ce sens, la religion de cette époque est un panthéism.’
“Ces aperçus, qui sont pour l'histoire religieuse de l'Inde de la plus grande justesse, sont confirmés par les recherches entreprises dans les derniers temps sur les cultes dominans de l'Asie moyenne et antérieure; les débris des fables et des légendes populaires que les sources anciennes rapportent aux Chaldéens, aux Phéniciens, aux Babyloniens, aux Arméniens, aux Phrygiens, ont des caractères analogues et un fonds commun: ‘Tout semble se rapporter au culte des astres ou au sabéisme, dans son sens le plus matériel. Le soleil, la lune, quelques planètes, certaines constellations, dans leurs mutuels rapports avec la terre, tels paraissent être les principaux objets d'adoration. * * La Perse, l'Egypte, la Grèce, et l'ltalie même n'offrent dans leurs souvenirs antiques aucun fait qui contredise la portée de cette appréciation.’” Nève, M., Mythe des Ribhavas, p. 5.Google Scholar
“Les hommages des indigènes, à cette époque reculée, s'adressaient au soleil, à la lune, au feu, et à ce qui ordinairement frappe le plus vivement les sens et l'imagination. Tel est le culte qui parait avoir dominé jadis, non-seulement dans l'Inde, mais dans la Perse.” Reinaud, , Analyse d'un Mémoire Géographique, 13 (1846).Google Scholar
See also the Vedic faith, as shown by Sir William Jones' Essays; Colebrooke, , As. Res., ix. 273;Google ScholarWilson, , Introd. Vishnu Purána, ii.Google Scholar
page 27 note 1 “It is remarkable that, in the long string of epithets applied even to Rudra Dámá, the chosen Satrap, there is none which bears the slightest allusion to Hindu mythology; while, on the other hand, the coins of the whole dynasty bear an emblem we have hitherto considered either of Mithraic or of Buddhist import. The name of Jina Dámá(‘Wearing Buddha as a necklace’) is decidedly Buddhistic; and the epithet applied in the inscription to Rudra Dámá—who from right persuasion never put any living creature to death—proves that Rudra's opinions were at any rate influenced by ihe proximity of the important Buddhist establishment at Girnár.”
page 28 note 1 Sykes' Inscription, J. R. A. S., No. VIII., interpreted by Prinsep, , J. A. S. B., vii. 566.Google Scholar See also the same, with additional Inscriptions collected by Bird, (Historical Researches, &c., pp. 51, 52, Bombay, 1847);Google Scholar also his notice of the derivation of the Buddhist religion itself, from the old form of Sabean idolatry, Bombay Branch J. A. S., May, 1844, p. 440;Google Scholar and Hist. Res., p. 63,Google Scholar where he states, “I refer them rather to solar and elemental worship, out of which arose Buddhism, and with which it seems to have been intimately associated on its first propagation as a creed.”
page 29 note 1 Steuart, , J. R. A. S., Feb. 1837, p. 273;Google Scholar also Prinsep, , May, 1837, J. A. S. B.Google Scholar
page 29 note 2 Wilson, , J. R. A. S., 1837, p. 398;Google Scholar also Ar. Ant., 411; Stevenson, , Bombay Asiatic Journal, 1847.Google Scholar
page 30 note 1 See Pl. I. figs. 3 and 5.
page 31 note 1 Wilson, , Ar. Ant., p. 316, 818, &c.Google Scholar
page 31 note 2 First century a.d.: Lassen, , J. A. S. B., 1840, p. 765;Google Scholar Ar, Ant, 353; Cunningham, Num. Chron. viii. 175.Google Scholar
page 31 note 3 As it may possibly contribute something towards the eventual elucidation of the purport of these legends, it will be useful to mention that the only coin I have yet seen with the Greek legend perfect at the termination has the concluding letters distinctly 
[Rudra, son of Vira, 8th king (Sykes)].
page 31 note 4 See Detail of Coins.
page 31 note 5 Rudra Sáb, son of Jíwa Dámá. Pl. I. figs. 3, 5.
page 32 note 1 Dr. Stevenson, in his account of the late discovery of Suráshtran coins at Junír (Púnah Collectorate), published in the Journal of the Bombay Branch of the Asiatic Society, July, 1847, acting upon the supposition that the Greek inscription might be a mere translate adaptation of the native name on the reverse surface of the coin, has endeavoured to show that; the obverse legend on a piece (infrâ, Pl. I. 5) of Rudra Sáh, the son of Swámi Jíwa Dámá, is to be read as 
for Deva Rudra. Setting aside the unsatisfactory nature of both reading and rendering in this particular case, the rule itself is shown to be entirely inapplicable in its details to the later coins, and equally inconsistent with the facts developed by the change of inscription on Rudra Sáh's own coins as above noticed. I transcribe Dr. S.'s words:—”The first eight of these letters I read 
. The last with two fragments I suppose to belong to a new word of which too little remains to found any conjecture upon. If I am right in reference to the first word, it will be a tolerable translation into Greek of Rudra, or even of Rudra Saha, supposing Dio, as in Dionysius, &c., to be the name of Jupiter, and the other element meaning, like Rudra, the causer of grief.”
