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VOL. LVIII.
PART I. (History, ANTIQUITIES, &C.)
(Nos. I ro I1J.—1889 : with 10 plates ; also a Supplement with 2°plates.) ,
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CONTENTS
OF
JOURNAL, ASIATIC SOCIETY OF BENGAL, Vox. LVIII, Parv T,
FoR 1889,
Coins of the Muhammadan Kings of Gujardt.—By E. E. Ourver,
Esq. (With 3 plates) .
Ruins and Antiquities of Beanpas —By Esprese cts Esq, C. S.
(With an editorial note and a plate)
The Namuchi-myth ; or an attempt to explain the text of Taare
viii. 14, 18.—By Cuarues R. Lanman, Professor in Harvard
College, Cambridge, Mass., U. 8S. A. “tt
On some new or rare Haband and Hindi Coins —By De
A. F. Rupoir Horryiz. (With a plate)
No. II.
Life of Sum-pa Khan-po, also styled Yesos-Dpal-hbyor, the author
of the Rehuwmig (Chronological tar Oh Saat BAB Sarar-
CHANDRA DAs, C. I. E.
Inscribed Seal of Kumara ee —By Y. A. Sunre, Esq., C. 8.
(With a plate) =.
Remarks on the above. (With c a ieesee sable) BH Dr. A,
F. Rupotr Horrnur ee
No. III.
Greco-Roman Influence on the Cwwilization of India.—By V. A.
Smirn, Hsq., C. S. (With four plates)
SUPPLEMENT.
Catalogue of the Oentral Asiatic Coins, collected by Captain A. F.
De Leessoe, in the Indian Museum, Caleutta.—By Dr. A. F.
Rupouir Horrnur. (With two plates)
LIST OF PLALES
IN
JOURNAL, ASIATIC SOCIETY OF BENGAL, Vou. LVIII, Parr I,
For 1889.
+ Pls. I—IV (pp. 8—12). Coins of the Muhammadan Kings of Gujarat.
/ Pl. V (p. 23). Inseription ot Jalalu-d-din Fath Shah, dated 888 A. H.
4 Pl. VI (p. 85). Copper-silver seal of Kumara Gupta II.
Pl. VII (p. 121). Pallas Athéné, Lahore Museum.
’ Pl. VIII (p. 122). Throned King, Lahore Museum.
Pl. IX (pp. 123, 127, 129, 181). Gandhara Sculptures, Indian Museum.
‘ Pl. X (p. 144). Inscribed Pedestal, from Hashtnagar.
Synchronistic Table of the Reigns of the Early Gupta and their Contem-
poraries and Immediate Successors (p. 101).
I [NOV 27 tag
‘ STE ane ESET OSE
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JOURNAL
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> ASTATIC SOCIETY OF BENGAL,
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, Vol. LVIII, Part I, No. I.—1889.
f EDITED BY
JHE PHILOLOGICAL SECRETARY,
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“The bounds of its investigation will be the geographical limits of Asia : and
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CONTENTS.
kee Coins of the Muhammadan Kings of Gujarat.—By H, K, Oxtver,
Esq. (With 3 plates) . nes oe ce
Ruins and Antiquities of Bonnie —By Asurosu Gurra, Hsq., ©. S.
(With an editorial note and a plate) =
The Namuchi-myth; or an attempt to explain the aa of Pgs
vill. 14, 13.—By Cuaruus R. Lanman, Professor in Harvard
College, Cambridge, Mass., U. 8. A. on
On some new or rare Muhammadan and Hindi Ooins.—By Dr.
A. F. Rupotr Homrniz. (With a plate) sh te
Title-page, List of Plates, Index for 1888,
ee
Page
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30
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JOURNAL
OF THE
ASIATIC SOCIETY OF BENGAL.
—
oe
* Doubtful coins.
10 HE. E. Oliver—Ooins of the Muhammadan Kings of Gujarat. [No. 1,
*XVIT. 4l‘65 148 grains, (?) Ahmadnagar (9)17 H.
[9] 1 |] abe | seas [bout || othe.
Bahadur Shah.
XVIII. 4:75 175 grains. 939 H.
9 lo. Fy, Wid |e ., 334! I wy? |] 818,820 |] wlohe
| ss
Compare No. 427, British Museum Catalogue.
Mahmiid Shah III,
XIX. Al :80 180 grains. Mr. Furdoonjee.
we A LM] & Sotyt [ os? J]. Ba [ ylbld} |]
tee wet Hl atest || hab
XX. 1°70 142 erains. Ditto.
vveree Lat ly | Lye... colebet || ald abd || oy ager”
XXI. Al ‘80 159 grains. 945 H. Ditto.
KEM 1 | dt, biotobs ..., [3b] ope? |] glo gly lead}
aire dab] oy
XXII. '70 1387 grains. 960 H. Ditto.
oie Oe Ey eta) ae oe dyes? |] gl gl 1] VIbLdS ,,
ot cot 5 ied || g18 ib) L
XXII. “°55 69 grains.
eee ce | hell Mil Girt wt apes? |] alsld |] olbLJSt
Aree ey, habs
XXIV. AH'55 71 grains. 957 H.
wo ol] qav | luo , 0” oro dps” || gl
Ahmad Shah II.
XXV. AM ‘85 164 grains. 961 H.
porcinedl ovolst yt 1] AU Cymer yt In double dge |] sl ald qT wlalendt
Glas |] Exot» bio} 1] lozenge dee” Cyd Oo! 1] 944
* Doubtful coins,
1889.] HE. E. Oliver—Coins of the Muhammadan Kings of Gujarat. 11
968 H. Mr. Furdoonjee.
XXVI. Al‘55 73 grains.
bs oo Il eee WOR vices @* oe BI Coe a3 ewe =” 3s I wlale,,,
eeeel wits eee “on” (Oy
XXVII. A:70 140 grains. E27, *63. Ditto.
coe ll ethogell ret |) aisle @ sees Ot CO» I] 6 OU bs
r., GUS wlbbe ,, ||
Muhammad Shah (?) Pretender.
XXVIII. A°‘70 144 grains. *63. Ditto.
et ot err 7 I 2 Lol pels {| sls Or ll eee abs ( wt Are
al... ds ie ll “ wilblJ}
Compare copper coins 437—9 in B. M. Catalogue.
Muzaffar Shah III.
XXIX. M60 73. grains. 978
I] bo sl | ald qva |] gl Jt
ante
XXX. M70 73 grains. ; 97*.
Oby. Inscription as No. XXIX. I] 31% be |] lbw,
ARIUS
tee Me ll oon weal, duet
‘50 36 grains. Ditto.
XXXI. A-85 175 grains.
In square d#=*|| SUN} ay
al a ||
MATPIN segves lover! oe Kee-
sl vee HH ove hE oe Il
XXXIL Ai *75 179 grains.
CH 5 |] Bost prot
Mr. Furdoonjee.
SEE. Ditto.
In square 240 |] xl dye” .,3f
wlblee 444 |] ss
margin yt ll se... lessee
eee BO
Of (able
xls abo || ayy
Muhammad Shah II., Bahmani, [doonjee.
XXXIII. A :95 166 grains. (?)Ahsanabad. x77. Mr. Fur-
woe ll [AUG] ,,, abel In square -Aigglem || ,,,-8 dos, ,
CPM Ih soa ceed halts MR 1S lela 0,
MATZID 944 VV ov oyy I [t Lov]
Asutosh Gupta—Ruins and Antiquities of Rampal. [No.
Mahmitd Shéh II., Bahmani.
XXXIV. A) ‘70 146 erains. :
wry || Syyelt rd! Il one rt" Il ones
eae sss.
| Ruins and Antiquities of Rémpai.*—By Asurosn Gupra, Esq., C. S.
| Unlike Upper India, studded with monuments of ancient history,
1 the Delta of the Ganges presents few places of interest to the antiquarian. i
| Lower Bengal is generally as devoid of picturesque scenery as of objects :
| of antiquarian interest. We have all heard of Saptagrima and Suvarna-
| karagrama and their once flourishing commerce with the West, but what
remains to show their ancient greatness P No Colossus, no Forum, not ,
even a Hindi temple. Still there are a few places here and there, such \
as Gaur and Nadiya, which cannot fail to be of interest to the diligent
antiquarian or the student of history, and Rampal is one of them. It ;
| is not so widely known as it deserves to be. It is now a straggling
hamlet, situated approximately in Lat. 23° 88’ and Long. 90° 32’ 10",
being about four miles to the west of Munshiganj, the head-quarters
of the subdivision of that name in the district of Dacca (Dhaka), corres- .
ponding with the old fiscal division of Vikrampur. It was the seat of the j
old Sen kings of Bengal, and notably of Ballél Sen, whose name has
been handed down to posterity as the founder of Kulinism in Bengal.
Such is the case with Rampal and the dynasty that reigned
here. The ruins, as the sequel will show, are not so important and
interesting as in Gaur and a few other places in Bengal. But there
is abundant evidence to show that Rampal was once a royal city. The
large Rampal Dighi or the artificial lake of Rampal, the huge mound,
to which tradition points as the Bari or the palace of Ball4l Sen, the
very broad roads and the existence of innumerable bricks which can {
be found buried under the earth wherever you dig in Rampal and
its environs, are unmistakeable indications of a ruined city of palaces.
Old bricks of small size were found in such abundance in and around
Rampal, that they were carried in vast quantities to Dacca for build-
* [Compare with this paper General Sir A. Cunningham’s account of the same
sites and legends, in his Archwological Survey Reports, vol. XV, pp. 1382—135, The
two accounts differ in some minor details, Ep. |
1889.] Asutosh Gupta—Ruins and Antiquities of Rémpdl. 13
ing purposes. Such is still the case with Gaur, Many stone idols
of Hindi gods and goddesses have been found buried under the earth,
There is a huge stone idol of Vishnu near the temple of Siva in Atpard,
about a mile west of Rampal, and I have seen many smaller idols col-
lected by a Vaishnava in ’Abdulléhpur.
Rampal appears to have been the only seat of the Sen kings up
to the death of Ballél Sen, but the later kings of the dynasty lived
at Suvarnakdéragrdma, Gaur and Nadiyd. Suvarnakdragrdéma, locally
called Shondrgdon, is also in the district of Dacca, being about four
miles from the existing Bandar of Baidya Bazar on the river Meghna,
Lachhinan Sen, son of Ballal Sen, generally lived at Gaur, which,
according to the Muhammadan historians, he greatly embellished, and
called after his name Lakhnanti or Lakshmanavati. Nadiyd4 was the
seat of the last Sen king of Bengal, when the Muhammadans conquered
the country. It was in his time that Rampal attained the highest
pinnacle of its glory. The principal works, the ruins of which still exist
in some form or other, are attributed to him. Rampal seems to have
been neglected, if not altogetber abandoned, after the death of Balldl
Sen. Lachhman Sen, his son and heir, lived principally at Gaur.
I now approach the solution of a problem which hag already
evoked much animated discussion. I mean the question of the caste of
the Sen Rajés of Bengal. Before submitting my own opinion on the
subject, I will briefly examine the different theories that have been
advanced, and the evidence on which they are based. I have obtained
much assistance from the two articles of Raja Rajendraldla Mitra on the
Sen Rajds of Bengal, and the Bengali work on the same subject by
Kailish Chandra Sinha, to which Mr. Beveridge, one of the honoured
members of the Asiatic Society, very kindly referred me, and also from
the Bengali book by Mahimd Chandra Majumdar called ‘Gaude Brih-
man’, Three theories have been advanced about the caste of the Sen
Rajis:—(1) that they were Kayasthas, (2) that they were Vaidyas
or of the medical caste and (3) that they were Kshatriyas. The first
theory is that of Abu-l-Fazl and the Muhammadan historians, It is
not supported by any evidence other than the statement of the Muham-
madans, who are likely to hold erroneous views on the subject of Hindi
castes. It was never seriously entertained by the Hindis and may be
summarily rejected. The second theory is supported by tradition handed
down from generation to generation not only in Vikrampur, the old
seat of the Sen Rajis, but throughout Bengal, and was universally
believed, till Raja Rajendraldla Mitra in 1865 tried to establish that the
Senas were Kshatriyas. This third theory is the most recent one.
Tt was first propounded by Rajé Rajendralila Mitra, a very high
14 Asutosh Gupta—Rwins and Antiquities of Rampdl. [No. 1,
authority in matters antiquarian and supported by others. It is based
on some epithets of the Sen kings found in the inscriptions discovered
in Rajshahi, Dindjpur and Baqarganj, and also in the Sanskrit work
Danasdgara of which Ball&l Sen himself is the reputed author. These
I will consider in the two following paragraphs.
Tradition must give place to reliable material evidence if the
one is really inconsistent with the other ; but before discarding a uni-
versal belief, the evidence should be most carefully interpreted. The
evidence on which the theory of the Sen Rajis being Kshatriyas is
based is the following. In the inscriptions, found in the districts of
Dindjpur, Rajshahi and Baqarganj, the Sen Rajds are described as
descendants of the lunar race, and as only the Kshatriyas have a
right to trace their descent from that race, it is held that the Senas
must be Kshatriyas. In the inscription discovered by Mr. Metcalfe in
Rajshahi, Sdmanta Sen is described as a Brahma-Kshatriya. The
original Sanskrit is # agufamumsata gefaciem waatay | Dr.
Mitra’s rendering of s@afaatat gwiwtiera is ‘a garland for the
head of the noblest Kshatriyas.’ According to him, the word 7@
therefore here means ‘noble’ or ‘exalted.’ With due deference to
so great an authority, I am of opinion that this meaning is not the cor-
rect one here. We have various Sanskrit words compounded with
wa such as AMI, TAIT, TWAM, AWTS, AWE, and so forth,
and in in all of these the word #@ retains its original radical meaning
of Brahmad or Brahmana, I therefore see no reason why it should
not haye the same or a similar meaning in the present instance. Dr.
