of the Hindu faith, whereas the emblem and inscription could have proceeded only from an authority strictly Vaishnaví.

Fig. 22, from the STACY collection, would appear to be an interlo. per in the Upper Provinces; since the majority of this type have hitherto been found in Ceylon, some in the palace at Candy, others by Colonel MCKENZIE at Dipaldinna. They all however belong to the genuine Hindu rájas of that island, judging from the alphabet and the name.

The rude outline on the obverse, is intended, probably, for a rája holding some mace or warlike weapon in his right hand. On the reverse he is seated in a lounging position, with a view to make room for the inscription on the side. This in the specimen before us is

ara a Srí mayá traya malla. The second word is read by MARSDEN, in a specimen very like it, a daya. And on another coin he finds the name of VIJAYA विजय (मझ ?) well known in the history of Ceylon. Mr. WILSON does not attempt to read the names on his coins, which are badly drawn; but on comparing them, they appear not essentially to differ from Colonel STACY'S. No family of the name of Malla occurs in the Indian genealogies except in Nípál, where, from the 13th century to the Gorkhá conquest, the reigning prince almost always bore the affix of Malla. In the honorable Mr. TURNOUR'S catalogue of the Ceylon monarchs, I do not find any such name.

Figs. 24 and 25, are two more modern copper pieces, selected from many of a similar nature in Colonel STACY's cabinet, as forming a good land-mark in judging of the antiquity of other Hindu coins. The rude attempts at a human figure in 24, are far inferior to any thing we have yet seen, unless in its companion 25, where we can hardly pronounce them to be other than signs and symbols. The name and date on most of these coins are distinct enough, and in the present type of Nagari, a, Sri Sangrama Sinha, 1580 (samvat). Sometimes the name is written, and at others я, Sangrama and Sangama, variations to be expected in such imperfect samples of the engraver's art.

Fig. 27, is of the latter description, having the name Sangama preceded by the letters भकग. The reverse of this coin has the figure of a heart, which is very common on copper money dug up in the Ságur district, of the Muhammedan princes of the Berar provinces. Arabic letters are clearly distinguishable above the heart.

From the date of these coins, we recognize them as belonging to the celebrated SANGRáma SINH, or SINKA of the Moghul historians, who for a short period successfully resisted the victorious BABER at Biána.

A romantic account of the chivalrous adventures of his youth is given by Colonel ToD*. He succeeded to the throne of Mewár, in S. 1565, (A. D. 1508,) and is accounted by the Rájpút bards the "kalsa," or pinnacle of its glory. His encounter with BABER at Kanúa occurred on the 5th Kartik, S. 1584, (=15th October, 1527,) four years subsequent to the striking of these coins, which, by the way, are no very convincing evidence of the flourishing state of the arts in Chitór at the summit of its splendour and glory.

Fig. 26, is a small square copper coin in Colonel STACY's cabinet, also of modern fabrication; on one side inclosed in a marginal frame, which proves that the whole inscription is before us, are the Nágarí letters a fa èk lis. It may be that lis is the name of a coin of which the specimen represents the unit; or possibly it should be read Taifa ekális, the fortieth or rather forty-first of the current silver coin of the place? The division of the field on the reverse into upper and lower compartments, so far resembles a gold coin from Canouj, described by Mr. WILSON, as fig. 52, Plate III. The letters are कभ कंस्मी an unintelligible compound.

Fig. 28, is another rude Hindu paisa of a late period. A human figure on the obverse, holds a staff in his right hand; on the reverse are the letters 7 € "= 7 ♬ basan sar ji, an unknown and doubtful

name.

Plates XXXVI., XXXVII. Rájput Coins.

In the two following plates, I am again indebted to Colonel STACY'S numismatic zeal for the greater part of a very curious series of Hindu coins, on the one hand linked by the subject of their impression with the Indo-Scythic series, and on the other gradually mixed with and transfused into the Arabic currency of the first Mohammedan conquerors of Central India.

Now that I am myself in possession of nearly 100 of these coins in silver, it appears strange that they should hitherto have escaped so completely the notice of our Indian numismatalogists; neither MARSDEN, WILSON, nor ToD, having published a single engraving of them. When therefore I first received a sealing-wax impression of one from Dr. SWINEY, in August, 1833+, it is not surprising that I should have announced it as an unique. Colonel STACY's letters soon taught me to consider it in a very contrary light, and now on reference to Colonel ToD's personal narrative, I find that they had

* Rájasthan, i. 295.

† See Journal, Vol. II. page 416, and fig. 11, Plate XIV. of the same volume: I then supposed the coin to be of gold; it was of silver.

not escaped him in his travels, although he has not favored the public with any drawings of them, or any comments on their age and locality.