page 32 note 2 The first, second, and fourth of these sets of numerals are facsimiles taken from the original copper-plates now in the Library of the Royal Asiatic Society.
page 33 note 1 Prinsep's suspicious as to the possibility of these figures being independent symbolical numerals—each representing in itself a given number, irrespective of their relative collocation—were naturally excited at finding a character, differing obviously from his own assumed figure one, used—in combination with a distinct unit, possessing its own separate power—to represent the value of ten (J. A. S. B., vii. 353Google Scholar). Had he seen the original Copper-plate Grant dated 380, he would probably have been confirmed in the opinion that the series of figures in question must be wanting in local value, as the symbol which expresses 80 is here seen to stand without the succeeding dot, reproduced—we must infer—from the inaccurate facsimile furnished by Dr. Burns, as No. 2, Pl. XX., Vol VII. If the symbol 
stood merely for 8, and not for 80, and the 
in like manner represented 3 instead of 300, the want of this dot in the figured date would obviously have made the combined ciphers equivalent to 38, instead of the sum of 380, as required by the context of the written date.
An error that must also have seriously tended to mislead Prinsep's decision of the debated question, was his mistaken reading of the figured date on one of his own coins (J. A. S. B., vii. 350,Google Scholar and fig. 12, pl. xii. re—engraved in the accompanying plate I. as fig. 19), wherein the symbol 
which is in effect never found except in the third or hundred place of the date, has been quoted as occupying the second or decimal place of the date, leading naturally to the supposition that the figure was moveable, and therefore, inferentially, that the other numerals were in like manner transferable, and, as such, capable of acquiring relative value.
page 33 note 2 Steuart's collection, James Prinsep's Cabinet, British Museum, &c.
page 33 note 3 Colonel Sykes, Colonel Wynch, Baron de Berh, &c.
page 33 note 4 See also Wathen's Guzerát Copper-plate, figured date 
J. A. S. B, iv. pl. XL.Google Scholar
page 34 note 1 For instance, although the several kings are placed in a certain order, and numbered for facility of reference, there is but little authority for the distribution, which has been adopted simply as Prinsep's final arrangement (J. A. S. B., vii. 358)Google Scholar, without any critical examination of the value of the arrangement itself, with the means of testing which we are still unprovided, as there exists neither any written list whereby to determine the relative precedence of each monarch, nor any scale completely applicable to the decision of the question of individual priority in the possibly imperfect order of succession conveyed by the coins themselves.
To show how arbitrary the collocation hitherto received may perchance prove to be, it may be noticed that, in addition to the uncertainty attendant upon the position each head of a family ought to hold in the general list, there is not only the difficulty attaching to the succession of several brothers, but the still greater obstruction existing in the fact that our list contains the names of no less than five individuals designated as sons of Rudra Sáh, and this last denomination recurs no less than three times as indicating a reigning king, each having a different progenitor. The information to be gathered from the Sanskrit superscriptions on the medals does not suffice to show to which of the three Budras any one of the five sons of Rudra Sah owed his birth.
It is true there are certain minor and incidental items which tend to satisfy us with portions of the entire distribution, such as the coincidence of the use of a given date on the money of father and son; but far more definite data are requisite before it would be safe to take the serial order of the monarchs as a basis foi the determination of a complicated numerical system.
page 35 note 1 A consideration that undoubtedly tends to cause distrust in the conclusiveness of the decision, which assigns the value of 300 to all the known forms of the symbol 
arises from the circumstance of its appearing as the unvarying representative of the hundreds on both the coins and inscriptions [the Multye plates, J. A. S. B., vi. 370,Google Scholar may possibly prove an exception to this rule], and the singular coincidence which results from the facts that, among the many dated coins now capable of citation, and the fair proportion of figure-dated copper-plate grants at present known, not only must each and all, under this view of the case, be dated in 300 and odd; but likewise, strange to say, the same identical hundreds as found on these different monuments must of necessity be referred to totally distinct cycles, whose initial epochs are removed from each other by an interval of some centuries at the very least.
These observations lead naturally to the inquiry, whether, in the early stages of progressive improvement in notation, it may not have been possible that, whereas we find a striking want of variety in the outlines, and a marked absence of ingenuity in the expression of the distinctive forms, of the decimal ciphers, that so, in like manner, the changes in the definition of the different hundreds may have been in part effected by minor and subsidiary additions to a fixed symbol, as is still practised in the entire Tibetan numerical system. It will be seen that there is a palpable variation in the form and numbers of the side spur strokes in different examples of the figure 
passing from the occasional entire omission of the mark to the use of one or two of these lines, and in some instances (No. 6, Pl. XX., Vol. VII., J. A. S. B.) the simple lower stroke is changed into a complete subjunctive curve, making in itself a second character, similar to the body of the old alphabetical letter 
N. But, on the other hand, it will not fail to be remarked that there is much latitude discoverable in the expression of many of the unit figures, whose complete identity of value there is but little reason to discredit, and hence that it would be unsafe to assume a difference of power to be conveyed in the one case, by what is possibly a mere flourish, which could not be similarly claimed for a like modification in another.