Mitra has not assigned any reason why he takes 3q@ to mean ‘noble,’
which is certainly not the commonly accepted meaning of the term, and
cannot be found in the ordinary Sankrit dictionaries. Atany rate this
meaning would be a far-fetched one. The word H@aa occurs in the
Yajur Veda, and is explained by the annotator as meaning agHIa-
aang or ‘knowledge of the Brahmanas or the Vedas and heroism
of the Kshatriyas.’ Itis therefore not a caste epithet, and following
the analogy, we can take sqafaaq to mean ‘a person who has the
knowledge of the Bréhmanas or the Vedas and the heroism of the
Kshatriyas,’ that is, one who combines both these qualifications ; and
the clause in question may mean ‘a garland for the head of those who
have the wisdom of the Brahmanas and the heroism of the Kshatriyas,’
without any reference to race or caste. The word saa also occurs
in Adhyaya 21, part IV, of the Vishnu Purana, and is explained by the
annotator Sridhara Swamin to mean ‘ that race from which Brahmanas
and Kshatriyas sprung’. The meaning seems to be obscure. The word
probably means a mixed race of Brahmanas and Kshatriyas—a race
1889.] Asutosh Gupta—Ruins and Antignities of Rampal. 15
sprung from Brdhmanas on the father’s side and Kshatriyas on the
mother’s. We have it from the Mahabharata that when the Kshatriya
race was being exterminated by Paragurima, the women of that caste
began to marry Brahmanas, and Vasishtha himself is credited with
having married Kshatriya women, From that time the race of pure
Kshatriyas is said to have become extinct. In Adhyaya 24, part IV,
of the Vishnu Purana, Mahainandi is said to be the last king of the
Kshatriya race. His son Mahipadménanda was born of a Sidra mother,
and from him began the reign of Varnasankara kings or ‘kings of
mixed castes.’
The above will I think be sufficient to show that Dr. Mitra’s
interpretation of the word Brahma-kshatriya is most probably not the
correct one. I have now to consider the description of the Sen Rajis
as descendants of the lunar race. It is a well-known fact that all the
princes of India, whether real Kshatriyas or not, have tried to trace
their descent from the solar or lunar race of that caste. Even the
Rajas of Chutiyé Nagpur, whom Colonel Dalton very rightly thinks to be
of the aboriginal Cole or Munda origin, claim to be real Rajptits, and
following their lead, the inferior landholders, who are undoubtedly
aboriginal Mundas, are gradually setting up claims to be Hindi Rajptits.
I found this process in full operation when I was in Chutiyé Nagpur
three years ago. If the Sen kings belonged to the Sankara race or
any of the mixed castes, is it not very likely that they would aspire to
be Kshatriyas and trace their descent from the lunar race, and their
panegyrist Umapati Dhar, a poet and a famous adept in the art of ex-
aggeration, would exalt them into members of the race of the moon ?
Hiven now the Stdras of Bengal are looking up. Some time ago there
‘was a movement among the Kayasthas for taking the yajnropavita or * the
sacred thread,’ on the assertion that they were originally Kshatriyas;
and at the present moment there is a similar movement among the
Suvarnavarnikas, who now claim to have been originally Vaigyas.
In the Bagarganj plate, found by Mr. Prinsep, the title of
Sankara GaudeSwara is repeatedly applied to the Sen Rajds. The
word Gaudegwara, no doubt, means the king of Gaur or Bengal, but it
is not easy to explain the real meaning of the word sankara here. It
is said to be written with palatal ¢ Dr. Mitra takes it to mean
‘excellent,’ but he has not shown any reason for assuming this
meaning, which cannot be found in the ordinary Sanskrit dictionaries
and is certainly not the commonly accepted import of the term, Ac-
cording to the dictionaries and the common usage of the word, it is,
when a substantive, a synonym for Siva or Mahddeva, and when an
adjective, it means ‘auspicious,’ I find Mr, Prinsep translating the
16 Asutosh Gupta—Ruins and Antiquities of Rémpal. —_[No. 1,
phrase as ‘ the auspicious lord of Gour.’ It is well known that the
Sen Rajis, at least some of them, were Swivas, or worshippers of Siva,
and the phrase may mean ‘the lord of Gaur, a worshipper of Siva
(Sankaia).’ Bnt none of these interpretations seem to me to be appro-
priate. Lam of opinion that the word Sankara here is an euphuism for
sankara, with a dental s, and then it must mean a mixed race, a sug-
gestion which has been noticed in Dr. Mitra’s paper This meaning
will be a very appropriate one. Mistakes of a palatal s for a dental one
and vice versd are not uncommon in the old inscriptions, and when we
remember that the inscription in question was written in the Tirhtit or
Gaur type, which represents an intermediate stage of orthography
between the Kutila and the modern Bengali character, the commission
of such an error is all the more likely. Sridhara Swamin, the annotator
of the Bhagayata, mentions the commencement of kings of the Varna-
sankara or the mixed castes in India in his time.
In his own work the Danasdgara,* Ballil Sen does not call the
Sen dynasty Kshatriya, but applies the epithet waaifcaqay, which
means ‘following the practices of Kshatriyas’. So in the 6th stanza of
the inser iption in the copper-plate found in the Sundarbans, the epithet
of TSN, which virtually means the same thing as wayiftaqay,
is applied to Lachhman Sen. It therefore appears that the Sen Rajas
are never distinctly described as Kshatriyas. Does not this show
that they were not pure Kshatriyas but belonged to a mixed caste ?
If they were Kshatriyas, why is it not so stated in unequivocal terms ?
There is a legend current in Vikrimpur that Ballil Sen was born of
a Brahmana father, the rivyer-god Brahmaputra, who visited his mother in
a dream in the form of a Brihmana. Does not this indicate the mixed
nature of the Sen race P
I will now briefly consider the evidence on which the theory
that the Sen Rajiés were Vaidyas is based. In the various Kulapanjikas
or genealogies of the Ghataks as well as in the Laghubharata, Adisir,
Ballal Sen, and other Rajas of the Sen family have been distinctly
described as members of the Vaidya caste. It is very likely that Devati-
vra Ghataka, Kavikanthahdra and other Ghatakas of the Varendra
Braéhmanas, who lived about four centuries ago and composed the
genealogies, knew the true caste of the Sen Rajis.
My contention is that the inscriptions of the Sen Rajdés are not
* [In his Book of Indian Eras, p.77, General Sir A. Cunningham ascribes this
work to ‘‘ Halayudha, the spiritual adviser of Lakshmana Sena,” referring as his
authority to Rajaé Rajendraldla Mitra, in his paper on the Sena king's, in the
Journal A. §, B., vol. XXXIV (1865), p.187. But this is an error, Dr, Mitra thore
quotes a Sanskrit verse, ascribing the work to Ballil Sen. Ep. ]
1889, ] Asutosh Gupta—Ruins and Antiquities of Rampal: 17
inconsistent with the genealogies of the Ghatakas and are therefore
not opposed to tradition. I think the inscriptions support the view that
the Senas were of the Varna Sankara or mixed caste. Manu recognises
three classes of mixed castes: (1) Mdérdhdvasikta, or those born of Brih-
mana fathers and Kshatriya mothers, (2) Ambashtha, those of Brahmana
fathers and Vaisya mothers, who are identical with the modern Vaidyas,
and (3) Méhishya, born of Kshatriya fathers and Vaisya mothers. There
was no practical difference between the Ambashthas and Mahishyas,
and Vidyabhiishana, the author of Laghubharata, called the Mahishyas
Vaidyas. He calls Vira Sen or Adistira, the founder of the Sen family,
a Mahishya. Remembering that they were Kshatriyas on the father’s
side, the Mahishya or Sen Rajds of Bengal naturally traced their descent
from the lunar race of Kshatriyas, and this explains the epithets in the
inscriptions recently discovered. Probably the Mahishyas and Vaidyas
became gradually amalgamated, and the Sen Rajas came to be regarded
as Vaidyas. I am finally of opinion that the Sen Rajas were never pure
Kshatriyas, nor originally Vaidyas, but were Murdhavasiktas or Ma-
hishyas, who were both allied to the Vaidyas. The distinction afterwards
wore away, and the Senas became gradually amalgamated with the
Vaidyas.
I will now proceed to describe briefly the principal ruins aud
objects of interest in Rampal. I have visited them several times during
my incumbency as subdivisional officer of Munshiganj, and carefully
collected all the traditions and legends by which they are enlivened.
First of all, I will take the Masjid of Ba-Adam* or the mosque conse-
crated to the Muhammadan fagir of that name. Itis a pretty large,
strong, brick-built mosque with a high arched dome. The bricks are
of the same small size which characterize old Muhammadan architecture,
The mosque has two massive stone pillars which are apparently snatched
from a Hindi temple, and which tradition identifies as the gadds or
clubs of Ball4l Sen. It is in a dilapidated state, but is worth pre-
serving. It has a stone tablet in front which bears an Arabic inserip-
tion, a reduced facsimile of which is herewith published (see Plate V).
Tt will be observed that it states that the mosque was built by Badshah
Fath Shah bin Sultén Mahmud in 880 Hijri or 1475 A. D, It is there-
fore 414 years old, The faqir to whose memory it is dedicated died,
however, in 1106 A. D., (supposing Balldl Sen to have died after a
reign of forty years) or 369 years before the mosque was erected.+
* [The real name of the faqir is Babi’ Adam, of which Ba-Adam is a mere
vulgar corruption; another corruption, Babardam, is mentioned in Arch. Survey
Rep., vol. XV, p. 134, Eo.]
* There is a similar mosque with a somewhat similar inseription in Qazi Qay-
0
18 Asutosh Gupta—Ruins and Antiquities of Rampal. [No. 1,
There is the following legend about the death of the faqir and the
fate of Ballél Sen, There lived a Muhammadan family in Kanai Chang,
a village south of ’Abdull4hpur and not far from Rampal. The master
of the house had no children. One day a faqir came and begged alms
of him, but he refused alms, saying, “ I will give no alms, when Allah
has not given me the boon (child) for which I am praying so long.” The
faqir predicted that he would beget a child and asked him to sacrifice a
bull to the altar of Allth when his desire was fulfilled. He then went
away without any alms. In course of time the man had a son born to
him, but the Hindts would not allow him to sacrifice a bull. He there-
fore repaired to the lonely jungle, south of Kanai Chang, and secretly
sacrificed a bull, Taking as much meat of the bull as he and the
members of his family would be able to consume, he buried the re-
mainder under the ground and returned home. A kite, however, snatch-
ed a morsel of the flesh from him, and another kite trying to snatch it
the morsel fell down in front of Raja Ballal Sen’s palace. On enquiry
the king learned the whole story and ordered the child, to comme-
morate whose birth the bull was sacrificed, to be brought before him
and killed the next day. The Muhammadan learned the king’s decree
and at night escaped with his wife and child and as much property
as he could carry. He fled to Arabia and, meeting Hazrat Adam, a
faqir, at Mecca, told him all that had happened. Learning that there was
a country in which there was no religious toleration, and people were
not at liberty to practise their own religious rites, Hazrat Adam came
to Rimpal with six or seven thousand followers, Ba-Adam is only
another name for Hazrat Adam. He began to sacrifice bulls and cows
on the spot where the mosque dedicated to him now stands. Raja
Ballél Sen sent his ultimatum, asking him either to leave the country
or fight with him. The faqir chose the latter alternative, and aprotracted
warfare took place between his followers and the king’s army. The
battles were indecisive for many days, and the loss of men on both sides
was heavy. At last the faqir’s followers were reduced to only one
hundred men. One day Raja Ballal Sen’s men, while going to the mar-
ket, saw the faqir alone reading Namaj (saying his prayers). The king
marched to kill the faqir at this juncture, but as he was diffident of
success, he constructed, before leaving his palace, a large agnikunda or
funeral pyre (literally ‘a pit of fire’), which still exists in the form of a
large pit,- and asked the women of his household to kill themselves by
throwing themselves into the fire, if he was vanquished and killed. He
bah, two miles from Rimpal. It isdescribedin page 76 of Blochmann’s Contributions
to the Geography and History of Bengal, (Jour. A, 8. B., vol. XLII, p. 284.)
[See the note at the end of this article, Hp.]
1889. ] Asutosh Gupta—Ruins and Antiquities of Rampal. 19
took a pigeon in his coat and proclaimed that the bird’s return to the palace
without him would mean his death and serve as a signal for the females of
the house to perish in the flames to save their caste and chastity. Ballal
Sen came to the faqir and struck him with the sword, but the faqir was
invulnerable and the sword would not cut his skin. After concluding
his prayers, the faqir asked Ballal what brought him there. ‘To kill
you,” replied the king. The faqir asked him whether he would embrace
the Muhammadan faith or not. The king of course answered in the ne-
gative. The fagir said: ‘It is so ordained that I shall die at your
hands. But no sword other than my own will cut me. So take this
sword and kill me.” Ballal took the sword thus offered and killed the
faqir at one stroke. His body was cut into two parts. His head flew
to Chittagong, where there is still a prayer-house consecrated to him.
His body was buried at Rampal, and the mosque was subsequently
erected over his remains by the Badshéh after the Muhammadan con-
quest of Bengal. After the death of the faqir, Ballél went to the tank
to bathe and purify himself. As he left, his gory clothes on the bank,
the pigeon, unobserved, flew to the palace, and at this signal the females
of the royal household threw themselves into the fire and perished. Soon
finding that the pigeon had flown away, Ballal rode to his palace, but
it was too late. Finding that all his family was killed and life was not
worth living, he threw himself into the fire and perished in the flames,
Such is the legendary account of the death of Ballil Sen and the
fall of Rampal. The city appears to have been abandoned after his
death, and I think there is a substratum of truth in the legend. It is
a. historical fact that the Arabs were the first race of Muhammadans
who invaded Hindtstan, and it is not unlikely that their missionary
expeditions penetrated as far as Bengal in the eleventh century and
fought the Sen kings who had no standing army. The Pal kings re-
gained their ascendancy in this part of Bengal after the death of Ballal,
It has been asserted, and not without some show of reason, that Laksh-
maniya, after his flight from Nadiyé, took refuge in old Vikr4ampur,
and he and some of his descendants lived in Rampal or Sundrgdon,
and maintained their sway in this part of Bengal during the early years
of Muhammadan rule. It is mentioned in the Bengali book on the Sen
Rajis of Bengal by Kailash Chandra Sinha, that probably there was a
second Ballal Sen who reigned after the Muhammadan conquest, It
first struck me that if there was a second Ballél Sen, he must be the
prince who reigned at Rampdl and killed the faqir Ba-Adam and atfter-
wards himself perished in the funeral pyre, thereby putting an end to
the Sen dynasty. But the theory is not based on any reliable evidence,
while tradition distinctly says that the Balldl Sen who killed the faqir
20 Asutosh Gupta—Ruins and Antiquities of Rampal. [No. 1,
was the founder of Kulinism and the most distinguished prince of the
Sen dynasty.
