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Reverse. The opposite side of this curious coin presents an assem, blage of symbols, the purport of which it is difficult to divine. The principal figure in the centre seems to represent a temple, a pyramidal building, with three tiers of rounded súras, spires or domes, surmounted by a kulsa or pinnacle in the form of the letter T: the contour of this device resembles also the Hindú drawings of rocks and mountains, and it may be intended to pourtray some holy hill, connected with the mythology or with the locality of its place of coinage; beneath the pyramid is a waved line, which may also possibly depict the sea, and point to some fabulous mountain in the ocean, as Lanka or Meru. To the right is another curious emblem, which for want of more correct information, we may call a tree of triple branch, standing in a frame or on a kind of chabútra. To the left is the swastika emblem, of four legs conjoined: and below it a figure very similar in form to or A or some other compounded Greek characters on the Bactrian coins. There is a legend around the margin consisting of the letters hitherto called Pehlevi, but which I think we shall soon find reason to denominate otherwise.

Fig. 2. A copper coin similar in every respect to fig. 1, but of inferior execution; in this the circles of the chaitya or temple are made square, and resemble common masonry.

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Figs. 3, 4, 5; are smaller copper (or rather white bronze) coins, stamped only on one side, except No. 5, which has a faint impress of a tirsul on the reverse. The form of the tree is altered, and the frame below has, in some specimens, four compartments instead of two: the swastika is also exchanged for four circular rings.

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Fig. 6. A copper coin weighing 1634 grains, in imperfect preservation. The only variation in this coin from the type-coin fig. 1, is that the pyramid contains two tiers instead of three. This circumstance, however, constitutes the link of connection with the other series of coins to which I have alluded.

All of them having the symbol & in common.

Fig. 7. Is a small square copper piece, with an elephant on one side, the other effaced.

Fig. 8. Is a small copper coin procured by Lieut. A. CONOLLY, at Kanouj, upon which this mark & forms the distinguishing emblem. A similar coin is in Major STACY's possession, obtained in Central India. I shall have to recur to the subject in describing figs. 19 and 22. Figs. 9 and 10. I have introduced these two coins to shew, that what has been called the Indo-Scythic series occurs plentifully among the exhumated relics of Behat.

The first of these, the raja and bull coin, must henceforward be

entitled the Kadphises series, in compliance with the successful researches of Mr. MASSON published in our last number; the Kanerkos series, also occurs as commonly among the coins transmitted by: Capt. CAUTLEY, and as we know that these two coins bear Greek inscriptions, and that their epoch cannot consequently be much posterior to the Bactrian dynasties, we may presume that all the descriptions of coins having the chaitya or & symbol, being proved to be contemporaneous with these, must belong to the first centuries of the Christian era, and consequently the destruction of the ancient city may be ascribed with tolerable certainty to the same early period. The circumstance of so much money being discovered in one place would seem to denote that the catastrophe which destroyed the place was sudden, but the destruction is as likely to have been effected by the ravages of war, as by any convulsion of nature; and, when once depopulated, the place might easily have been buried under the gradual deposit of silt washed down by the hill streams, as described by Capt. CAUTLEY.

Figs. 11 and 12. These coins are connected with the above by the

tree symbol, by their being stamped only on one side, and by their being of white bronze; but in them the animal is decidedly the brahmany bull, and the inscription is in a different character.

Figs. 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, and 18, are introduced to give an idea of the other curiosities from Behat.

The first is a black and white enameled bead; 14, an ornament of the headdress of some image; 15, a ring probably worn while performing certain religious ceremonies; 16, appears to be a weight moulded in the shape of a frog, as is the custom in Ava, and in many parts of India: it weighs 360 grains, (precisely two tolas,) or six Grecian drachmæ, and is not corroded. Fig. 17 is the metal handle of some vessel: it is broken in half. Fig. 18, are the selaís for applying surma to the eyes, spoken of by Capt. CAUTLEY, as so numerous: in the present day they are generally made of zinc. Besides these articles, our flourishing little museum contains plain rings, arrow-heads, hooks, and rolls of lead, converted into semi-crystalline hydrated oxide by exposure to the moisture under ground*. Most of the copper coins likewise are in a very imperfect state, the pure metal not resisting corrosion nearly so well as bronze. Hindu Coins from the ruins of Kanouj.