In continuation of these remarks, this may be a fit place to examine—somewhat more at large than the patience of the general reader would probably have submitted to in the text—the various coincidencies tending to throw light upon the powers of the different symbols we are at present in possession of.
Passing on from the single hundred as yet found, the decimal numbers next claim attention.
The 
is a fixed quantity, whose value is determined by its use in two distinct instances in the context of the Guzerát Copper—plate Inscriptions as the corresponding equivalent of the written number ten (Dr. Burns' Copper-plates, Nos. 2 and 3, J. A. S. B., vii. 349):Google Scholar no such complicated form, or any sign at all approaching a Sanskrit double 
or 
dd, with a vowel attached, has as yet been discovered among the series of numerals developed by the coins.
The power of the sign 
80 has also been settled definitively by the Copper-plates, on which it is seen to undergo certain alterations of outline (p. 32, suprâ), though its integral character is subjected to no change sufficiently decided to authorize a supposition that the many similar, though slightly varied, symbols to be found on the medals, are only modifications of the regular form of the original numeral: hence, though it may be necessary to admit the sign 
as possibly a cursive delineation of the more formal 
yet the figures 
and 
clearly claim a separate identity: it is a singular fact in regard to the shapes of the two former symbols, that on the leaden coins (27, 28, 30, 31) the sign almost invariably (29) takes the same squarely—based outline which it assumes on the Copper plates, whereas, on the silver money, it never appears except as 
.
To dispose of the proved numerals, before proceeding to the consideration of those whose value is as yet unascertained, it remains to refer to the form 
90, which, when analyzed, seems to offer nothing more than a duplication of the crude symbol used for the 
80; in like manner, the improved 
is readily convertible into the higher number by the simple addition of a central cross-stroke.
What the values of 
and 
, supposing them to be independent numbers, may chance to be, there are no present means of deciding. The former, as most clearly developed on the better preserved coins, assumes the appearance of a Greek θ; on some of the less perfect specimens, however, it takes the form of the old 
kh of the fifth century B.C., and at times that of the modern Tibetan 
one. Again, on Wathen's Guzerát Plate (J. A. S. B., iv. 481)Google Scholar, what may be assumed to be an identical cipher also displays much of the likeness of a cursive 
—a letter which will be seen to have undergone but little change during the interval which elapsed between the epoch of the Sáhs and that of the Valabhis.
Were the sign 
written perpendicularly, instead of horizontally, there would be little hesitation in pointing to its identity with the oldest known form of the letter 
the fact of the 
of the more modern legends on the coins themselves appearing in a different shape to that retained by the figure letter, would offer no obstacle to the admission of the original derivation of the symbol from the alphabets of earlier times, as this may well have kept its fixed integrity of outline quite independent of any progressive modifications the general Devanágari alphabet may in the mean time have undergone.
Prinsep was inclined to consider this letter—the ancient 
—as the representative of the modern figure 
7, the idea being advanced simply on the strength of the letter in question constituting the initial consonant of the word sapta (seven). The attribution is, however, clearly inadmissible, as the figure never appears in the unit place in the dates, the several series of figures composing which are now clearly seen to be wanting in local value. Its identification as the representative of 70 would be satisfactory enough were there any more certain grounds whereon to base a decisive assignment of this kind; but a degree of difficulty exists in the apparently anomalous position held by the 
on certain coins (No. 7, &c.), as compared with its seeming import on the copper-plates. If the relative priority of the coins, inter se, as at present arranged, is correct, and the 
is in all cases to be held to express 300, the symbol 
, as it appears on these medals, must needs refer to some of the decimal numbers of the first half—if not to the earlier part of that moiety—of the century; whereas, when tested by the comparative dates on the two Guzerát Valabhi Plates (J. A. S. B., iv. 481, and vii. 966,Google Scholar and ante note, p. 5), and the period which it seems necessary to suppose to have elapsed between the execution of the one and the other, there is great reason to conclude that the 
in the later of these documents represents some of the higher decimals, or at least one of those that should fall into the second half of a century. Looking to these facts, I am induced to distrust the entire arrangement of the list of kings as heretofore adopted, though in the present insufficiency of materials to justify any new collocation, I hesitate to propone any alteration in the order of succession hitherto received, further than drawing attention to the principle involved in the explanation of the difficulties of the case, suggested in the text at p. 39.