The next object of importance is the Rampal Dighi* or the artificial
lake of Rampal. Formerly it was about a mile long and about 500
yards broad. It is now fast silting up and remains dry for nearly half
the year. Cultivators have now broken up parts of the lake and
grow boro paddy init. The following is the traditional account of the
origin of the lake. Raja’ Ballal Sen once promised to excavate a lake,
as long as his mother would be able to walk in one direction without
stopping, and this he undertook to do in one night, namely, the night
immediately following the pedestrian performance of his mother. So
one afternoon the queen-mother walked out of the palace and proceeded
towardsthe south. After she had walked some distance, the idea suddenly
crossed the king’s mind, that if she walked much further, he would be
unable to cut such a large lake in one night and keep his word, and if
he once broke the promise he made to his mother, he would be doomed
to eternal hell. After a short reflection he hit upon a dexterous device.
He asked his servants to suddenly touch his mother’s feet and paint
them with red pigment (alaktuka), giving out that a leech bit her
and was sucking blood. The servants did so, and the stratagem had the
desired effect. The queen-mother stopped, and the point whence she re-
turned homewards became the southernmost boundary of the lake. On
that very night the king collected innumerable men and excavated the
whole lake. It was so large that one bank was not visible from the
other, But for a long time the lake remained dry. Guided by a dream,
Rampal, an intimate friend and, according to another account, maternal
uncle of Ballal Sen, one day rode into the lake, and assembling a large
number of men on its banks, asked them to call it after his name, when
it was filled with water. As soon as he entered into the lake, water
streamed up from beneath and filled it in a moment. But Rampal
vanished. Hverybody cried: ‘Rampal, Rampal,’ but he could no more
be seen. Since that time the lake is called Rampal Dighi.
This explanation of the genesis of the lake’s name never satisfied
me. Rampal is also the name of Balldl Sen’s city. Is it not very
strange that Ballal’s city and the largest lake he excavated should be
named after an obscure person unknown to history? Rampal is certain-
ly the name of a person and is analogous to the names of Bhim PAl
and other Pal kings of Bengal. I conjecture that he was a king of the
Pal dynasty which reigned at Rampal after the death of Ballal Sen,
and that it was he and not Ballal who excavated the lake, and the city
and the lake have been named after him. To the north of the Birhi-
* Rampal Dighi or the artificial lake of Rampal.
1889. ] Asutosh Gupta—Ruins and Antiquities of Rémpal. oT
Ganga there are still many ruins to show that the Pal kings reigned in
that part of Bengal, and it is a historical fact that they flourished both
before and after the Sen dynasty. But as they were Buddhists ruling
oyer a population, the mass of which were Hindus, their names have not
been handed down to posterity with that halo of glory which surrounds the
Sen kings, who were orthodox Hindiis and great patrons of Br4hmang
and Brahmanical learning. Again, it is a well known fact that one of
the characteristics of the Pal kings was to excavate large lakes and tanks
wherever they lived. The Mahipal Dighi, still existing in Dindjpnr,
is perhaps the largest lake they cut in Bengal. For all these reasons I
am of opinion that the prince who gave his name to the city and lake
of Rampal was a king of the Pal dynasty.
There is another but smaller lake in Rampal. It is called the
Kodal-dhoa (the spade-washing) Dighi. It is about 700 cubits by 500
cubits, and is still very deep. Tradition has it that when the excavation
of the Rimpdl Dighi was over, each digger scooped out a spadeful of
earth from a place close by, and thus the Kodal-dhoa Dighi was made.
The story of course is fiction pure and simple, invented to show that
myriads of men were engaged to excavate the Rampal Dighi.
The next object of interest is Bari Ballél Sen or Ballél Sen’s
palace. It isa very large and high mound of earth, surrounded by
a deep moat, about 400 yards by 400 yards. No architectural re-
mains are visible. The cicerones point to a large black pit inside
the ruins as the Agnikunda or funeral pyre in which perished Ballal
Sen and his family.
Another object of interest in Rampal is the everlasting Gajariya tree,
Tt is a large living tree standing on the north bank of Rémpél Dighi,
It is about 100 cubits high and has two large straight stems. Trees of
this species abound in this part of Bengal, and there is nothing’ peculiar
in its appearance: only it shows no signs of age or decay, though it ig
undoubtedly very old. It is said to be immortal and existing from the
time of Ballil Sen. Respectable men of seventy and eighty years of
age, whose testimony I am unable to disbelieve, have told me that they
saw the tree in its present state of growth from their very boyhood,
The tree is certainly a botanical curiosity. It is held in high veneration
by the Hindis, and various stories are current about its virtues and
sanctity. It is worshipped by the women, particularly by the barren
ones, who besmear it witlr oil and vermilion in hopes of being cured of
barrenness, A faqir is said to have violated its sanctity by cutting a
root, but he instantly vomited blood and died. No one would now ven-
ture to tear a leaf or lop off a branch. A. small fair is annually held
under the sacred tree on the eighth day of the moon in the month of
22 Asutosh Gupta—Ruins and Antiquities of Rdmpal. [No. 1,
Chaitra, when it is worshipped by pilgrims from various parts of the
subdivision.
The following legend explains the origin of the Gajariya tree’s im-
mortality, It was at first in a decayed state and was used for tying
Ballal Sen’s elephants. One morning some hermits (Rishis) presented
themselves before Ballal Sen’s gate to confer a boon on the king as a
reward for his piety. They sent their message to the king by his door-
keeper. The man went in and returning said that the king was smoking
and was unable to come out that instant. After awhile he was again
sent in. This time he returned with the news that the king was
besmearing his body with oil. The door-keeper was sent in again and
again, but he always returned with some excuse or other for the king’s
inability to come out and receive them. Once the man found the king
bathing, and again taking his noontide meal, and the third time taking
his siesta. He never communicated the message to the king, but only
went in to observe whether he had leisure to come out. Disgusted with
the king, the hermits left the palace, but at the time of departure they
blessed the Gajariya tree and conferred on it the boon of immortality
which was originally intended for the king. Instantly the tree showed
signs of vitality. Leaves and blossoms sprouted forth in every direction,
and the people were struck with awe. The king came out shortly
afterwards and, being apprised of the news, immediately sent for the
hermits. But it was too late. The hermits had vanished.
There is a comparatively small tank in the south-west part of
Rampal, which deserves a passing notice, It is called Raja Haris
Chandra’s Dighi, It is overgrown with trees and shrubs which are
flooded over with water for a week once a year at the time of the full
moon in the month of Magh, Before and after this period the tank is
dry. I have as yet received no. satisfactory explanation of the pheno-
menon. The tank is said to have been excavated by Raja Haris Chandra,
probably one of the kings of the Pal dynasty.
There is a mosque called Qazi’s Masjid not far from Ba-Adam’s,
Tt is an ordinary plain-looking prayer mosque, which was certainly
erected after that of Ba-Adam: It boasts of no inscription, but has
several stone idols of Hindi gods and goddesses in its verandah, which
the proprietors have evidently preserved as trophies of Islim. The
present Qazi of the mosque showed me a firman of the Kmperor ’Alameir,
granting lands for the benefit of the institution; but I cannot vouch for
its genuineness.
There are two roads the construction of which is attributed to
Ballal Sen. The one connects the river Dhaleswari on the north with
the Padma on the south, and the other goes in a different direction from
4
1889. | Editor—Luins and Antiquities of Rampal. 23
Rampél right up to the Padma. The latter is called Kachki Dwarja.
The roads are now overgrown with trees and shrubs, and have in many
places been broken up by the cultivators’ plough, but what still remains
clearly shows that they were once spacious roads as wide as thirty cubits.
I once proposed to utilize the first mentioned road in constructiug one
from Munshiganj to the Police outpost at Rajabari, a distance of about
twelve miles, but it was found impracticable. The Kachki Dwarja is
named after the fish of that name, The astrologers had predicted, so
the story runs, that Raja Ballal Sen would die of bones of fish sticking
in his throat. To avoid such an unnatural and painful death, the
king refrained from eating any fish, except the kachki which was devoid
of bones. He therefore constructed the road to the Padma, to enable
fishermen to supply his table daily with the boneless fish.
[Norn sy THE Eprror.—The inscription, of which a reduced facsi-
mile, based on three ink impressions, is published in Plate V, reads as
follows:
Line 1: Sancho eS) JG fos pe on Ms - ale “ry UL Jj a) Je
ne Ge Mail tS aaies ; 3
oss) jbo Gb di!) Us tyes a au Ui ueh.s jogo i wr prlssy Arle al}
- Zz 7 y) MI is =
Tine 2:—Jile pyle cyt pallu W}59 y931F Ello praeel} Elle} gol’)
x bwos! ee eg cylaledt 8l so? Grp! leben} slid pbsttyt eel 5 ld)
alain! wails 3 led Kies a)
Tt is dated “in the middle of the month of Rajab in the year
888 A. H., during the reign of Jaldlu-d-din Fath Shah,” Mr. Gupta
reads the date as “the 2nd day of Rajab 880,” on the authority of a
Maulawi of Dacca, who deciphered the inscription for him. But this is
certainly wrong. The date can be quite clearly read. It is expressed
in words : above 4 sanat there is samd; by the side of sanat, to the
left, there is Gwhs samdnin; above samdnin again is &44) samanamiyat
(sic); below the latter word is one » waw, and below samdnén is the
other » waw of the date. Thus the whole reads sanat samé wa samdnin
wa samdnamiyat, t. e., eight and eighty and eight hundred. Nor does the
date specify “ the 2nd day,” but simply says 5s! ausat or “ the middle.”
On comparing this inscription with that published by Blochmann
in this Journal for 1873, Vol. XLII, p. 284, there can be no doubt that
the two inscriptions are identical. There are, indeed, three slight
diver gences. In the date Mr. Blochmann reads ws but the inscription
has only Ls (without the final nim). This is apparently a mere blunder
24 Editor—Ruins and Antiquities of Rampal. [No. 1,
of the engraver, who seems to have forgotten to incise it. Possibly the
wrong reading of the date as 880 may have been caused by this faulty
legend. He also reads 4jlil whereas in the inser iption the word is
really spelt &yleiss (without the first alif). Again Mr. Blechmann reads
z
S? ale af ay whereas the inscription really has s? 3 | was a) al, But
there can be no doubt that these three divergences are the mere result
of an oversight. As may be seen by referring to the numerous similar
inscriptions, published by Blochmann in vol. XLII of the Journal, it is
go
the word yas (not lic) that is uniformly used in them; and there is
no difficulty in recognising it on the facsimile of the present inscriptiou,
Mr. Gupta, in his footnote (pp. 17, 18) says: “There is a similar
mosque with a somewhat similar inscription in Qazi Qasbah, two miles
from Rampal,” and he is disposed to identify this inscription with that
published by Blochmann. This identification is quite untenable. I
have obtained four impressions of this second inscription, three through
Mr. Gupta, and one through Maulawi Abul Khair Muhammad Siddiq,
the Superintendent of the Dacca Madrasah. Unfortunately the inserip-
tion is too badly preserved to be wholly read, but luckily the date is
sufficiently legible to show that the month is Zi-l-Qa’dah, and and that
the year is expressed in figures as well as in words. The figures are 976.
This is quite sufficient to preclude the identification of this inscription
with that published by Blochmann. Moreover this inscription is incised
in three lines, while that of the Adam Shahid mosque, published by
Blochmann and now republished by Mr. Gupta, occupies only two lines.
In fact, Mr. Gupta was misled by an error in Blochmann’s account, or
rather by an error of Dr. Wise, whose account Blochmann quotes. Dr,
Wise says that “the Masjid of Adam Shahid is in Bikrampur, at a
village, called Qazi Qasbah, within two miles of Balilbari, the residence
of Ballal Sen.” But this is quite wrong ; the mosque is not “ two miles
from the Balalbari,” but only “ about half a mile to the north of it,”
as General Sir A. Cunningham, from whom Blochmann received the
inscription, distinctly states (see his Arch. Surv. Rep., Vol. XV, p. 184),
It, therefore, ocenpies the precise position described by Mr. Gupta.
Dr. Wise, in his account,—it is clear,—confused two mosques, one of
Adam Shahid at Rampal, and another placed by him and Mr. Gupta
at Qazi Qasbah. The exact locality of the latter mosque, however,
would seem to be the Rikabi Bazar, to judge from Maulawi Abul Khair’s
letter, quoted below. There are four mosques in or near Qazi Qasbah,
and these four mosques seem to haye been more or less confused by
the several writers on the subject: and the confusion probably arose
from the circumstance that Qazi Qagbah is a name applied to a large
area, apparently including the localities of all four mosques.
ee
1889.] Editor—Ruins and Antiquities of Rampil. 25
In order to clear up the matter as much as possible, Maulawi Abul
Khair, at my request, was good enough personally to visit the different
localities and himself procure impressions of the two inscriptions. I
subjoin the substance of his interesting letter.
“‘ As arranged I went yesterday to Munshiganj to see the mosque at
Qazi Qasbah. I took with me as my guide a man who proved to be not so
well acquainted with the locality as T expected. He had informed me
that there was another old mosque at Rikaébibazir [No. I] which was
close to the ghét where we were to land from the steamer. We landed
at about 110’Cl. and proceeded to the latter mosque. We found it to be in
a dilapidated condition, though there were signs of its being used as a
prayer-house. It appeared to have been an edifice of elegant structure
with a floor, 15 cubits square,andone dome. Lhe bricks are all polished
and carved, and the cornera and edges are so neat that from a distance
they seem to be stones. The cement used is a whitish substance, not
ordinary stirkhi and lime, but perhaps powdered stone and lime, or
something else. There was no inscription in the mosque, but on
enquiry we learnt that the stone was removed and placed in another
mosque [No. II] in the neighbourhood recently built. There we repaired
and found the inscription. The stone not being good many of the
letters are corroded, and are not decipherable. I have taken an impres-
sion, however, which I send to you in a separate cover for whatever use
you may think fit to make of it, It is dated seven hundred and odd,
which I could not read. The name of the month is Zi-1-Qa’dah.
