Page images
PDF
EPUB

III.—On the connection of various ancient Hindu coins with the Grecian

or Indo-Scythic series. By JAMES PRINSEP, Sec. &c.

In my last notice on the subject of coins, I promised to bring forward demonstrations in kind, of the direct descent of the Hindu coins of Kanouj, from what have been denominated the Indo-Scythic series. In attempting to redeem my pledge, I am aware that I run counter to the opinions of those who maintain that the Hindus practised the art of coinage, and had a distinct currency of their own before the Greeks entered India; especially my friend Colonel STACY. To him my opposition might appear the more ungracious, since the weapons I am about to use are chiefly those he has himself so generously placed in my hands; but that I well know he is himself only anxious to develope the truth, and will support a cherished theory no longer than it can be maintained with plausibility at least, if not with proof.

I am not, however, about to contend that the Hindus had no indigenous currency of the precious metals. On the contrary, I think evidence will be found in the collection about to be described, that they circulated small pieces of a given weight; that stamps were given to these, varying under different circumstances; and that many of these earliest tokens exhibit several stamps consecutively impressed on the same piece, until at last the superposed impressions (not those of a die but rather of a punch) came to resemble the devices seen on the IndoScythic coins, in company with which they have been found buried in various places, particularly in Captain CAUTLEY'S Herculaneum at Behat near Saharanpur.

That from this period, in round terms, may be assumed the adoption of a die-device, or of coined money properly so called, by the Hindus, is all I would venture at present to uphold; and in doing so, I will not again appeal to the assertions of PAUSANIAS*, quoted in ROBERTSON'S disquisition, that the Hindus had no coined money of their own; nor to the silence of the Mahábhárat and other ancient works on the subject; but solely to the close family resemblance of four distinct classes of Hindu coins to what may be called their Bactrian prototypes; namely, those of Kanouj; the later class of the Behat, or the Buddhist, group; the coins of Saurashtra, found at Ujjain, in Guzerát and Cachha; and those which Colonel STACY has denominated Rajput coins, having the device of a horseman on one side, and a bull on the other.

Before proceeding to comment upon the first of these classes, my tribute of obligation and praise is due to Colonel STACY, for the See J. A. S. vol. i. page 394.

persevering labour and true antiquarian zeal, which have alone enabled him to gather together such a rich collection of this peculiar and rare type, and for the disinterested readiness with which he has placed them at my disposal, to select from and publish at once, thus depriving him as it were of the first fruits of his enterprize and toil. It is true that so far at least as regards the merit of discovery, his title will rather be confirmed than injured by early publicity; but the employment of another hand to illustrate his materials may do injustice to his own careful classification; and modify the opinions and deductions regarding the origin, connection, and antiquity of various groups, which he may have derived from a larger and more intimate study of the subject, and from the actual inspection and handling of thousands of coins, that have been withheld from insertion in his select cabinet.

The home collector, who like myself, but receives contributions from others, may learn, from the superior fulness and novelty of many of the following plates, to appreciate the advantage of personal exertion over second-hand acquirement. In further proof of this, I could produce some of the letters now lying before me, received from Colonel STACY on his several coin excursions. Here he would be seen putting up with every inconvenience, enduring the burning heats of May, or the cold of December, under trees or in common serais in Central India; digging in deserted ruins, or poring over the old stores of village money-changers, after having (the principal difficulty and art), won their confidence, sometimes their interest, in the object of his pursuit: sparing neither money nor time to gain his end, and after a hard search and fatigue, sitting down, while his impressions were still warm and vivid, to communicate the results of his day's campaign.

Col. STACY felt himself for a moment disheartened on beholding the treasures of Gen. VENTURA and his followers: but although the character of the Bactrian relics necessarily eclipses all that can be expected from a Hindu source, while their prolific abundance astonishes the gleaner of Hindu relics, a moment's reflection should restore a full or even increased degree of satisfaction. Hindu history is even more in need of elucidation from coins than Bactrian. The two countries are in fact found to be interwoven in their history in a most curious manner, and must be studied together. The alphabetic characters, the symbols, and most especially the link-coins, (emphatically named so by Colonel STACY,) are fraught with information on this head, which can only be extracted by multiplying the specimens, and thus completing the chain of evidence. It will be seen shortly, that

several of the dynasties to which the coins belong have been identified through the names and legends they bear, and many new princes, hitherto unheard of, have been brought to light. Let not therefore Colonel STACY desert his line for one more engaging, but persevere in it as long as anything remains to be explored.