The figure 
as seen on the less perfect coins, frequently assumes the appearance of the lower portion of a modern 
t. At first sight, this might possibly be looked upon as a different sign; but it will be seen that the mode of writing the 
in use on the coins occasionally admitted of the complete omission of the first down-stroke of the letter, though its place was in a measure supplied by the due expression of the mark which should otherwise have formed the head line of the missing stroke (See fig. 3, reverse). There is a single instance of on addition to the original type of the figure, in the continuation of the second perpendicular line of the 
in the shape of the lower limb of an 
similar to that already noticed as occurring on the 
Subjoined is a copy of the date containing this symbol, taken from a mutilated coin of one of the sons of Dámá Sáh—
This symbol is seen to occupy the second place in the figured date on the leaden coins Nos. 33, 34; it occurs on the silver money of Dámá Sáh, and has also been found, in a slightly varied shape, in the same relative position, on the Bhilsa Inscription (J. A. S. B., vi. pl. XXVI.).Google Scholar In neither case, however, is any collateral assistance afforded in the ascertainment of the numerical value of the cipher itself. In one case, the figure may be likened to an inverted 
8; in the other, it partakes more of the character of the 
of the Gupta alphabet.
The accompanying figure is put forward without any degree of confidence in the accuracy of the form, owing to the imperfection of the date on the coins (fig. 9, and a coin of the E. I. C), from whence the outline has had to be copied; the more perfect medals of Dr. Bird's, whence the extra references are cited, not being at hand to aid in correcting the type now adopted. On one of Dr. Bird's specimens this figure has the extra subjunctive curve already remarked upon as occasionally seen on the 
and 
It will be seen that this is the only figure in the series of tens that could by any possibility be confounded with any of the unit ciphers, which fact in itself adds to the already expressed distrust in the completeness of the prefixed facsimile.
I have also some misgivings as to the normal shape of the symbol represented as closely as circumstances will admit of in the type figure at the commencement of this sentence. The form occurs but seldom, and, when found, has hitherto happened to prove unusually indistinct. As now given, the outline closely approximates to the curious character employed in modern Guzeráit to represent the number six.
Having thus cursorily referred to the decimal numerals, it is time to detail the unit ciphers. It will be convenient to commence with the 
or 
(coins 33, 34, &c.; see also copper-plate date quoted p. 4), which, amid a set of seven, if not eight, symbols already known out of the required nine, and as the only figure of the séries that displays any identity with the probably purely original form of a 
can scarcely he objected to as the equivalent of that number, especially as the three simple lines thus arranged to this day constitute the regular representative of ¾. To give consistency to this attribution, it would be necessary to prove that the same system of equívalent numbers of simple lines, applied equally well to the definition of the one and the two. This may probably be shown to have been the fact, inasmuch as there is one decided instance of the use of an isolated dot or short square line after the 
on one of the leaden coins, and there are several apparent examples of the occurrence of double lines in the requisite position on the silver coins, though these are not definitively quoted, as it is possible they may either be the remaining lines of a three, or the imperfectly defined representatives of the Greek I, or that portion of any initial letter of the succeeding legend. With all this evidence in favour of the proposed value of the double lines, it is to be noted, on the other hand, that they are frequently prefixed to the entire date, as in fig. 30, where, to all appearance, they could otherwise serve no possible purpose but that of an ornamental filling in of vacant space, unless, indeed, they are here to be understood as an imperfect rendering of the corresponding opening mark, which invariably precedes the date in the form of a Greek I on the silver coins, and that introduced originally upon the leaden pieces, in uniformity with the practice on the silver series, they were arbitrarily supplied or omitted at the will of the die-sínkers. There are no less than five very clear examples of the use of these prefix dots, and were it not for the knowledge gained from fig. 30, where it is impossible the sign could import two, a supposition might have arisen that, in the case of the very legible date 
on a leaden coin of Colonel Sykes', the figures employed might be intended to convey the number 382; but it will be seen in this, as in every other example of the use of these symbols, that, although wanting in local value, they are uniformly placed in the order in which they should be read.
Weighing the whole evidence on the subject, and the fact of the one and the three having been found in the needfully corresponding forms, there can be but little objection to adopting the two as designed by the two lines, when clearly defined, which succeed any decimal figure, notwithstanding the occasional appearance of a similar form as an, at present, inexplicable prefix to dates counting by hundreds.
The 
of the coins, or 
4 of the copper-plates, may be fairly admitted to a common identity, and, as such, may each and all be invested with the value assigned to the last by the formal testimony of the Copper-plate Grantt in the body of which it occurs.
The coin characters are seen to vary in some of the subsidiary and minor details, such as has already formed the subject of remark in the cases of the 
and 
In the present instance, the additions would seem to have been fanciful in the extreme, and to have been added or withheld in the most arbitrary and undetermined manner.