“We then proceeded towards Qazi Qasbah,and after a tedious journey
reached the mosque [No. III]. My disappointment was preat when
found that the mosque, though old, did not present any interesting feature,
the construction being of an ordinary type, no ornamentation or elegance
having been attempted. Besides there was no inscription; the stone [I
was informed had been removed by the Collector of Dacca, during the
proceeding of a lawsuit between rival claimants to some land belonging
to the mosque. The only interesting thing that we fouud there was a
Hindu idol, carved out of a block of stone, lying with the face down-
ward and forming a step to the verandah of the mosque. I had
become so fatigued that I feared I would not be able to return to the
ghat without some sort of conveyance. But none was available. I was,
however, informed that the route we had taken was a circuitous one, and
that the ghat would not be very far from that place by a short-cut
through Rampal. I further learnt that we would pass by the mosque of
Baba Adam [No. TV]. This news somewhat enlivened me, and I was
on my legs again. We passed by the famous Ballalbari, of which I saw
the ditch about a hundred yards wide, The Ballalbirt or palace of
dD
26 Editor—Ruins and Antiquities of Rampal. [No, 1,
Ballél Sen seems to have been an entrenched fortress of which only
the trench and some ruins now remain as a memorial. Not far from
this [found the tomb of Adam Shahid or Baéb&é Adam and the mosque
[No.1V]. This edifice is also in ruins, but presents an interesting
view to the archwologist or antiquary. The structure is of the some
style as that of the mosque at Rikdbibazdr [No. I], but more exquisite
and ornamental. The cement is of the same nature, the bricks polished
and carved. The roof consists of six domes supported by two stone
pillars in the middle of the hall. One of the domes does not exist, and
another has partly fallen down. The pillars are monoliths of a whitish
stone, which always “ perspire,” and lead ignorant people to associate
superstitious ideas with them, as they see water flow down on their
surface, and feel them very cold. I saw marks of red pigment on the
pillars, which I heard were put there by Hindi women, (and I believe by
Musalmin women too, though the IKhddim denied this) on making:
vows for the attainment of some object. The stone bearing the inscrip-
tion is placed very high, so that it could not be distinctly read, I dis-
covered, however, that the copy I have sent to you was only of one line,
there being another line above it of which no impression was sent to me,
As it was already very late in the afternoon and I could not wait for a
scaffolding being put up, I could not obtain animpression. The inscrip-
tion published by Blochmann is, I believe, of this mosque, and he was not
very wrong in giving the name of the place as Qazi Qagbah ; for Qazi
Qasbah extends over a large area, and the place where this mosque stands
is also included within it, This fact decides the dispute as to the name
of the place being given by Blochmann as Qizi Qagbah and by Baba
Asutosh Gupta as Rampal. It may be called by four different names,
viz., Qazi Qasbah, Rampal, Ballalbéri and Durgébari. The inscription
is quite legible, no letters have been destroyed or mutilated, the stone
being jet black and well polished, not liable tocorrosion. The Khadims
showed me twelve places in the interior of the mosque, where, they said,
lay twelve stones of great value which were removed by Mags during an in-
ceursion into Bengal in remote ages. These stones, they said, shone in the
darkness of the night and illuminated the hall! Some things have been
dug out of the walls, no doubt, but whether they were stones of great
value which shone in darkness I cannot vouch, This mosque at any
rate is an object of interest to the antiquarian,”
From another letter of his, I may quote the following passages ;
“The mosque at Qazi Qasbah [No. IIT] is not known as the mosque
of Baba Adam or Adam Shahid. It is called Qazi Bari mosque. Ballal.
bari is situated near the mosque [No. IT] of Adam Shahid and not near
Qazi Qasbah ; and Ballal Bari and Rampal are only two names of the
1889. ] Bditor—Ruins and Antiquities of Rampal. 27
same place. There is no one’s tomb near the mosque of Qazi Qasbah.
As for the inseription, no one can say what it contained. The other
mosque, of course, is called after Baba Adam or Adam Shahid and is
situated in Durgdbdri, which is close to Rampal or Ballalbari, ata
distance of about half a mile. And Ballalbdéri and Duredbéri both stand
at a distance of a mile from Qazi Qasbah. The tomb and the mosque
are lying unrepaired. Some religious man has the charge of the mosque,
and prayers are said therein, The mosque has two domes between
which there are two stone pillars one on each side. There is no court-
yard outside the mosque, The mosque of Qazi Qasbah [ No. IIT] also
has two domes but no courtyard and pillars. There are stones at the
threshold carved into images and placed overturned.”
I have numbered the mosques in the above quoted extracts by
corresponding numerals.
No. I, Mosque of Rikaébi Bazar; a beautiful structure, similar to
the mosque of Adam Shahid at Rampal (No. IV); with only one
dome ; its inscription, dated in the month Zi-l-Qa’dah 976 A, H.,
removed to mosque No. II. It is the mosque referred to in Mr. Gupta’s
footnote (p. 17), as situated “in Q4ézi Qasbah, two miles from Ram-
pal;” it is also apparently the mosque, said by Dr. White to be
“within two miles of Ballalbari at a village called Qazi Qasbah” and
erroneously called by him the Adam Shahid mosque (No. IV).
No. II. A mosque recently built near mosque No. I; contains the
inscription belonging to No. I.
No. III, An ordinary plain mosque, with domes, but with no
pillars, also with Hindi carved images in the floor of the verandah; its
inscription removed to Dacca; referred to by Mr. Gupta towards the end
of his paper (p. 22).
No. 1V. Mosque of Adam Shahid, close to Rampal, at the dis-
tance of about half a mile; a highly ornamental structure, resembling
the Rikabi Baz4r mosque (No. 1) ; with the inscription (Plate V) dated
“in the middle of Rajab, 888 A. H., in the reign of Jaldlu-d-din Fath
Shah ;” described by Dr. White (quoted by Blochmann) in Journal
A. §. B., Vol. XLII, p. 285, General Sir A. Cunningham in Arch.
Survey Reports, Vol. XV, p. 135, and Maulawi Abul Khair, as possessing
siz domes, of which,according to Dr.White, three, but according to Maulawi
Abul Khair only fwo have fallen in, while General Sir A. Cunningham
does not notice the destruction of any of them. On the other hand,
Mr. Gupta, who describes it as a “ brick built mosque witha high arched
dome,” would seem to allow it only one dome. In that case, he would
seem to have confused it with the mosque (No. I) at Rikabi Bazar,
which Manlawi Abul Khair states to have only one dome. |
28 Charles R. Lanman—The Namuchi-myth. [No. 1,
The Namuchi-myth ; or an attempt to explain the teat of Rigveda viii.
14, 13.—By Cuarnus R. Lanmay, Professor in Harvard College,
Cambridge, Mass., U. 8. A.
The fact has been recognized, ever since the earliest days of Vedic
study, that the myths of the Veda are the poetic outgrowth of certain
natural phenomena. The fact appears, for example, from the work of
Yaska, when he quotes the opinion of his predecessors. And the na-
tural basis of any given myth is usually not difficult to ascertain. Such,
however, is not the case with the one now in question. The text cited
above reads :
Bat Waa aay:
fax sgizaas: |
fag qesry Gy: ti
It is commonly understood and rendered as follows: ‘With the
foam of the waters, Namuchi’s head, O Indra, thou didst cut off, when
thou wast conquering all thy foes.’
There is no doubt about the incorrectness of this interpretation.
Nevertheless it is an exceedingly ancient one, as appears from the
legends into which this brief allusion of the Vedic Samhita is expanded
in the Bréhmanas. From the Bréhmana-passages* and from the ex-
plicit language of Sayanat, it is clear that the water-foam was conceived
as the actual weapon with which Indra cut off the demon’s head. The
fable says that Indra used this most remarkable weapon because he had
sworn to Namuchi, saying, “Neither by day nor by night will I slay
thee, neither with the mace nor with the bow, ... neither with the dry
nor with the wet.” And go, in order to slay him, without perjuring
himself, Indra smote the demon at twilight, which was neither day nor
night, and with the foam of the water, which was neither dry nor wet.
‘He cast the water-foam into (the shape of) a thunderbolt ’—syt $a
aaataaa—literally, ‘The water-foam he made by pouring or founding
(as molten metal) to be a bolt.’
All this is quite in keeping with the style of the Brdhmanas; and
it follows naturally enough from the text of the Samhita, provided we
misunderstand it as did the authors of the Brahmanas. But to my mind
there is no conceivable natural phenomenon of which this may be re-
* See Catapatha Br., xii. 7.3; Taittirfya Br.,i.7.1. These passages, with one
from the Mahabharata, are conveniently assembled by Muir, in his Sanskrit Teats,
iv’. 261.
+ oie ce fiche, sot Bq aaa
—~y
rt
:
1889. | Charles R. Lanman—The Namuchi-myth. 29
earded as the mythical reflex, We are therefore led to inquire, did not
the words of the sacred text mean something different from what even
the ancients themselves supposed them to mean? I believe that they
did and that the misunderstanding can be accounted for.
I suggest that the Vedic text be translated: ‘With water-foam
Namuchi’s head, O Indra, thou didst cause to fly asunder, when thou
wast conquering all thy foes.’ This appears to me intelligible if we
assume that the natural phenomenon to which it refers is a waterspout
(‘trombe’) on an inland lake. How, now, does this view accord with
the natural facts in question and with a strict verbal exegesis of the
text?
Major Sherwill has given a description of Bengal waterspouts in the
Journal of this Society for 1860, volume XXIX., p. 366 f., along with
some excellent pictures. And in a German work of Th. Reye, entitled
Die Wirbelstiirme, p. 17 £., further information and pictorial illustration
may be found. The waterspout is of course an object of terror, and
it is most natural that it should be personified as a demon. The verb
aatagqa means ‘ cause to rotate,’ and the motion is qualified as upward
and outward motion by the preposition ve. The compound weane:
means accordingly, ‘thou didst cause to move upward and outward or
to fly asunder with a gyratory or centrifugal motion.’ It is not possible
to express by one simple English phrase the ideas involved in the com-
pound; but they seem to me to be quite simple in themselves and to
follow unforced from the Sanskrit and to be thoroughly suitable for the
not infrequent phenomenon of a waterspout as seen by unscientific
eyes. The head of the column is twisted and made to burst asunder and
scatter itself ‘ with foam’ (4, as an instrumental of accompaniment),
i.e, in abundant foamy masses. Then, with the dispersion of the
column, often comes (see Sherwill, p. 370, Reye, p. 32) a heavy rain.
This is all in entire accord with the usual representations of gracious
Indra’s deeds of prowess.
In particular, also, it accords most strikingly with the quite differ-
ently expressed idea of Rigveda v. 30, 8b (= vi. 20. 6b), where Indra is
spoken of as ‘ twirling (like a stick of attrition or like a churning-stick)
the head of the demon Namuchi,’
fad eee AHF AaT IT \
and that, immediately after the couplet in stanza 7,
sar say was: fact ae
waa al HAs nga \
This explanation of the stanza in question, moreover, harmonizes well
with the sueceeding stanza, Rigveda, vill. 14. 14,
30 Dr, Hoernle—New or rare Muhammadan and Hindi: Coins. [ No. 1,
wagers
Le GARI AA: |
WT SACHFT It
in which Indra is praised for hurling down the demons that were striy-
ing with magie wiles to creep up and to scale the heights of heaven.
To the poetic fancy, nothing would suggest more naturally the idea of
demons trying to scale the heavens than the sight of this strange magi-
cal ladder betwixt earth and sky.
In this connection, the discussion of Bergaigne, La religion védique,
ii, 846-7, should be compared. The language of the gloka at Maha.
bharata, v. 10, 37 = 328 seems also to favor my view. The whole epic
passage is a reminiscence of the Namuchi-story.
The false interpretation of the ancients, finally, rests simply upon
the ambiguity of the instrumental case form @##. The case might
denote the relation of accompaniment—as it really does here; or it
might denote the relation of means—as the authors of the Brahmanas
supposed it to do.
~——~~ —_
On some new or rare Muhammadan and Hindi Coins.—By
Dr. A. F. Rupotr Horrnur.
In July and September last I received from the Deputy Commis-
sioner of Hoshangabad, in two instalments, a hoard of 477 gold coins,
which had been found in a field in the Sohdgpur Tahsil of the Hoshan-
gibid District, by some ploughmen while ploughing their field.
This hoard was carefully examined by me, and a detailed report
published in the Proceedings of the Society for December 1887.
Among the 477 coins, there were 451 belonging to different (so-called)
‘“Pathin ? emperors of Dehli; 4 belonging to the Mughal emperors
Aurangzib and Farrukh Siyar, 1 belonging to the Bengal king Sikandar
bin Ilyas, and 21 silver-gilt forgeries.
The “ Pathin” emperors of whom there were coins, are Ghiyagu-d-
din Balban (1 specimen), Muizzu-d-din Kaiqobad (1), Jaldlu-d-din Firiz
(1), ’Aléu-d-dfn Muhammad (391), Ghiydgu-d-Tughlag I. (3), Muhammad
bin Tughlaq (24), Firiz Shh (19), Firtiz Shah and Fath Khan (2),
Firtz Shah and Zafar (2), Ghiydgu-d-din Tughlaq II. (2), Abi Bakr bin
Zafar (1), Muhammad bin Firiz (1), Mahmtid bin Muhammad bin Firtz
(1), and Mahmtd bin Muhammad bin Tughlaq (1).
Most of these coins belong to more or less well-known types, which
have been already published in Thomas’ Chronicles of the Pathan Kings
=
\
1889.] Dr, Hoernle—New or rare Muhammadan and Hindi: Coins. 81
of Dehli. See details in the report above referred to. It will be seen
from that report, that in the present hoard there are several types of
coins which were still noted as “unique” in Thomas’ book; e, g., the
coin of Jalilu-d-din Firtz (Chron. No. 120), several of Muhammad bin
Tughlaq (Chron. Nos. 172, 179), one of Firfiz Shah (Chron. No 226),
one of Firiz Shah and Zafar (Chron. No. 245). There are in it also
some coins, which are not to be found in Thomas’ Chronicles, though
they have been published elsewhere: thus two of Mahmiid bin Muham-
mad bin Firtz (with Abu-l-Mugaffar, as published by myself, in this
Journal, vol. LII, p. 213, for 1883), and one of Mahmid bin Muham-
mad bin Tughlaq (published by Mr. Delmerick in this Journal, vol.
XLII, p. 97, for 1874).
The most important in this collection of ‘‘ Pathdn ” coins, however,
are five, which, to the best of my knowledge, are unique, or at least have
never been noticed or published. These are the following (see Plate
IV):
1, One coin of Muhammad bin Tughlaq (Plate IV, No 1). It
reads as follows :
Oby. Rey.
A) oly Sle deat Culinll gi!