To confirm the assertion made above of the connection of several other series with the Behat coinage, I have introduced at the foot of the

* See note on a similar change produced in zinc plates, vol. ii. p. 437. The lead is partially converted into minium and partly into protoxide. In some rolls the interior is still metallic.

present plate, drawings of some most interesting coins, procured by Lieut. A. CONOLLY, of the 6th Light Cavalry, at Kanouj, and this moment received from that officer at Cawnpore.

Figs. 19 and 21. Silver coins, weighing 28 grains each (drachm), corresponding in every respect with Col. ToD's fifth series, in the head, on the obverse, and in the circular inscription on the reverse: in 19, also, we find the central symbol & with five dots on the side, as in his coin. Col. ToD's observations on these rare coins are as follows:

"The fifth series is entirely novel and unexplored. All I can say of them is that they belong to a dynasty which ruled from Avanti or Ujjayan to the Indus, for in that whole tract I have found them. The first I obtained was from the ruins of ancient Ujjayan, twelve years ago, presented to me by Mr. WILLIAMS, resident at the Gykwar court, who first awakened my attention to their importance. He found them in Cutch, and in his company, I discovered others among the ruins in the Gulph. The character of the epigraphe I have met with on rocks in Saurashtra, in the haunts of the Suroi, the bounds of the conquests of MENANDER and APOLLODOTUS. I have little hesitation in assigning them to the Balhara sovereigns of RENANDOT's Arabian travellers, the Bhalla Raes of Anhulwára Patan, who were supreme in those countries: "This Balhara is the most illustrious prince of the Indies, and all the other kings acknowledge his pre-eminence. He has, of these, pieces of silver called Tartarian drams. They are coined with the die of the prince, and have the year of his reign."-RENANDOT, page 15. "The Balhara dynasty had a distinct era, 375 years posterior to VICRAMADITYA.”

The character of the circular legend in all these coins strongly resembles Sanscrit :-if the place of their discovery be a test of the extent of empire in which they circulated, they will belong to a powerful monarch indeed, for Mr. MASSON has found twenty at Beghram, (of the same symbol at least,) while they extend to Kanouj, Behat, and Benares on the east. Fig. 20. A silver coin, weighing 34 grains; is evidently of the same series; but here the distinctive symbol is lost, and is replaced by a peacock with expanded tail: the letters are not decypherable. Fig. 22. A square copper coin, also from Kanouj, is already known as No. 68 of WILSON's plate, (see As Res. vol. xvii.) which was dug up by Capt. VETCH on the Allahabad road. It bears on the obverse an elephant and some other animal prostrate; on the reverse, the symbol, the tree, and a cross, all of which prove its close alliance with the Behat coins. More of the general history of the whole series may yet be developed by future discovery.

Fig. 23. A silver coin, weighing 7.7 grains, resembles a fanam of South India, but its type shews that it may be a genuine connection of the coins it accompanies.

Fig. 24. A gold medal weighing 123 grains. Obverse,-a figure clothed in the Hindú dhotí, with armlets, holding a bow, as having just discharged an arrow through the head of a lion, or other monster, on the right; in his left he holds another arrow prepared; his right foot

rests on the tail of the lion. Inscription in ancient Nagari ĦENA f Maharajadhiraja Sri. Reverse-either the same person or a female figure clad in similar costume, seated upon the vanquished lion, holding a large flower in the manner of a cornucopia in the left hand, (see also figs. 1, 4,) and in the right, a kind of noose; above which the lozenge symbol with four prongs (16 of plate xiv. vol. ii.) On the right in ancient Nagari, the words ¤¶¶ Sri madghavakacho. It will be at once seen that this beautiful medal has no connection with the subjects of the foregoing remarks. I have given it a place that it might be as early as possible brought to the knowledge of numismatologists, for it appears likely to prove the very key to our knowledge of the valuable series of Kanouj coins, forming the fourth of Col. TOD; and the second Plate of WILSON.