The 
five of the copper-plates, which themselves prove its value, may possibly be the more modern correspondent of the 
of the coins: the latter symbol occurs but rarely, and the accuracy of its form, as at present given, cannot be altogether relied upon, as the only examples of its use within reach (two coins of Atri Dámá, severally the property of Colonel Sykes and Dr. Swiney) offer the figure in its probably incomplete shape, deprived of any upper line that may perchance have constituted an important portion of the integral form. The Guzeráti four of the present day bears a close resemblance to the coin figure; but as the Guzeráti modern numeral series does not tally with any possible assimilate system as applicable to the units of the more ancient epoch, it is but little use citing these coincidences, though as it is possible that literal identities may be of more import in their bearings upon the general inquiry, it may be noted that the same character as that now found on the coins is in current use as the 
of the modern Sindhí alphabet.
This sign offers an accurate model of the Bengáli 
d. Among the earlier alphabets it might answer for a Gupta 
The Tibetan 6 corresponds in many respects with the outline of this figure.
These two symbols—the one from a silver, the other from a leaden coin—have been classed together for the present, owing to the uncertainty which of necessity remains of the true form of the single example that presents itself on the silver money, from its being apparently deficient in the upper part of the character.
This symbol is an exact counterpart of the 
ng of the Sáh Inscriptions; whether from its striking similitude to the common modern Sanskrit 
8, it may be judged to have any claim to be considered as the ancient equivalent of that number must for the present remain an open question.
This cipher may be likened to a 
or possibly to a 
There is but one instance of its use (fig. 31, pl. II.), and this occurs on an extensively oxydised leaden coin; so that there may be some doubt about its correct outline, as well as whether it may not be a variety of the preceding symbol.
There is no question as to the accuracy of these forms per se, as they are found clearly defined on several well-preserved coins. Whether they are correctly classed as varieties of the same figure may he permitted for the present to remain an open question, as the correct ascertainment of their shape can scarcely be said to assist in the identification of their value and import. The figure placed first in order is a very close counterpart of a Sanskrit 
of the type in use in the Sáh alphabet; the second figure is also fairly recognisable as a crudely-shaped compound of similar value.
page 36 note 1 Tod, , i. 52,Google Scholar “Average rate of reigns of the chief dynasties of Rajnst'han,” extending over 119 kings, gives “an average of 22 years for each reign;” see also Wathen, J. R. A. S., v. 346,Google Scholar whose original documents show rather more than 25 years for the average reign of each prince during a period of 535 years; and Elliot's Inscriptions, J. R. A. S., iv. 5, prove an average length of reign of each sovereign, during the rule of two dynasties, numbering in all 21 kings, as 17·7 years.Google Scholar
page 41 note 1 There is evidence sufficient to the fact of the existence of republics in India in early times, though but few distinct details are extant as to their exact forms of constitution. The republíc of which most frequent mention is made is that of Vais'álí, which is repeatedly referred to in the Dulva, and casual indications are afforded of the powers possessed by the citizens in the time of Shakya (de Koros, Csoma, As. Res., xx. 66, 72).Google Scholar Some curious information on the general subject is also conveyed in the following passage from Csoma de Koros' Analysis of this work (As. Res., xx. 69)Google Scholar:—
“The story of Dumbu, a Minister (of State), and his King, Hphags-skyes-po, in Lus-Hp'hags (Sanskrit Vidéha). Dumbu escapes to Yangs-pa-chan [Vaisálî], and settles there. He first declines to give his advice in the assembly of the people there, but afterwards renders them great service by his prudent counsel.” * * * “The before mentioned Dumbu is made chief tribune there, and after his death his second son. His elder son retires to Rájagriha, in Magadha.”
Further notices of the republic of Vaisálí are to be found in “Foe Koue Ki,” from which the following may be cited as throwing light on the interesting question of the government of these bodies—“Il s'agít ici des habitants de la ville de Phi che li (Vais'âli), lesquels formaient une républíque, et s'appelaient en Sanscrit Litchtchiwi, ou Litchhe dans la transcription Chinoise. Tchu Li tchhe signifie done tous les Litchtchiwi, ou la réunion des Li tchhe” (Klaproth, , p. 240)Google Scholar. Again (Klaproth, , note 8, Les deux rois, p. 251)Google Scholar, “Il paraít que quoique les habitants de Vaïs'ali eussent une forme de gouvernement républicaine, ils avaient pourtant aussi un roi. Les deux rois de notre texte sont done A tohe chi de Magadha, et celui qui était le chef de l'état des Li tehhe ou Litchtchiwi de Vaïs'ali.”