The reverse seems to bear a date, consisting of two numerals.
One of them, 5, is distinctly seen by the side of abé&; but the other
above the s of ’Abbds is obscure. As the Khalif Abu-l-Abbds Ahmad
reigned from 741-753, the date of the coin can only be 745. This coin
has some similarity with Muhammad bin Tughlaq’s copper coin, No. 218
in Thomas’ Chronicles.
2, Two coins of Ghiydsu-d-din Tughlaq II. He is mentioned in
Thomas’ Chronicles, as the twenty-first king (A. H. 790-791— A. D.
1388). He reigned only a few months, as the rival of Muhammad bin
Virtiz and Abu Bakr. Thomas’ Chronicles only notice “silver and
copper” coins of his (p. 302). The present collection contains two gold
coins of his, of two different types. The first (Plate IV, No. 2) reads
as follows :
Oby. Rey.
bed wihledh obey we} Y)
I
wit} s Giott &ls wphayad pat
Bld gas aione coi
illaledt aE Wald
Margin: on reverse: [ ¥ | 41 gsite Andy he:
32 Dr. Hoernle—New or rare Muhammadan and Hindi: Coins. [No. 1,
Tt was struck at Delhi, in the year 791. The mint is distinct on
the margin, but the date is only partially preserved. There can be no
doubt, however, of its being a coin of Tughlag IT., and not of Tughlag L.,
on account of the mention of the Khalif Abi ’Abdull4h. This Khalif
only ascended the throne in 763 A. H., while Tughlaq I. died already
in 725 A. H. Abi ’Abdulléh’s Khalifat lasted, with interruptions, down
to 808 A. H. This identification I owe to Mr. Chas. J. Rodgers, of
the Archeological Survey, to whom I showed the coin.
The second (Pl. IV, No. 8) reads as follows :
Oby. Rey.
lial abe ele Syialt
ye wir 9 hha ot kJ
wrdd 7 oO
cession and protection of (Narasimhagupta) Baladitya’s mother; the
name, therefore, would fit him admirably ; 3, Matrigupta is said to have
* See Fleet, Corpus Inser. Ind., Vol. III, p, 161.
+ It may be worth noting in connection with the irruption of the Huns into
India in the 5th century, that it followed, by nearly a century, their irruption
into Hurope. The latter is said to have begun in 375 A. D., under their leader
Balamir, and it was most successful under their leader Attila, A, D, 445-453, Their
power was finally broken in the great battle on the Catalaunian fields, A. D. 451;
corresponding to the great victory of Yasodharman (or Yasoyarman) in A. D. 5380.
{ See Sir A. Cunningham, Ancient Geography of India, p. 923; also Jacobi in
Gittingische Gelehrte Anzeigen for 1888, No. 2, p. 70,
100 A. F. R. Hoernle—Inseribed Seal of Kuméra Gupta TI. [No 2,
been a stranger to Kashmir; so was Mihirakula; he is said to have
been imposed on Kashmir by a king Vikramaditya, also called Harsha,
of Ujjain, who is said to have been a powerful king who subdued the
whole world and destroyed the Sakas, a Mlechchha tribe. This I take
to be a confused version of the fact, that during the time of Narasimha-
gupta Baladitya, who afterwards allowed Mihirakula to proceed to
Kashmir, the Hina (a Saka tribe) were defeated by Yasovyarman, who
afterwards made himself an “emperor,” Vikraméaditya was a common
title in the Gupta family; Chandragupta Il. and Skandagupta bore
it; and the similar title Kramdditya was born by Skaudagupta and
Kumaragupta II, In the Rajatarangini either Baldditya or Kumiara-
gupta IT, Kramaditya is referred to by Vikraméditya; and this Vi-
kramaditya is said to have died before Matrigupta’s resignation of his
kingdom. As Matrigupta is said to have resigned after a reign of abont
four years, and as on the assumption of his identity with Mihirakula, he
became king of Kashmir about A, D. 530, Baldditya must haye died
yevy soon after that year. According to the Rajatarangini, Vikramaditya
had ason, Pratdpasila Siliditya, who was expelled by the people of
Malaya, but reinstated by king Pravarasena of Kashmir. Here, again,
there is a confused version of certain facts. I take this Siladitya to be
identical with the king Sildditya of Malava, who, according to Hinen
Tsiang, had lived 60 years before his own time, and who had reigned
for 50 years.* As Hiuen Tsiang was in Malava in A. D. 640, the period
of Siliditya’s reign is fixed as from about A. D. 530-580. He is com-
monly identified with the unnamed ‘ monarch’ who is, by Hiuen Tsiang,
said to have succeeded Vikramaditya of Sravasti; and this Vikramaditya
himself is commonly identified with the Vikramaditya of Malava, above
mentioned.t According to Hiuen T'siang, Vikramaditya “lost his
kingdom” and was succeeded by the unnamed “ monarch”, 7. e, by
Siladitya. I would suggest that Kumaragupta II. Kraméditya is
intended by Vikramaditya, who lost his kingdom by the usurpation of
Yagodharman ; and that Siladitya is one of the surnames of Yago-
dharman. The latter, in his inscription (see above) is called, at
first, only a narddhipati, which would agree with the “ monarch” of
Hiuen Tsiang. ‘he times also agree ; Yasodharman Siildditya must have
usurped the imperial dignity soon after A. D, 530, He would then have
reigned about 50 years, down to about A. D.580, Throughout the whole
of his reign (compare columns 5 and 8 of the synchronistic table), he had
riva)s for his claim of the imperial dignity in the Maukhari Varmans,
till the dignity was finally secured by Prabhakara Vardhana who had
* See Beal’s Buddhist Records of the Western World, Vol. III, p. 261,
+ See ibidem, Vol, I, pp. 106, 108,
1889.] A. F. R. Hoernle—Inscribed Seal of Kuméra Gupta IT, 101
the surname of Pratapasila. According to Hiuen Tsiang the Valabhi
king Dhruvasena II. (or Dhruvapata),* who became king about A. D.
625, was his nephew (7. e., probably sister’s son). All this agrees well
enough, That Vikramaditya (7. ¢,, Kumaragupta II.) is described as
“king of Sravasti”? need be no difficulty. Kuméaragupta’s seal was
found at Bhitari, in the Ghaztpur District of the N.-W. Provinces; and
Sravasti may well have been the favourite residence of that emperor.
Of course, if my suggestions are accepted, the narrative in the Raja-
tarangini is a confused, and even grotesque, perversion of the real facts.
Siladitya is said to have been a son of Vikramaditya; this is a confused
reminiscence of the fact, that Baladitya (7. e, Navrasimhagupta) had a
son Kumaragupta IIT. Kramaditya ;—Siladitya is said to have been ex-
pelled by the people of Malaya; but it was Kumfraeupta that was
“expelled,” 4. e., rebelled against by Yasodharman (Sildditya) ;—Sifladitya
is called Pratapasila ; but the latter was the surname of Sildditya’s rival,
Prabhakara Vardhana;—Siladitya Pratdpagila is said to have been
seven times subdued by the king of Kashmir; very possibly the king of
Kashmir had to carry on several campaigns against both Siladitya
(Yasodharman) and Pratdipagila (Prabhikara Vardhana), both of whom
“emperors” or “rulers of the whole world.” The Raja-
tarangini’s account of Matrigupta is still more grotesque. It makes
Matrigupta to be a poor “ poet,”* and finally resign his kingdom and
retire to Benaves, like a good Hindi! But it hardly needs an excuse for
charging the “history” of the Rajatarangini with grotesqueness. The
utter untrustworthiness of it down to the time of the Karkota dynasty
(Durlabha Vardhana I.), is, I believe, now generally acknowledged. Itg
treatment of Mihirakula, who under that name is placed at B. C. 707,
and of Toramana and Hiranyakula, is the most glaring evidence of it,
Tadd a sketch of what seems to me to have been the fortunes of the
imperial dignity during the periods immediately before and after the
Hina troubles, I have shown them in the synchronistic table by printing
in red the names of those princes that bore the imperial title of Maha-
rajadhiraja. From Chandragupta I. down to Kumaragupta IL, c. A. D.
360-583, the imperial dignity remained with the house of the Harly
Guptas. Under Narasimhagupta, c. A, D, 495, it was disputed by the
Hina chief Toramana. About 533 A.D., under Kumaragupta II., it
passed away to Yasodharman.§ From him, it passed, fora period of four
aspired to be
* See ibid., Vol. II, p. 267.
} Perhaps a confusion with the poot Mentha (or Matrimentha?) who is said to
have lived at his court.
t See Shanker P. Pandit’s Gatidavaho, Introd., p. Ixxy.
§ Evidence of YaSodharman’s or YaSovarman’s imperial power are his coins
N
102 =A. F. R. Hoernle—Inscribed Seal of Kuwmndra Gupta IT. [No. 2,
reigns, from c. A. D. 540 to 585, to the Maukhari dynasty, under I’sana-
yvarman, Sarvavarman, Susthitavarman and Avantivarman. Three of
these Varmans, Vé4na, Sarva and Avanti, receive the imperial titles,
mahdrdjddhirdja or paramesvara in two inscriptions.* Susthita is named
in an inscription of the Later Guptas without any particular title ;? but
if he is not identical with Avantivarman—which is quite possible —, he
must, in all probability, have been a Mahdrajadhiraja, as the intermediate
ruler between two Mahdraijadhirdjas (see column 8). That Susthita does
not receive that title in the Gupta inscription is no objection; for
neither does [Sana receive it; the inscription, being one of the Later
Guptas, who were a rival family, probably denied the imperial title to
the Maukharis as usurpers.{
From the Maukhavris the imperial dignity passed to the Vardhana
dynasty of Thanesar and Kananj, for three reigns, under Prabhakara,
Rajya and the great Harsha, from c. A. D. 585 to 648, though at some
time between A. D. 615 and 634 it was disputed by the Harly Chalukya
king Pulikesin I1.€ After Harsha Vardhana the imperial dignity
appears to have been held simultaneously in the West by the Valabhis of
Gujarat (commencing with DharasenalV., c. A. D. 645) and in the Hast
by the Later Guptas of Magadha (commencing with Adityasena, c. A. D.
648). In the case of the Valabhis, the assumption of the imperial
dignity would seem, at first, to have been a temporary one. Tor after
Dharasena TV., who enjoyed it from c. A, D. 645-650, it lapsed again,
for about 20 years, during the two following reigns of Dhruvasena IIT.
and Kharagraha II., neither of whom seem to have borne any imperial
titles, perhaps owing to the rival emperor’s, Adityasena’s, ascendancy.
About A. D. 670, however, Siladitya III. again became emperor of the
West; and henceforth the imperial dignity remained with these two
with the legend of kida (see Proceedings for August, 1888). Kida would appear
to be a tribal designation of the Hiinas.
* See Mleet, in Corp. Inscr. Ind,, Vol. III, pp. 218, 221,
+ See ibid., p. 206.
{ It may be a question whether Yagovarman or Yagodharman did not himself
belong to a branch of the Maukhari family of Varmans. There is nothing in Yago-
dharman’s inscriptions to proye that he belonged to the Malaya tribes. His relation
to the four imperial Mankharis requires further elucidation. If, as above suggested,
he is identical with the S’iliditya, who according to Hinen Tsiang reigned 50 years,
he must have been a contemporary and rival of the four imperial Maukharis. The
contemporary inscription of Asphad would certainly seem to show, that the latter
did not enjoy an undisputed title to the imperial dignity.
§ He assumed the imperial title paramesgvara after a thorough defeat of Harsha
Vardhana; see Indian Antiquary, Vol. VII, p. 164. He had not done so before A. D.
618, nor was it after A. D. 684; see ibid., Vol. VIII, p. 240,
1889.] A. F. R. Hoernle—Inseribed Seal of Kumara Gupta IT. 103
dynasties of the Later Guptas and the Valabhis, apparently, till their
respective extinction. Perhaps the coincidence of Jivita Gupta II., the
last of the Later Imperial Guptas, with the Nepalese king Siiva Deva IL.,
who assumed the imperial titles, may have a deeper significance. For it
may be noted, that about A. D. 648, at the time of the disruption of
Harsha’s empire, the Nepalese king, Amsnvarman, also laid claim to the
imperial dignity in the North.
The Devagupta, placed in the third column of the synchronistic
table, under the Later Guptas of Malava, is mentioned in the ecopper-
plate grant of Harshavardhana,* as having been conquered by that
king’s brother and predecessor, Rajyavardhana II. He cannot be the
Devagupta of the Later Gupta dynasty of Magadha (2nd column), as
Harshavardhana himself was a contemporary of Madhavacupta, the
grandfather of that Devagupta, Moreover it is distinctly stated in the
Harsha-charita of Bana, that the prince whom Réjyavardhana conquer-
ed, was a king of Malava.t
In the seyenth column of the Uchchakalpa Maharajas it will be seen,
that Sarvanitha reigned up to A. D. 5383. His line, including himself,
consists of six members; and the founder of the line, Oghadeva, was
married to a queen Kumaradevi. Six reigns at an average of 18 years,
would make Oghadeva (c. A. D, 425-445) a contemporary of Kumira-
gupta I. of the Harly Gupta dynasty. It appears, probable, therefore,
that Oghadeva’s queen, Kumavradevi, was a sister or daughter of Kumira-
gupta I.t
* See Lpigraphia Indica, Part II, p. 74.
} Seo Sh. P, Pandit’s edition of the Gaiidwaho, Introd., p. exxx.
{ Mr. Fleet in the Corpus Inser. Ind., Introd. pp. 9, 10, suggests that the Uchcha-
kalpa dates may have to be referred to the Kalachuri era. I do not understand how
this could wellbe. Mr. Fleet says: “ifthe Uchchakalpa dates were reforred to the
Kalachuri era, with General Cunningham’s epoch of A. D. 249-50, S’arvandtha’s
latest date, the year 214, would be equivalent to A. D. 463-64, or Gupta Samvat 144;
and we should have to add on twenty-one years at the end of his known period, in
order to make him the contemporary of Hastin in Gupta Samvat 165.’ But the ern-
cial year appears to me to be not Gupta Samvat 165, but Gupta Samvat 189 (see ibid.,
p. 110). Por the joint-grant of Hastin and S’arvandtha was issued in the Jatter year. It
follows, therefore, that we should have to add on, not twenty-one, but forty-five
years; or if the epoch of the Kalachuri era be A. D. 248-49, even forty-six years.