[ocr errors]

I cannot resist in this place pointing out the line of search recommended by Colonel ToD, (to whom is justly ascribed the paternity of this branch of numismatic study,) in a note on the late Panjab discoveries published by him in the Asiatic Journal of London for May: "Let not the antiquary," he writes, forget the old cities on the east and west of the Jamna, in the desert, and in the Panjab, of which I have given lists, where his toil will be richly rewarded. I possess bags full of these Indogetic gentry; and I melted down into several sets of basons and ewers, the rust of ages from which the tooth of time had eradicated whatever had once been legible.... I would suggest the establishment of branch-committees of the Asiatic Society at several of the large stations, which would have a happy moral result in calling forth the latent talent of many a young officer in every branch of knowledge within the scope of the Society. Agra, Mathura, Delhi, Ajmír, Jaipur, Némuch, Mhow, Ságar, &c. are amongst the most eligible positions for this object A topographical map, with explanations of ancient Delhí, is yet a desideratum, and of the first interest: this I had nearly accomplished during the four months I resided amidst the tombs of that city."

....

In thanking Colonel Top for his encouragement and advice, I must be allowed to differ altogether as to the means to be employed. Committees are cumbrous, spiritless, and inactive engines, for such an end; when anything does appear to be effected by them, it is generally the work of one member, whose energy is only diluted and enfeebled by the association. Give me rather the unity of design, and quickness of execution of (I will not say agent, as Colonel TOD suggests, but of) an independent pursuer of the object for its own sake*, or for his own amusement and instruction. It is by such as

*These I may say are already provided at more places than Colonel TOD points out: Colonel STACY at Chitor, Udayapur, and now at Delhi: Lieutenant A. CONOLLY at Jaipur; Captain WADE at Ludiána; Capt. CAUTLEY at Seháranpur; Lieut. CUNNINGHAM at Benares; Colonel SMITH at Patna; Mr. TREGEAR at Jaunpur; and Dr. SWINEY (now in Calcutta), for many years a collector in Upper India. And for the exterior line, Lieut. BURNES at the mouth of the Indus; Messrs. VENTURA, COURT, MASSON, KERA'MAT ALí and MOHAN LA'L in the Panjab; besides whom I must not omit Messrs. H. C. HAMILTON, SPIERS, EDGEWORTH, GUBBINS, Capt. JENKINS, and other friends who have occasionally sent me coins dug up in their districts.

these that all the good has hitherto been done; the extension of patronage followed rather than preceded or prompted the great discoveries of last year in Kábul*.

The plates I have prepared to illustrate my subject have not been numbered in the most convenient order for the purpose; but as it is a matter of indifference which line we commence upon, it will be fair to give our first attention to Plate XXXIV. containing the so long postponed continuation of the coins and relics dug up by Capt. CAUTLEY at Behat, and noticed in the Proceedings of the Asiatic Society on the 14th January last.

The exhumation of this subterranean town has not perhaps been followed up with so much vigour as it would have been, had not its discoverer's attention been diverted to other antiquities of more overwhelming interest-the fossil inhabitants of a former world-before which the modern reliques of a couple of thousand years shrink into comparative insignificance. Perhaps indeed the notion of a city at the spot indicated by these remains should be modified. Professor WILSON writes me, that he cannot suggest any ancient city of note so situated; yet if it existed so late as the 3rd or 4th century of our era, it ought surely to be known. It may probably have been the site of a Buddhist monastery, which became deserted during the persecutions of this sect, and was then gradually destroyed and buried by the shifting sands of the hill torrents. Some of the relics now. to be noticed forcibly bear out this supposition.

Plate XXXIV. Behat Group.

The upper half of this plate contains a continuation of the relics dug up at Behat by Captain CAUTLEY.

Fig. 1 is the object of principal interest, because it stamps the locality as decidedly Buddhist, and leaves us to infer, that the coins are the same, although their devices have nothing that can be positively asserted to be discriminative of this sect. The figure represents two fragments of a circular ring of baked clay. In the inner circumference are carved or stamped, a succession of small figures of BUDDHA ‹ seated, apparently 12 in number; and on the upper surface, a circular train of lizards. It is difficult to imagine the purpose to which it could have been applied. In some respects it may be compared

*We have arrested the press of this sheet to announce the arrival of the second memoir by Mr. MASSON, on the produce of his labours at Beghramthe same announced some time since by Captain WADE. We shall hasten to prepare lithographs of the numerous figures with which it is illustrated, although comparatively few (not more than 5 or 6) of them are altogether new after Gen. VENTURA'S collection.-ED.

[merged small][graphic][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][ocr errors][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed]
« PreviousContinue »