Arrian may likewise be quoted to show that self-government was by no means unusual in India in his day, as the Episcopi are mentioned as bound to report “to the king in those places where the Indians are under regal rule; or to the Magistrates, where they govern themselves.” (Indicæ, cap. xii., cited by Prinsep, , J. A. S. B., vii. 449).Google Scholar
page 41 note 2 It may be requisite perhaps to notice that the following passage in Prinsep's Translation of the Bridge Inscription is not borne out by the more perfect copy of the original in the Bombay Journal:—“ * * * by him [Swami Rudra dama] who, being predestined from the womb to the unceasing and increasing possessions of the fortunes of royalty, was invited by all classes waiting upon him for the security of their property—to be their king.”
page 41 note 3 The claims of the Seleucidan Æra. (1st Sept., 312 b.c.) to be considered as the cycle in use under the government of the Sáh kings, are by no means to be lightly passed over, if we bear in mind on the one hand the possible subjection to Greek supremacy implied by the superscription of that language on the local coins and on the other the care with which the recognition of this æra was enforced in the provinces more directly subject to the Seleucidan rule, as we learn that it was “used all over the East by the Jews, Christians, and Mohammedans. The Jews still style it the Æra of Contracts, because they were obliged, when subject to the Syro-Macedonian princes, to express it in all their contracts and civil writings,” Gough, Seleu., 3. “In Maccabees, , i. 10,Google Scholar it is called the Æra of the Kingdom of the Greeks,” Gough, 4.
In connexion with this subject, some further items suggest themselves, bearing upon the interesting question, as to how much of the Indian system of cipher notation was derived from, or improved by communication with the Greeks. Although so debatable a point requires more examination and argument to serve to justify a definite opinion, than either the materials or the space at command will at present afford, still the subjoined remarks may not be inappropriate as introducing the matter to the attention of others.
In the first place, it has already been noticed as singular that these Indian dates should be found on the coins in direct conjunction with, perhaps absolute insertion in a Greek legend, instead of taking their place in their more natural position, among the Sanskrit legends and local devices, on the reverse surface of the pieces.
Next is to be observed the complete absence of any previous example of the use of figures to express numbers on any known Indian inscription, or on any coins of that country which there is reason to assign to an earlier epoch.
And, lastly, there is the less negative argument, against the probability of any general anterior use of ciphers, in the fact, only lately brought to light, that whatever means of representing quantities by symbols may have been in associate use with the Indian Palí alphabet, the Bactrian Palí of Asoka's time, as seen on the Kapúr di Gíri Rock Inscription, possessed no figure equivalents of numbers, but the required sum was first written, and then numerically expressed by a corresponding succession of simple perpendicular strokes. It is true that this position may have to be somewhat qualified, inasmuch as up to this time we are able to cite only the early number four; and it is possible that the higher numerical equivalents may, in the necessity of the case, have been subjected to a more perfect system, as is seen to have occurred in the Cuneiform Inscriptions, where the low numbers were often defined by little more than rude combinations of the equivalent number of simple strokes, while the decimals and hundreds were far less crudely rendered. Rawlinson, , J. R. A. S., x. 172;Google Scholar Hincks, idem, ix. 423.
In addition to this, were any faith to be placed in similarity of characters, many of the numerical symbols might be identified as possibly of Greek derivation; for instance, the 
is the exact form of the Greek 
of the Sigean (500 and odd b.c.) and Apollonian (a few years b.c.) alphabets; but so also is the Indian cipher 
recognizable as a Greek 
, as indeed the Palí 
th itself is absolutely identical with the 
of the Nemean and Athenian forms of the same letter. The Indian 
approaches closely to the outline of the Greek 
of Cadmus, and of the Sigean characters. The coin figure 
is likewise a perfect rendering of the Attic Ω (400 b.c.). (See Fry's Pantographia.)
Amid all this, on the other hand it is amply manifest that whatever of enlarged ideas of arrangement and distribution of numerals the Indians may perchance have owed to the Greeks, they did not generally adopt their letters, or even their literal equivalent system, as modified to suit their own alphabet; and judging from the strictly Indian forms retained by some of the literal figures, now seen to have been in use under the Sáhs of Guzerát, it is almost necessary to infer that the original outlines of the figures themselves were either drawn from an anterior Sanskrit or else from a more purely Páli alphabet than that concurrently employed in ordinary writing, the admission of which fact in itself goes far to demand a consequent concession that the Indians were not indebted to the Greeks for any assistance in the matter.
page 43 note 1 Date on a coin of Swámí Rudra Sáh, the 14th prince in the present list.
page 43 note 2 J. A. S. B., vii. 354.Google Scholar
page 43 note 3 J. A. S. B., vii. 343.Google Scholar
page 43 note 4 It is necessary to state that the identity of Piyadasí and Asoka has not remained unquestioned (see Wilson, , J.R. A. S., viii. 309;Google ScholarTroyer, , Radja Tarangini, ii. 313)Google Scholar, though the arguments as yet adduced to shake faith in the fact are scarcely sufficient to meet the various concurring proofs to which they are opposed (see, on the other hand, Lassen, , J. A. S. B., 1840, p. 751).Google Scholar
page 43 note 5 J. A. S. B., vii. 220.Google Scholar
page 44 note 1 “On emploie ordinairement les éres de Sri Harscha, de Vikramaditya, de Saca, de Ballaba, et des Gouptas.”