On the other hand, if the Kalachuri epoch be placed, as Mr. Fleet suggests, about
25 years later, let us say at A. D. 273-74 (i. ¢., 248-49+25), then S’arvandtha’s latest
date 214 Kalachuri Samvat will be equivalent to 168 Gupta Samvat; and in that
case we should havo to add on twenty-one years, in order to make S’arvandtha con-
temporary with Hastin in the year 189 Gupta Samvat. I assume, that when Mr.
Fleet (ibid., p. 111) says: “the choice lies only between Gupta Samvat 189 and
201,” he means, that the only two years within the known period of Hastin’s rule
104 A. F. R. Hoornle—Inseribed Seal of Kumdra Gupta IT. [No. 2,
The question may arise whether the Kuméragupta referred to in
the Mandasor stone inscription of Bandhuvarman,* may not be the
Kumiaragupta II. of the Bhitari seal, rather than the Kumaragupta L.,
the only Gupta emperor of that name hitherto known. If it be Kumara-
guptall., the three Varmans, Nara, Visva and Bandhu, would have to
be brought down nearly a century, so that Bandhuyarman would be the
immediate predecessor of Yasodharman (or Yagovarman). I am dis-
posed to think, however, that it is really Kumdragupta I. who is referred
to in that inscription,
The metal of the seal has been tested by Dr. Scully of the Calcutta
Mint. His analysis shows that it consists of
Copper « 62.970 per cent.
Silver wee 36,225 op
Gold w= 0.405 F
Tron one trace.
In spite of its whitish grey colour, therefore, it is rather a copper than a
silver seal.
The weight and dimensions of the seal have been determined by the
(i, e., between G. S. 156 and 191 or A, D. 475 and 510), with which the data of the
joint-grant (7, e., the 19th day of the month K4rttika, in the Maha-Mégha Samvatsara)
can be made to harmonise, are G. 8. 189 and 201 or A. D. 508 and 520. If this is
so, the date of the joint-grant is practically certain: it is either A. D. 508-9 or A. D.
520-21, whether these years be stated in terms of the Gupta Samvat (189 or 201) or
in terms of the Kalachuri Samvat (260 and 272). Upon these premises, there are
these two alternatives: firstly, if we accept the year A. D. 248-49 (or 249-50) as the
Kalachuri epoch, the known period of S’arvandtha begins with Kalachuri Samvat
193, equivalent to A. D. 441-42, and he must have reigned not less than 67 years,
to bring him down to A. D. 508 (= K. 8. 260 or G. §. 189) to join Hastin in the
issue of the grant; and he must have reigned even 79 years, to bring him down to
A. D. 520 (=K. 8. 272 or G. 8. 201), if the latter be the year of the joint-grant,
Neither of these two cases will be considered admissible. Secondly, if, as Mr. Fleet
suggests, the Kalachuri epoch be placed about 25 years later, say A. D. 473-74, the
beginning of S’arvanitha’s known period will be A. D. 466-67, and he must have
reigned either 42 or 54 years, according as we place the joint-grant in A. D. 508 or
in A, D. 520. Hither of these two latter cases is possible, especially the former, requir-
ing arule of (at least) 42 years. But there is no real evidence whatever for the assion-
ment of the Kalachuri epoch to the year A. D. 478-74 or thereabouts. The result
is, that the probability of the Uchchakalpa grants being dated in years of the
Kalachuri era appears to be nil. My premises may be founded on a misunderstand.
ing; if so, Mr Fleet will be able to explain the real facts of the case. But I thought
it well to state my doubts, which may have occurred to others beside myself,
#* See Meet, in Corpus Inser. Ind., Vol. II, p. 79.
1889.] A. F. R. Hoernle—Inscribed Seal of Kumdéra Gupta II. 105
same gentleman, The weight is 10,696 grains. The measurements
are ;
Greatest length are w. 0.74 inches,
* Greatest breadth ite soe “AOR
Breadth of rim ae poy OPA pp
Height of rim above surface of plate ... 0.11 ;;
Thickness of seal (including rim) Od os
ee
CONTENTS .
OF THE
JOURNAL, Pr. I, ror 1888.
No. 1.—D 4s, A brief account of Tibet from “ Dsam Ling Gyeshe,”
the well-known geographical work of Lama Tsan-po Nomankhan of
Amdo. Cockburn, Sité’s Window or Buddha’s Shadow Cave.
No. 2.—O liver, The Safwi Dynasty of Persia. Syamal Dds,
Antiquities at Nagari. Yate, notes on the City of Herat.
Fihrer, Three new copper-plates grants of Govindachandra
Deva of Kanauj.
No. 3.—K now les, Kashmiri Riddles. R&jendralal& Mitra,
Notes on a Donative Inscription of Vidyédhara Bhanja, belonging
to C. T. Metcalfe, sq. Garwood, Notes on the ancient mounds
in the Quetta District. Beveridge, The Mother of Jahangir.
Rodgers, Notes on.the coins mentioned by Major Raverty in
his notes to his Translation of the Tabaqdt-i-Nasiri.
INLINE T
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Greco-Roman Influence on the Civilization of Ancient India,—By
Vincent A. Smitu, Bengal Civil Service. (With four
Plates.) she 109
JOURNAL
OF THE
ASIATIC SOCIETY OF BENGAL.
=O @et-
Part I.—HISTORY, LITERATURE, &ce.
ar ee ne
No. III.—1889.
Greco-Roman Influence on the Civilization of Ancient India.—By VINCENT
A. Sire, Bengal Civil Service. (With several Plates.)
Section I. IntRODUCTION.
When the wearied veterans of “the great Hmathian conqueror”,
laden with plunder and sated with conquest, refused to cross the
Hyphasis and to try the fortune of war in the valley of the Ganges, the
exclusive, conservative Hast won a victory over the intruding, progres-
sive West, which must have appeared to the actors on the scene as final
and decisive.
But it was neither final nor decisive, for, though the obstacles op-
posed by hostile man and nature could stop the onward march of the
Macedonian phalanx, nothing could arrest the sure and world-wide
progress of the ideas and culture, which constituted the real strength of
Hellas and were but rudely expressed by the disciplined array of
Alexander’s armies.
India has not willingly sought the treasures of foreign wisdom, and,
guarded by her encircling seas and mountains, she has tried, throughout
the long course of ages, to work out her own salvation. She has tried,
but has not succeeded. Again and again, both before and after Alexan-
der, the barriers have been broken through, and her children, who would
0
108 V. A, Smith— Greco-Roman Influence [No. 3,
fain believe that all light comes from the east, h
admit the rays of the western sun.
In the dim mist of prehistoric ages we can discern faint indications
that India, in common with all regions of Asiatic and Huropean civiliza-
tion, drew supplies from those stores of Egyptian, Assyrian and Baby-
lonian antique lore, which were, so far as we know or probably ever can
know, the ultimate sources of the knowl
lized man from the savage.
The history of those long past times is lost, and, save perhaps in
some faintly sketched and dubious outlines, can never be recovered.
The Indian expedition of Alexander the Great in B. C. 827—326
was, so far as our definite knowledge extends, the first occasion of close,
conscious contact between Hast and West. The arms of the conqueror,
it is true, subdued no more than a mere corner of India, and that only
for a moment, but the Hellenic culture, to the diffusion of which Alexan-
der devoted attention, as great as that bestowed by him on his material
corquests, long survived his transitory empire in Asia, and, ev
secluded India, made its presence felt in many and different
I shall not attempt to penetrate the thick darkness which conceals
the relations between India and the western world in the ages before
Alexander, but propose to consider the kind and degree of post-Alexan-
drian influence on the ancient civilization of
readers’ attention to an obscure and little
interesting history of Greek ideas,
The working of these ideas on Indian soil, a
the fields of religion, poetry, science
ave been compelled to
edge which distinguishes civi-
en in
directions.
India, and to invite my
known chapter in the ever-
Ithough discernible in
and philosophy, is most obvious in
the domain of architecture and plastic art, and I shall devote the greater
part of this essay to the consideration of Indo-Hellenie architecture
sculpture.
No Indian example in stone either of archi
lier than the reign of Agoka (circa B. CO. 260
covered, and the well-known theory of Mr. Fergusson, that the sudden
introduction of the use of stone instead of wood for the purposes both of
architecture and sculpture in India was the result of
between the empire of Alexander and his successors, and that of the
Mauryan dynasty of Chandra Gupta and Agoka, is, in my opinion, cer-
tainly correct. The change from wood to stone indubit
and no other explanation has ever been suggested,
I shall not, however, now discuss Mr. Fergusson’s theory, but shall
proceed to examine particular cases of undoubted and incontestable
Hellenistic, including Roman, influence on the Indian development of
the arts of architecture and sculpture,
and.
tecture or sculpture, ear-
—223), has yet been dis-
communication
ably took place,
Vv
—_
vy
¥
—
1889. | on the Owilization of Ancient India. 109
A brief discussion of the more prominent effects of the contact
between the Greco-Roman and Indian civilizations on other depart-
ments of human activity in India will follow, and will enable the reader
to form a conception as a whole of the impression made by the West
upon the Hast during a period of seven or eight centuries. That im-
pression was not sufficiently deep to stamp Indian art, literature and
science with an obviously Huropean character, although it was much
deeper than is commonly supposed.
Section II. Invo-Hetientc ARCHITECTURE.
The style of architecture, appropriately named Indo-Persian by Sir
Alexander Cunningham, and obviously derived from that employed in
the Achzemenian palaces of Susa and Persepolis, was extensively used
throughout Northern and Western India for several centuries both
before and after the Christian era. With this style of western, though
not Hellenic, origin the history of Indian architecture begins. It would
be more strictly accurate to say that with this style the history of Indian
architectural decoration begins, for no buildings in it exist, and we know
its character only from pillars and miniature representations in sculp-
tured reliefs.
The pillars are characterized by “a bell-shaped lower capital, sur-
mounted by an upper member formed of recumbent animals, back to
back.”’* The series of examples in Northern India, of pillars more or less
fully corresponding to this definition, begins with the monoliths of Asoka
(circa B. C. 250), and ends with the pillar of Budha Gupta at Hran in the
Sdgar District of the Central Provinces, which bears an inscription
dated in the year A. D. 435. The caves of Western India offer examples
apparently rather later, and specimens of intermediate dates have been
found at Bharhut, Buddha Gaydé, Sanchi, Bedsa, and Mathura, as well as
in the Gandhara or Yiisufzai country. But there is no evidence as yet
forthcoming that Indo-Persian pillars were used structurally in Gandha-
va. In miniature, as architectural decorations, they were a favourite
ornament in that region.
The Indo-Persian pillar underwent gradual modifications in India
Proper, with which I am not at present concerned. On the north-west
frontier of India, that is to say, in the western districts of the Panjab,
in the valley of the Kabul River, including Géndhara or the Yiusufzai
country, and in Kashmir, it was supplanted by pillars imitated from
* Cunningham, Arecheol. Rep., Vol. V, p. 185. [For a convenient synopsis of
specimen pillars of the Persian, Indo-Persian, Indo-Hellenie (Corinthian) and Indo-
Doric styles, see ibid., Plates XX VII, and XLV to L. Hp. |
+ All the Gupta dates are determined in Mr, Pleet’s work on the Gupta In-
criptions, Corpus Inscrip. Indicarwm, Vol. ITE.
110 V, A. Smith—@rreo-Roman Influence [No, 3,
Greek models. Isolated examples of Indo-Hellenic pillars probably
existed in other regions also, associated with the specimens of Hellenized
sculpture which occur at Mathura and some other localities remote from
the Panjab frontier, but, as yet, none such have been discovered, and,
speaking generally, the Hydaspes or Jhelam river may be assigned as
the eastern boundary of Indo-Hellenic architectural forms.
The evidence does not, to my mind, warrant the use of the term
“Indo-Grecian styles of architecture,” which is employed by Sir A.
Cunningham. So far as I can perceive, the published plans of Indian
buildings show no distinct traces of Greek ideas, and there is no evidence
of the employment of the characteristic Greek pediment or entablatures.
The known facts prove only that the Indians used, in buildings planned
after their own fashion, pillars copied, with modifications, from Greek
prototypes.
In the outlying province of Kashmir and the dependent region of
the Salt Range a modified form of the Doric pillar was employed. The
earliest example of the use of this form is found in the temple of the
sun at Martand, which was erected not earlier than A. D. 400, and
perhaps should be dated two or three centuries later. Temples in a
style similar to that of Martand appear to have continued to be erected
in Kashmir down to the time of the Muhammadan conquest of the
valley. They are characterized by trefoiled arches, and pyramidal roofs,
and were frequently, if not always, built in the centre of shallow tanks.
These peculiarities are in no wise Greek. The pillars undoubtedly, as
Sir A, Cunningham observes, resemble the Grecian Doric in * the ereat
ovolo of the capital, and in the hollow flutes of the shaft.” It is difficult
to believe that the agreement in these respects between the Greek and
Indian work is accidental, but it is also difficult to imagine the existence
of a channel through which the Kashmirians borrowed the Doric form
of pillar at a time when every other manifestation of Hellenic ideas had
already disappeared, or was on the point of disappearing, from India.
I cannot yenture to deny the Greek origin of the semi-Doric pillars
of the temples in Kashmir, although I am not satisfied that it is fully
established. Myen if it be admitted, the admission is hardly sufficient
to warrant the assertion that the Kashmirian buildings are examples of
an Indo-Doric style. The most that can be correctly affirmed is, that
these buildings contain pillars which may fairly be described as Indo-
Doric. These Indo-Dorie pillars, if there be indeed anything Doric
about them, are never associated with Indo-Hellenic sculpture, or any-
thing else which gives the slightest indication of Greek influence.
The Kashmir style stands apart, and the study of it throws little light
either on the history of Indian architecture, or on that of the diffusion
of Greek ideas. I shall, therefore, exclude it from consideration, and
a —
1889. | on the Civilization of Ancient India. 111
refer readers who may care for further information on the subject to
the discussion of it by Mr. Fergusson and Sir A, Cunningham, and to
the fine series of plates prepared under the supervision of Major Cole.*
But, whether the pillars of the Kashmir temples be really derived
from Doric prototypes or not, there is no doubt whatever that pillars,
the designs of which are modifications of the Ionic and Corinthian types,
were common on the north-west frontier of India during the early cen-
turies of the Christian era.