Munshí MOHAN LAL's collection of coins made at Cábul, afforded me a favorable opportunity of ascertaining the accurate names and readings of the silver group, but unfortunately these do not embrace so much variety as the copper coins. The reason for this may be, that the munshi's collection was discovered in a foreign country. A treasure accidentally dug up, however numerous, would naturally consist of the money then current, with a small admixture of that of preceding reigns in fact, out of 100 coins, 65 belong to one type (figs, 3, 4, 5,), 25 to another (figs. 1, 2,), and only three or four to a third (figs. 6,7,). Colonel STACY on the other hand had the advantage of exploring the very field in which they must have been at one period current, and his series is, therefore, much more complete, though rarely so numerous in any particular species. A letter from this gentleman to my address, dated 2nd August, 1834, suggests, that "as the figures both on the obverse and reverse of these coins are evidently made up of letters, either of Sanscrit or some other Hindu characters, they should be submitted to the kind attention of the professors of the Hindu college. The great variety, and the general distinctness of the characters on them, holds out fair hopes of our becoming acquainted with the dynasty they belong to, as well as with many of the individuals of that dynasty. The names placed against each by pandits, to whom they have been shewn, are worthy of no reliance. The natives possess neither enterprize nor invention; when they find a letter or letters wanting, they will not attempt to fill up the blank."

The opinion here broached, that the outline figures were made up of letters, is supported by the authority of Colonel Top, who remarks in the only passage I can find on the subject, (vol. i. p. 698.) My envoys brought, from Nadolaye, a small bag full of curious hieroglyphical (if I may so use the term) medals of the Chohan princes. One side represents a warrior on horseback, compounded out of a character to which I have given the above term; on some there was a bull; while others, retaining the original reverse, have on the obverse the titles of the first Islamite conquerors, in the same manner as the currency of France bears the effigies of Louis XVI. and the emblems of the republic. Whoever will pay a visit to Nadolaye, will find his labour amply rewarded; I had only leisure to glean a few of these relics, which yet formed a rich harvest.”

When the singular contour of the horseman and bull is traced back to its original type in figures 1, 2, where the whole substance of the

figure is filled up, there does not seem to be much reason for imagining any intention of mystifying the device, otherwise than by the clouds of ignorance; when the engraver retained only sufficient knowledge of his craft to cut the outline of his device in relief, and latterly even seems himself to have lost sight of its meaning altogether, as in figs. 48, cum multis aliis ;-certain it is, that the title of hieroglyphic has been earned and won for this coin even from the antiquarians of the west; witness the following highly curious passage, brought to my notice by Dr. SWINEY, in an American work on scripture geography*, applied to a wood cut of a coin in all respects the counterpart of our figure 3, which may have found its way to Egypt, in the course of commercial dealings, eight or ten centuries ago :

"This is an extremely curious medal, of silver, struck in Egypt before the reigns of the PTOLEMIES. It represents on one side, a man on horse-back, and on the other, an ox of the humped kind lying down: between his horns is the lunar crescent, and within that is a globe. These symbols clearly refer this ox to Egypt. The man on horse-back is the most singular part of this medal ; none of the countries adjacent having adopted the type of a horseman. There is every reason to believe that the letters on this medal are Persian, and that the person represented is ARYANDES, governor of Egypt under DARIUS, the last king of Persia, who then possessed this country, and who caused the governor to be put to death for coining money in his own name" !!

It can hardly be believed, that the nature of the characters should have been unknown to any but Transatlantic antiquaries, for they are in a very obvious form of Deva nágarí, and may be easily read where the letters are not cut off or otherwise obliterated.

At the commencement of the foregoing essay, I alluded to this series as one of the four palpable imitations of a Grecian or Indo-Scythic model :—1 had in my eye the coins of Azos and AZILISOS in particulart, which have a horseman with spear for the obverse, and a humped bull for the reverse. On being Indianized, the bull has become the nandí of Hindu mythology, with its ornamental jhúl or saddle cloth, and the trident or tirsal of SIVA impressed on its haunch. The horse has in like manner, received the trappings peculiar to the country, the zerband and dúmchi. The rider has still some traces of a flowing fillet from his cap (see fig. 5,) but his dress is not otherwise open to criticism. I would not pretend to insist upon the direct filiation of the Hindu coin to what I have assumed as its prototype: but the adoption of the same elements for the device, it may be surely contended, argues some connection or descent :-it is like the preservation of armorial insignia in a family; and on these grounds, we have pre

SMILEY'S Scripture Geography, Philadelphia, 1835, page 151.

+ See Plates XXII. XXIII. of the June No., figs. 9, and 28.