“Les Indiens croirent que Sri-Harscha faisait fouiller la terre, et cherchait ce qui pouvait se trouver dans le sol, en fait d'anciens trésors et de richesses enfouies; il faisait enlever ces richesses, et pouvait, par ce moyen, s'abstenir de fouler ses sujets. Son ére est mise en usage à Mahourah, et dans la province de Canoge. J'ai entendu dire à un homme du pays que, de cette ère à celle de Vikramaditya, on comptait quatre cents ans; mais j'ai vu, dans l'almanach de Cachemire, 
ère reculée après celle de Vikramaditya de 664 ans. Il m'est done venu des doutes que je n'ai pas trouvé moyen de résoudre” Albí—rúní, , Reinaud, , p. 139.Google Scholar
Again—“L'ère des astronomes commence l'an 587 de l'ère de Saca (665 a.d.). C'est à cette ère qu'ont été rapportées les tables Kanda khâtaca, de Brahmagupta. Cet ouvrage porte chez nous le titre de Arcand. D'après cela, en s'en tenant à l'an 400 de l'ère de Yezderdjed, on se trouve sous l'année 1488 de l'ère de Sri-Harscha” [457 b.c.]. Ibid, 143, 144.
The difficulty noticed in the first of these extracts seems capable of explanation by the fact that in the year 607 a.d., or 664 Vikramaditya, an important revolution occurred on the occasion of the death of Harsha Vardhana, of Kanouj, which may possibly have given rise to the second Srí Harsha Æra, of the Kashmír Almanack. M. Reinaud has the following remarks upon the changes which took place on the decease of Harsha Vardhana:—
“L'an 607 de notre ère, une révolution fit déchoir la ville de Canoge du haut rang qu'elle occupait. Cette révolution eut lieu à la mort du roi Harcha-Vardhana, dont le père se nommait Prakara-Vardhana, et dont on avait jusqu'ici fait descendre le règne jusqu'au XIe siècle. La population de l'Hindostan actuel se partageait en brahmanistes et bouddhistes. Harcha, partisan zélé des bouddhistes, suscita des embarras aux brahmanistes; en même temps il fut forcé, par suite de ses profusions, d'augmenter les impôts, ce qui mécontenta le reste de ses sujets. Harcha, étant mort, son fils aîné, Karadja-Vardhana, fut attaqué par un prince ami des brahmanistes, et tué par trahison. Le frère de Karadja, nommeé; Siladitya, eut beaucoup de peine à se mettre en possession du trône de ses ancêtres; les princes feudataires se soulevèrent; Siladitya fut obligé de renoncer au titre de maha-radja ou grand-radja, et l'unité politique fut à jamais rompue.” Analyse d'un Mem. Géog., p. 20; also Géog. d'Aboulféda (Traduction), i. 337.
This solution of the difficulty—in making a second Srí Harsha Æra—also removes an important objection to the application of the first Srí Harsha Cycle—as confounded in Albírúní's observations—to Guzerát dates: inasmuch as the local use of the æra noticed in the Arabic text must now be held to refer to the epoch derived from that one of the two Harshas who lived nearest to Albírúní's own time. This latter cycle would moreover possess peculiar claims to local currency in Kanouj, &c., which could hardly have been demanded for an æra, even then so much a matter of antiquity, and so little known its details, as the original Srí Harsha, commencing 457 b.c.
page 45 note 1 Dated coins of eleven princes, proving the existence of thirteen kings all within 300 to 400 Ann. Harshæ ( = 157 to 67 b.c.), and one, if not more than one king preceding them.
page 45 note 2 219, b.c., Buddhist Annals; Lassen, , J. A. S. B., 1840, 752;Google Scholar 232 b.c., Cunningham, , Num. Chr., viii. 175.Google Scholar
page 45 note 3 Lassen, 185 b.c., J. A. S. B., 1840; Wilson, 190 b.c., Ar. Ant., 227; H. T. Prinsep, 190 b.c., Historical Results, p. 54.
page 45 note 4 Lassen, 160 b.c., J. A. S. B., 1840, p. 765; Wilson, 126 b.c., Ar. Ant., 280; Cunningham, 160 b.c. to 136 b.c.Num. Chr., viii. 175.Google Scholar
page 45 note 5 J. A. S. B., vi. 290;Google ScholarLassen, , J. A. S. B., 1840, p. 733.Google ScholarCunningham, , (Num. Chr., viii. 193,Google Scholar) has the following observations on the subject of Apollodotus' possessions in these parts. It is to be premised that Capt. Cunningham places Apollodotus' accession in 165 b.c., and makes Menander succeed to certain portions of his dominions in 160 b.c.