These Greek architectural forms have as yet been found only in a
very limited area, which may be conveniently referred to under the
name of Gandhara.t
The boundaries of the kingdom of Gandhara, as it existed in ancient
times, are known with approximate accuracy. Hinen T'siang, who
travelled between A. D, 629 and 645, describes the kingdom as extending
about 166 miles (1000 li) from east to west, and 133 miles (800 77) from
north to south, with the Indus as its eastern boundary: The great city
of Purushapura, now known as Peshawar, was then the capital.t The
earlier Chinese traveller, Fa Hian (A. D. 400—405), assigns the same
position to the kingdom of Gandhara, though he describes its boundaries
with less parbicularity.§
The region referred to by both Chinese pilgrims may be described
in general terms as the lower valley of the Kabul river. It is very
nearly identical with the territory tothe north-east of Peshawar, now
inhabited by the Afghan clan, known as the Yusufzai or Sons of Joseph,
which comprises the independent hilly districts of Swat and Buhner, as
well as the plain bounded on the east by the Indus, on the north by the
hills, and on the south and west respectively by the Kabul and Swat
rivers. This plain, which is attached to the Peshawar District, and ad-
ministered by British officers, corresponds to the tract known to the
Greeks as Peukeloaitis (Sanskrit Pushkaldwat’), the capital of which
occupied the site of the modern Hashtnagar, eighteen miles north of
Peshawar. ||
* Major Cole’s book is entitled Illustrations of Ancient Buildings in Kdshmtr,
(London, India Museum, 1869). His plates are good, but his remarks on the dates
of the buildings illustrated would have been better omitted. Mr. Fergusson discuss-
es the style in his History of Indian and Hastern Architecture. Sir A. Cunningham
described itin the Journal, Asiatic Society, Bengal, for 1848, and recurs to the subject
in Archwol, Reps., Vol. V, pp. 84-90, Plates XX VI, XXVIT; Vol. XIV, p. 35, Pl. XV.
+ Sanskrit authority warrants either a long or short vowel in the first syllable
of the name.
+ Beal, Buddhist Records of the Western World, Vol. I, p. 97.
§ Fa Hian, Travels, Chapter X, in either Beal’s or Legge’s translation.
|| Cunningham, Archwol. Rep. Vol. V, p. 1, Hashtnagar is described ibid,,
Vol. 11, p, 90, and Vol, XIX, pp, 96—110,
112 V. A. Smith—Grreco-Roman Influence [No. 3,
Strictly speaking, therefore, the name Gaéndhara is applicable only
to a small territory west of the Indus.
But the great city of Taxila, (Takkhasila, or Takshasild, the
modern Shih ki Dheri), situated three marches, or about thirty miles,
east of the Indus, was undoubtedly, in the time of Alexander the Great,
the chief city on the north-western frontier of India, and must have been
then, as it subsequently was in the reigns of Asoka and Kanishka,
included in the dominions of the government which ruled Gandhara.
Kanishka is expressly called the king of Gandhara.*
The vast Buddhist religious establishments at Manikydla, about
thirty miles south-east of Taxila, belonged to the same jurisdiction, and.
at both places remains are found of that Indo-Hellenic school of art,
which attained its chief development in Gandhara west of the Indus.
The name of Géandhara, as indicating an artistic and architectural
province, may, therefore, be extended, as it was by Mr. Fergusson, so as
to comprise the modern districts of Peshawar and Rawalpindi, including
Taxila and Manikyala, as far east as the Hydaspes or Jhelam river.
When speaking of the art of Gandhdra I must be understood as employ-
ing the name in its wider sense.
The upper valley of the Kabul river was full of Buddhist buildings,
many of which have been explored by Masson and others, and was includ-
ed in the dominions of Kanishka and his successors. But, so far as the
published accounts show, this region was only slightly affected by
Hellenic influences, and it must, for the present at all events, be con-
sidered as outside the artistic province of Gandhara,
The Gandhara territory, the situation of which has thus been defined,
was the principal seat of Hellenic culture in India, and from one or other
part of it nearly all the known examples of Indo-Hellenie art in its most
characteristic forms have been obtained. Traces of Greek and Roman
teaching may be detected in the remains at many localities in northern
and western India, but nowhere with such distinctness as in the lower
valley of the Kabulriver. The Gandhara school of art obviously deserves,
though it has uot yet obtained, a place in the general history of Greek
architecture and sculpture, and this cannot be said of the other early
Indian schools.
At Bharhut, Sanchi, Buddha Gaya, Ajanta, and Amaravati proofs
may be given that the local style of art was modified by contact with
* A full account of the ruins of Taxila will be found in Cunningham, Archwol.
Rep., Vol. Il, pp. 112, segg.; Vol. V, pp. 66, seqg., and Vol. XLV, pp. 9, seqq. Fa
Hian states that Dharma Vardhana (or Vivardhana, as Dr. Legge writes the name),
son of Agoka, ruled in Gandhira, and, according to another legend, the stiipa in
memory of Agoka’s son Kunila was situated sonth-cast of Taxila, (Ounningham,
Archwol. Rep., Vol. II, p. 149.)
il |
v
>
1889, ] on the Oivilization of Ancient India. 113
that of the western world, but the evidence does not lie upon the surface.
In the remains of the buildings and sculptures of Gandhara the merest
- tyro can perceive at a glance that the style of art is in the main Greek
or Roman, not Indian.*
* Tho principal references to published notices of the Gandhara school of art
are as follows ;—
(1) Notes on some sculptures found in the District of Peshdwar. By H.C. Bayley.
With several rude lithographs. (Jownal As. Soc., Bengal, Vol. XXI (1852), pp.
606—621). The sculptures described in this paper were collected at Jamalgarhi by
Messrs. Lumsden and Stokes, and were destroyed by the fire at the Crystal Palace,
(2) Indian Antiquary, (Bombay), Vol. III, pp. 143, 159,
(3) History of Indian and Eastern Architecture. By James Fergusson.
(4) Reports of the Archwological Survey of India, Vol. V. By Sir A. Ounning-
ham. VolumeII of the same series gives information concerning Taxila. See also
Vol. XIV, p. 31, Pl. XIV.
(5) Descriptive List of the Principal Buddhist Sculptures in the Lahore Museum,
p. 11. This list, kindly supplied to me by the Curator, contains brief particulars
of 95 specimens, of which 32 are marked with an asterisk, as being either “in excep-
tionally good preservation, or interesting from their subjects.” The list is signed by
Sir A. Cunningham, but is not dated. Two specimens are noted as coming from
Sahri Bahlol, and one is stated to have been obtained in the fortress of Ranigat,
but no other indication is given of the localities from which the sculptures were
obtained.
I have not been able to procure a “ Memorandum by Mr. Baden-Powell on the
sculptures in the Lahore Museum,” which is referred to by Sir A. Cunningham,
Archeol. Rep., Vol. V, p. 55, note 1.
(6) Catalogue and Handbook of the Archwological Collections in the Indian
Museum. By John Anderson, M. D., F. R.8., otc. Part I, Calcutta, 1883. 201
Indo-Hellenic objects are described, viz., 177 arranged under the heading Gandhira,
18 under Peshiwar, two under Mathura, and one each under Hazara, Kabul, miscel-
laneous, and Bihar.
(7) Memorandum on Ancient Monuments in Husufzai (sic) By Major Cole ;
being part of the Second Report of the Curator of Ancient Monuments in India, pp.
CXIV, seqqg. This document was separately reprinted at the Government Central
Branch Press, Simla, 1883. It is illustrated by rough lithographic plates, compris-
ing all the subjects subsequently treated by the heliograyure process, as well as by a
map of the Yusufzai country, and eleven other plans and sketches.
(8) Preservation of National Monwments, India, Graco-Buddhist Sculptures from
Yisufzai. By Major H. H. Cole, R. EH. Published by order of the Governor-
General in Council for the office of Curator of Ancient Monuments in India. Large
folio, p. 7, with 30 very fine heliogravure plates, 1885,
(9) The Buddhist Stiipas of Amardvatt and Jaggayapeta. By James Burgess,
CG. 1. E., ete, Archeological Survey of Southern India, Triibner, London, 1887.
This work does not describe the sculptures, but some good specimens of them are
figured in woodcuts Nos. 1, 4, 11, 14, 21, 28, 24, and 26, which are copied from the
illustrated edition of Sir E, Arnold’s Light of Asia.
(10) Alt. und Neu-Indische Kuwnstgegenstinde aus Professor Leitners jiingster
114
V. A, Smith—Grceco-Roman Influence [No. 3,
No indication of a knowledge of the Doric order of architecture can
be detected in the remains of the buildings of Gdndhdéra. With two
exceptions, the only Greek architectural form used is a modification of
the Corinthian pillar and pilaster,
The two exceptions both occur to the east of the Indus, outside
the limits of Gandhara proper.
On the site of Taxila Sir A. Cunningham disinterred the remains of
a Buddhist temple, the portico of which was supported on four massive
sandstone pillars of the Ionic order. Similar, though smaller, pillars
were found in the interior of the building. No part of the larger pillars
was discovered, except their bases. The mouldings of these bases ave
said to correspond exactly with those of the pure Attic base, as seen in
the Krechtheum at Athens, the only difference being the greater projec-
tion of the fillet below the upper torus in the Indian example.
Portions of the shafts and capitals of the smaller pillars were found.
The shafts are civeular in section and plain, The capitals were made of
nodular limestone, and appear to have been plastered and gilded. They
agree generally in form with Greek, not Roman, models, but are ruder
and more primitive in style, and are specially distinguished from all
Sammlung, ausgestellt in K, K, Osterr. Museum fiir Kunst und Industrie, Stuben-
ring 5, Verlag des K. K. Osterr. Museum’s Wien, 1883.
The specimens of, the Gandhara school of art preserved in museums are very
numerous. ‘The principal collection is that in the Lahore Museum. It is very
extensive, numbering many hundred objects, but seems to be badly arranged. I
have not seen it, The collection next in importance is that in the Indian Museum,
Calcutta. Dr. Anderson’s carefully compiled Catalogue gives a good idea of its con-
tents. Major Cole intended to send spare specimens to the museums at Bombay,
Madras, and some other places, which were, I suppose, sent.
In London the best collection, though not an extensive one, is that which oceu-
pies cases Nos 1—7 in the Asiatic Saloon of the British Museum, The South Ken-
sington collection is officially described as comprising 24 sculptures in stone, and 49
plaster casts from originals in the Lahore Museum, presented by Sir R. Egerton in
1882. When I examined the specimens in 1888, they were exhibited partly in a glass
case, partly on a detached screen, and the rest on a wall screen. Dr. Leitner’s
collection at Woking comprises some original sculptures and a considerable number
of casts from the works in the Lahore Museum. It is described in the printed
Catalogue above cited,
The Museum at Vienna contains some specimens presented by Dr. Leitner, and
many examples of the work of the school are believed to exist in private hands both
in Hurope and India, Sir A. Cunningham possesses a valuable series of photographs
of the more remarkable sculptures, Mr. Kipling, Curator of the Lahore Museum,
informs me that he intends to arrange for the publication of a set of photographs of
Indo-Hellenic art. The specimens in the possession of Mr, L. White King, B.C. 8.
will be noticed subsequently,
“he
—:
“ye
1889.] on the Civilization of Ancient India. 115
known Greek examples by the excessive weight and height of the
abacus.*
The employment of stucco to conceal the roughness of the limestone
and to facilitate the execution of the moulding reminds us of the temple
of Fortuna Virilis at Rome, where the same expedient was used to com-
plete the decorative work on Ionic capitals made of rugged travertine,t
Sir A. Cunningham subsequently discovered among the ruins of
Taxila in another temple the bases and portions of the drums of two
Tonic pillars, differing slightly in detail from those above described.
These two buildings are the only known examples of the use of the
Ionic form of pillar in India.
The rude style of the capitals in the building first discovered—the
only ones yet found—might suggest the fancy that the Taxilan temples
preserve specimens of the primitive Ionic order in its Asiatic form,
before it was developed by Greek skill, But the evidence of the com-
paratively late date of the temple adorned by these rude capitals is too
clear to allow indulgence in such a notion. The building cannot, ap-
parently, be earlier than B. C. 20 or 30, the approximate date of king
Azes, twelve of whose coins were lifted out by Sir A. Cunningham with
his own hand from their undisturbed resting place below the floor of the
sanctum, and under the corner of a platform which had supported a
number of plaster Buddhist statues.§ The date of the temple may
therefore be assigned roughly to the beginning of the Christian era, at
which time, it need not be said, the Ionic order had long been fully
developed. The question of date will be considered more fully in a later
section,
The Taxilan temples with Ionic pillars were, like all the known
examples of Indo-Hellenic architecture, dedicated to the service of the
Buddhist religion. Sir A. Cunningham gives a plan of the one first
discovered, from which it appears that the whole edifice was 91 feet
long by 64 feet broad, standing on a platform, which projected about 15
feet beyond the walls on all sides except the east, forming a terrace
adorned with plaster statues. It is supposed that this terrace was roofed.
in as a cloister. The entrance was on the east, in the centre of one of
the larger sides, through a portico supported on four Ionic columns.
This portico led into an entrance hall, 395 feet long from north to south,
by 152 feet broad from east to west. The sanctum or cella of the
temple lay behind this, with a length of 79 feet from north to south,
* Cunningham, Archwol. Rep., Vol. II, p. 129; Vol. V, pp. 69, 190.
+ Burn, Roman Literature and Art, p. 204,
t Cunningham, Archeol. Rep,, Vol. XIV, p. 9, Pl. VII.
§ Cunningham, ibid., Vol. V, pp 72, 190,
iv
116 V. A. Smith— Greco-Roman Tnjfluence [No. 8,
anda breadth of 233 feet from east to west. This room, except at the
wide doorway, was surrounded by a bench 4 feet 83 inches broad, and 2
feet high, which supported plaster statues of Buddha, with his hands
either resting on his lap or raised in the attitude of teaching. It is
remarkable that the hair of these figures was rendered by the conven-
tional curls, which are so commonly associated in later times with
Buddhist and Jain art. Unluckily no drawings or photographs of these
plaster figures have been published, and it is impossible to say whether
they were coeval with the Ionic pillars or not. I should not have ex-
pected to find plaster statues at the beginning of the Christian era, and
T suspect that the images are of considerably later date than the pillars.