The former author says of these coins:

"They are Hindu, of a very remote period, and have the same character which I have found wherever the Pandu authority existed, in the caves, and on the rocks of Janagurr Girna, on the pillar of victory in Meywar, and on the columns of Indraprestha (Delhi) and Pray ág (Allahabad). Some of them are not unlike ancient Pehlevi. These coins are of gold, and in fine preservation. Like all my medals, they are either from Agra, Mathura, Ujjayan, or Ajmere. Dr. WILKINS possesses some found even in Bengal: he thinks he can make out the word Chandra upon them."

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It is well known, as Lieut. CONOLLY remarks, for the antique has induced certain cunning men of this famed city to set up a mint for the fabrication of moneys of the olden time,” and many that are brought thence bear all the marks of having been cast in the mould of some original, of which they bear so imperfect an impression that it has been hitherto impossible to assign the true nature of their inscriptions: Col. Tod, it is evident, supposed them to be in the Delhi character No. 1;-one was read as in the Mahabalipur alphabet (see vol. ii. page 412, 649) : and only now do we perceive for certain that the character is precisely that of No. 2, of the Allahabad column: of which the reader may convince himself by comparing the legend on the obverse with the titles of Chandragupta in Plate VI. of the present volume. Applying the same alphabet to the reverse, we find the name Sri mad-ghava kavo or kacho which the Rev. Dr. MILL remarks, by a slight alteration will become GHATAT-KACHO, the very name read by himself as the father of CHANDRAGUPTA in the Allahabad inscription*. I must here leave this important discovery to the elucidation of our learned VicePresident, having performed my own more humble duty of making known by the pencil the prize which has rewarded my friend Lieut. CONOLLY's researches.

* In a paper read before the Asiatic Society on the 28th instant.

VI.-A Brief Sketch of the Present State of Georgia, now a Russian Province. By Captain Robert Mignan, Bombay European Regiment, Fellow of the Linnean Society, and Member of the Royal Asiatic Society of Great Britain and Ireland.

The name of Georgia, which is applied by modern geographers to the country south of Mount Caucasus, lying between the Euxine and Caspian Seas, comprehends, according to the native historians, Kartueli, Imeritia, Mingrelia, and Guria, under the general name of Iberia. It is now exclusively applied to the four provinces, Kartalinia, Kakhetia, Kisik, and Georgian Armenia. According to several writers, the appellative Georgian is transmitted to us from the river Koor, Kooros, or Cyrus; and they add, that the inhabitants ought to be named Koorgians. By the Turks and Persians they have always been denominated "Goorjees," and their territory "Goorjistan."

This country must be considered as one of the most interesting on the face of the globe. It is at this moment a small canton of Russia. included within the limits of that huge empire, but happily, as yet, not governed in so despotic a manner. In the map, it is situated in the centre of the isthmus; though I shall describe it as comprising the territory between the great Caucasian ridge, and the river Arras, (the ancient Araxes) on the Caspian side; and the redoubt of St. Nicholas below the mouth on the Phasis on the side of the Euxine.

All was a blank, until the Russian CATHERINE, of notorious memory, sent GULDENSTAEDT to traverse these delightful regions, trace the rivers to their sources, make astronomical observations, examine the natural history of the country, and collect vocabularies of all the dialects he might meet with. He enumerates seven distinct nations, divided into numerous tribes, each speaking its own dialect. The Caucasian isthmus contains innumerable small nations. They are composed of indigenous and primitive tribes, although some are doubtless the remains of Asiatic hordes. Their physiognomy combines the characteristic features of the principal races of Europe, and of Western Asia. The writings of Moses, the allegory of Prometheus, the famous expedition of the Argonauts, and several traditions of the Scandinavians, all combine to satisfy us that this kingdom was one of the most ancient of the globe. We know for certain, however, that Georgia was conquered by the illustrious NoURCHIRVÁN, the contemporary and rival of JUSTINIAN ; became a portion of the empire of the celebrated SULTAN MAHMOUD of Ghiznee; was invaded by ALP ARSELAN (the conquering lion); overrun by TIMOUR; ravaged by ISMAIL; conquered by TAMASP, in the reign of our ELIZABETH; reconquered from the Turks by SHAH ABBAS: that,

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