“This monogram 
I have found only upon a single coin of Apollodotus. It forms the syllable 
possibly 
the city of Ujain, which we know has existed from a very early period. I believe that Patalene and Syrastrene formed part of the dominions of Demetrius, which were wrested from him by Eucratides during his Indian campaign. It is possible also that some part of the province of Lariké was subdued by the Greeks; and I should certainly not be surprised to find this monogram on the coins of Demetrius and Eucratides. Apollodotus may very probably have succeeded to the possession of these southern conquests, but he could only have held them for a very short time.”
page 46 note 1 “Upon examining the coins, however, of this prince, we have every reason to believe that he never was king of Bactria, but that he reigned over an extensive tract, from the foot of the Paropamisan Mountains to the sea. How far he held sovereignty on the east of the Indus, or even in the delta of that river, is some what doubtful, as his coins have not been found in those directions.” Ar. Ant, 281.
page 46 note 2 Cunningham, , Num. Chr., viii. (Table);Google Scholar Ar. Ant., 313; Lassen, , J. A. S. B., 1840, 765.Google Scholar
page 46 note 3 Lassen, , J. A. S. B., 1840, p. 733;Google ScholarWilson, , Ar. Ant., 280.Google Scholar
page 46 note 4 “Kabul, and here was in all probability the royal capital of Menander.” Ar. Ant., 281.
page 46 note 5 Vincent had already shown the real value of the fact in his observations to the following effect:—“That the coins of these princes should pass current at Barugáza is no more uncommon than that the Venetian sequin and the Imperial dollar should he at this day current in Arabia, or that the Spanish piastre should pass in every part of India and the East; that is, round the world, from Mexico to Manilla, and in some instances, perhaps from Manilla to Mexico again.” Vincent, , Commerce, &c., ii. 204.Google Scholar
page 47 note 1 Ar. Ant., p. 348.
page 48 note 1 Wilson, , Purána, Vishnu, pp. 468, 469, note 21;Google Scholar see also Introd., Hindu Theatre, iii.
page 48 note 2 Turnour, “Mahawanso;” but taking Wilson's fixed date of 315 b.c. for Chandra Gupta's accession, and accepting the Puránic evidence of the length of Chandra Gupta's and Vinduasra's reigns at 24 and 25 years respectively, Asoka's accession will fall in 266 b.c.: the Puránas give him a reign of 36 years.
page 50 note 1 The average weight obtained from forty-seven specimens of these silver coins, taken at random from the entire series, gives a return of 30·4 grains. There are several examples of a full weight of 35 grains.
page 50 note 2 Possìbly a native adaptation of the Macedonian Kausia, which is seen to have been a favourite head-dress among the Bactrian Greeks; but judging from the rest of the subsidiary indications, it is likely to have had a more local origin.
page 51 note 1 Lassen, , J. A. S. B., 1640, 368;Google ScholarCunningham, , J. A. S. B., 1840, 430.Google Scholar
page 52 note 1 There is a king of this name among the Bactrian Greeks, made known to us by his coins, which in their types seem to connect him with Apollodotus.
page 62 note 1 Prinsep, (J. A. S. B., vii. 356)Google Scholar mentions that this coin had been presented to him by Lieutenant Conolly, who had obtained it at Ujein. I have not been able to find the piece in question in the Prinsep Cabinet in the British Museum.
page 63 note 1 Figures 35, 36.
page 64 note 1 De Koros, Csoma, “Dulva,” xx., As. Res., p. 86Google Scholar, sec. 11.
page 64 note 2 Ar. Ant, Pl. XV. figs. 23, 24, 25; also J. A. S. B., iv., Pl. X., fig. 16; Pl. XXXV., figs. 45, 47; and vii., Pl. XXXII., figs. 12, 13, 14, &c., &c.
page 64 note 3 J. A. S. B., iv. Pl. XLIX., fig. 8.
page 65 note 1 Prinsep, , J. A. S. B., vii. 356. See also variant a, Pl. III.Google Scholar
page 68 note 1 See remarks quoted in note 2, page 10, suprâ, and the facsimile of the inscription itself in the Journal Bombay Branch Asiatic Society for April, 1812.
page 69 note 1 “Figures 10, 11, 12 [Pl. XLIX., Vol. IV., J. A. S. B.] are of a different type, though nearly allied to the former [the Suráshtrans]: they are found not only in Gajerat, but at Kanouj, Ujjain, and generally in Upper India.” Prinsep.
page 71 note 1 Prinsep's translation of this inscription runs—“On Thursday, the 13th lunar day of the month of A'shadha of the year 165, when the King, Budha Gupta * * governed the beautiful country situated between the Kálindî (Jumna) and the Narmada * * in the aforesaid year of his dynasty.” J. A. S. B., vii. 634.Google Scholar
The word transcribed as 
when tested by tne facsimile of the inscription itself (Pl. XXXI., Vol. VII.), is by no means a satisfactory rendering, each letter of the entire word—with the single exception of the 
—being open to objection, besides which the very legible 
over the concluding compound letter in the original remains altogether unaccounted for in the modern transcript.
page 72 note 1 “When the great rája Tárapáni, the very famous and beautiful, the King of Kings, governed the earth; in the first year of his reign,” &c., &c., J. A. S. B., vii. 633.Google Scholar
page 75 note 1 British Museum