Sir A. Cunningham believes that the roof was constructed mainly
of wood, and that the chambers were lighted by windows in the upper
part of the walls, which projected above the roof of the surrounding
cloister. He conjectures that the four portico pillars ‘‘must have been
intended to support a vaulted roof presenting a pointed arch gable to
the front, as in the smaller chapels across the Indus.” A small room,
20 feet 15 inch long by 15% feet broad, communicated with each end of
the entrance hall.
The reader will not fail to observe that the plan and elevation of
this temple have little in common with those of Greek temples.
Lagree with Sir A. Cunningham and Mr. Fergusson in regarding
the building's with Ionic pillars at Taxila as the oldest architectural
remains yet discovered in the Gandhara province, and I shall subsequent-
ly attempt to show that a considerable interval separates them from the
numerous edifices characterized by a lavish use of Corinthian pillars and
pilasters.
The fact that the Corinthian pillars and pilasters were used, much
in the same way as they are in many modern European buildings, for
decorative purposes applied to buildings of native design, and not as
members of an “order” in the technical sense, is clearly proved by
the manner in which Indo-Persian and Indo-Corinthian forms are
employed together. No styles can be more diverse than these, and yet
the Gandhira architects felt no scruples about employing them both in
the one building, or even in the one sculpture. The first plate in Major
Cole’s set of beautiful heliogravures affords a good illustration of thig
purely decorative use of two diverse styles. The subject of the plate is
an alto-rilievo of the seated Buddha embellished by numerous minor
figures and architectural decorations. ‘I'he latter chiefly consist of com-
binations of Indo-Persian pillars with plain “ Buddhist railings” and
ogee-shaped fagades, while the pilasters at the lower corners of the slab
have acanthus leaf capitals in the Indo-Corinthian style. This sculpture
was probably executed in the third century A. D,
ff
1889, ] on the Oiviligation of Ancient India. 117
Although there is no reason to suppose that the Gandhara buildings
adorned with Corinthian pillars were Greek or Roman in plan or eleva-
tion, the remains excavated, especially those at Jamalgarhi, prove that
such pillars, both circular and square in section, were used for structural
support, as well as for sculptural decoration.
No piece of Corinthian shaft has yet been discovered. The testi-
mony of the sculptures is not conclusive, but, so far as we can judge
from the miniature pillars and pilasters in the reliefs, the shafts were
plain, not fluted.
The incomplete lower parts of the bases of two structural pillars
have been found, and a comparison of their dimensions with those of the
pillars in the famous choragic monument of Lysicrates at Athens (B. C.
334) has satisfied Sir A. Cunningham that the Indian examples differ
from the Greek standard “ solely in giving an inward slope to the per-
pendicular narrow fillet which separates the scotia and torus,
“Tn both the Indian examples it will also be observed that the torus,
or round projecting moulding, is thickly foliated, like that of most of
the Corinthian bases. Of the upper part of the base not even a fragment
has yet been found; and the representations in the bas-reliefs do not
offer any assistance, as they show only one large and one small torus,
separated by an astragal, and altogether want the deeply marked scotia
which forms the leading characteristic of the Corimthian base, and which
is carefully preserved in both of the full-sized Indian specimens.”
The foliation referred to is not found on the bases of the pillars of
the monument of Lysicrates, and is, I think, purely Roman decoration.
T shall subsequently give reasons for dating the Gandhara pillars be-
tween A, D, 250 and 350, and for holding that all the Indian buildings
adorned with Corinthian pillars were constructed under the influence of
Roman art. The remains of structural Indo-Corinthian capitals, found
chiefly at Jamalgarhi and Takht-i-Bahi, are numerous, but unfortunately
are never perfect, owing to the brittleness of the clay slate in which they
were carved, and to the practice of constructing each capital from many
pieces bound together by iron cramps. The lower portion of the larger
capitals, some of which measure about three feet in diameter, was made
in from two to four pieces; the upper portion always consisted of four
segments.
The British Musenm possesses some fine examples of these capitals
collected by Sir A. Cunningham at Jamalgayhi, and smaller specimens
may be seen in the collection at South Kensington. Others are preserved
in the Indian Museum, Calcutta, and in the Lahore Museum.*
* Plates XLVII—L of Cunningham’s Archeol. Rep., Vol. VY, are devoted to the
illustration of Indo-Corinthian pillars. The restoration of elephants on the top of a
118 V. A. Smith — Greco-Roman Influence [No. 3,
Sir A. Cunningham, who was unwilling to recognize Roman in-
fluence on the art of Gandhara, compares the Indo-Corinthian capitals
with those of “ the pure Corinthian order of Greece ”’ as follows :—
“The chief points of similarity are :—
Ist, The three rows of acanthus leaves, eight in each row, which
are arranged round the drum or bell of the capital.
2nd. The broad, but not deep, volutes at the four corners.
3rd. The four pointed abacus with a curved recess in the middle
of each side.
The most marked points of difference are the following :—
Ist. The wide spread of the abacus, which is equal to 23 heights
of the whole capital, that of the Greek examples being little more than
1} height.
Qnd. The retention of the points at the four corners of the abacus,
which in all the Greek examples have been cut off.
8rd. The insertion of a fourth row of acanthus leaves which is
projected forward to the line joining the horns of the abacus. The
abacus is thus formed from a square having a curved recess on each side
of the central projection.
4th, The placing of flowers on the abacus which are supported on
twisted stems springing from the roots of the volutes. In a single
instance fabulous animals are added to the flowers on the horns of the
abacus.
5th. The insertion of human figures amongst the acanthus leaves,
whose overhanging tufts form canopies for the figures.”
I have quoted this passage in full, not because I attach much value
to the comparison made in it, but because it gives an authoritative
description of the characteristic features of the Indo-Corinthian capitals.
Sir A, Cunningham cannot help admitting the resemblance between
those specimens which exhibit human figures among the foliage and
Roman capitals found in the ruins of the baths of Caracalla, but avoids
the natural conclusion, and boldly declares that, if the design for these
capitals with human figures was suggested by any earlier works, “the
suggestion must have come from the creative Greeks of Ariana, and not
from the imitative Romans.”* On the other hand, I am fully convinced,
as I shall try presently to prove, that the design in question did come
“from the imitative Romans,” and that the art of Gandhara is essen-
capital shown in Pl. XLVIII is conjectural, and not supported by adequate evidence.
Two of the Jamélgarhi capitals are figured in Fergusson’s History of Indian and
astern Architecture, and a rough sketch of one specimen from the same place is
given in Indian Antiquary, Vol. III, p. 142.
* Cunningham, Archwol. Rep., Vol. V, pp. 192—194,
1889. ] on the Civilization of Ancient India. 119
tially Roman in style, The Jamalgarhi carvings date, I believe, from
about the middle of the third century A. D., and can be usefully com-
pared in detail only with the similar work in contemporary, or nearly
contemporary, Roman buildings. It is waste of trouble to make elabo-
rate comparison of their details with those of the monument of Lysi-
crates, which was erected about six hundred years previously, but I am
not sufficiently acquainted with the minutiae of architectural criticism
to pursue the subject further, and must leave to others the task of
accurately verifying the various differences and resemblances between
the Indo-Corinthian and Romano-Corinthian styles. Probably, how-
ever, the task would not justify the labour bestowed upon it. If the
Roman origin of the Indo-Corinthian style be admitted, very minute
study of variations in detail may be deemed superfluous, great variation
in the embellishment of Corinthian capitals being everywhere allowed
and practised.
Section ITT.
Tau GAnypufra oR Pususwar Scuoon or Scurrrurz Dascrisep.
A specimen of sculpture, apparently Indo-Hellenic in style, and
closely related to the work of the Gandhara school, was discovered at
Kabul in 1833,* but the first distinct announcement of the existence of
a school of Hellenic art in India was made in 1836 by James Prinsep,
the founder of scientific Indian archmology, who published in that year
at Calcutta a description, illustrated by rude plates, of the so-called
Silenus group procured by Colonel Stacy at Mathurd. This group,
though undoubtedly Indo-Hellenic in style, is not the work of the
Gandhara school. It will be discussed in the next following section.
The ruins of the monastery at Jamalgarhi, north-east of Peshawar,
were discovered by Sir A, Cunningham in 1848, but he did not publish
any account of his discovery till many years later,
The first published account of the Gandhara sculptures is that
written by the late Sir H. C. Bayley, who printed in the Journal of the
Asiatic Society of Bengal for the year 1852 an account, illustrated by
* Journal Asiatic Society of Bengal, Vol. III, p. 362, Pl. XXVI, fir, 1;
Anderson’s Catalogue, Part I, p. 261(K.1). The sculpture ig cirenlar, 154 inches
in diameter, and represents the seated meditating Buddha with flames proceeding
from his shoulders, and surrounded by subordinate figures. It was discovered in
November, 1833, in ruins two miles south-east of the city of Kabul, enclosed ina
large and beautifully roofed square masonry cell, “handsomely gilt, and coloured
by lapis lazuli, which is found in considerable quantities in the mines of Badakshan,
twelve days’ journey from Kabul.” Lapis lazuli has also been found on the site of
Taxila, and at Baoti Pind in the Rawalpindi District. (Cunningham, Archeol, Rep.,
Vol. II, pp. 117, 141).
120 V. A. Smith—Grwco-Roman Influence {No. 3,
the roughest possible sketches, of some remarkable sculptures found
at Jamalgarhi. The works, thus imperfectly illustrated, were subse-
quently brought to England, and exhibited in the Crystal Palace, where
they were destroyed by the disastrous fire which also consumed Major
Gill’s copies of the paintings on the walls and ceilings of the Ajanta
caves.
Prinsep’s and Bayley’s description of the works of Indo-Greek
sculptors failed to attract general attention, probably owing to the
extreme rudeness of the illustrative plates. Dr. Leitner, who brought to
Europe in 1870 a considerable collection of works of art, to which be
gave the name of Greco-Buddhist, is entitled to the credit of being the
first to interest the learned world in the existence of a school of Indo-
Hellenic architecture and sculptare.
Though the Greek influence on the style of the works exhibited by
Dr. Leitner, and on the many similar objects since discovered, is now
universally admitted, itis remarkable that, so late as the year 1875, at
least one writer of repute denied its existence.
“Tt has become a fashion recently,” wrote the late Mr. W. Vaux,
F.R.S., ‘to extend a Greek influence to districts east of Bactria, for
which I venture to think there is really but little evidence. Thus, we
are told that certain Buddhistic figures, chiefly in slate, procured by
Dr. Leitner and others to the north-east of Peshawar, exhibit on them
manifest traces of Greek art. Iam sorry to say that T cannot perceive
anything of the kind.’’*
The Greek influence on the Gandhara sculptures, which Mr. Vaux
could not perceive, is so obvious to other critics, that a formal refutation
of his ill-founded scepticism would now be superfluous. Professor Cur-
tius has rightly observed that the discoveries of Dr. Leitner, Sir A.
Cunningham, and other explorers in the Kabul valley, “open a new
page in the history of Greek art.”’+
The new page thus opened has as yet been little read, and I ven-
ture to hope that the following description of a few of the most note-
worthy examples of Indo-Hellenic art, and discussion of the sources
from which it was derived, may attract both classical and Oriental
scholars to the further exploration of a field hitherto very imperfectly
worked,
The present section will be devoted to the description of some of
the more remarkable and characteristic specimens of the work of the
* Numismatic Chronicle, Vol. XV, N.S§., p. 12, note.
+ Abhandlung iiber die Griechische Kunst, as quoted in Dr. Leitner’s Catalogne,
I believe the paper was published in the Archwologische Zeitung for 1875, but I
have not seen it.
1889.] on the Civilizution of Aneient India. * 121
very prolific sculptors belonging to the Gandhara school. The chrono-
logy and artistic relations of the school will be separately discussed in a
subsequent section ; at present I shall refer only very briefly to these
topics.
The oldest known example of Indo-Hellenic sculpture in the Panjab
probably is the statuette in purely Greek style of Pallas Athéné, the
original of which is in the Lahore Museum, Dr. Leitner has a good
cast of this work in his museum at Woking, and Sir A. Cunningham
possesses a photograph of it. It is shown in Plate VII.
The attitude of the goddess is that represented on certain coins of
Azes, which show her helmeted, standing, facing front, crowning herself
with her right hand, and holding in her left hand a spear obliquely
across her body. The goddess of the coins carries a shield also on her
left arm, but the statuette is imperfect, and the shield has been lost.*
The close relation of this seulpture to the coins of Azes proves that
it must be approximately contemporary with that prince, that is to say,
that it dates from the beginning of the Christian era, or possibly a few
years earlier. It therefore belongs to the same period as do the Ionic
pillars of the Taxilan temples. The statuette is said to have been found
somewhere in the Yusufzai country, but the exact locality where it was
discovered does not seem to be known.
T shall explain subsequently my reasons for thinking that this
statuette of Pallas is a relic of Indo-Hellenic sculpture properly so called,
as distinguished from the Indo-Roman school to which all, or almost all,
the other examples of Gandhara art belong.
The effigy of the virgin goddess of Athens cannot be certainly
connected with any Indian religious system, and we cannot say whether
the statuette above described formed part of the decoration of a Bud-
dhist temple or not. But in all probability it did, for every specimen
of Indo-Hellenic sculpture from Gdéndhdra, the find-spot of which is
known, belonged to a Buddhist building of one sort or another.
Most of the sculptures are evidently Buddhist in subject, but some
of them, notably the figures supposed to represent kings, deal with
secular subjects, though used to decorate edifices consecrated to the
service of religion.
* Gardner, Catalogue of Coins of Greek Kings of Bactria and India, Plate
XVIII, 4. Cunningham, in his Descriptive List (No. 21), observes, ‘‘ The lower right
arm, which probably bore the wgis with the head of Medusa, has been lost.” This
remark is evidently erroneous, The goddess on the coins carries, as might be
expected, the shield on her left arm, and grasps the spear with her left hand. Her
right arm is raised, with the hand to her head, as for the purpose of crowning
herself,
122
V. A. Smith— Greco-Roman Influence [No. 3
,
Dr. Leitner and Sir A. Cunningham both consider that the most
striking piece in the extensive collection at the Lahore Museum is the
figure of a throned king, resting his left foot on a footstool, and grasping
a spear in his left hand. See Plate VIII. The upper part of the body
is naked, the head-dress is rich, and the squarely cut eyes are remarkably
prominent. The work is in good preservation, the right arm alone being
wanting, The king’s attitude is easy, his expression is dignified, and the
outlines of his figure are boldly drawn, Small figures, which have been
conjectured to represent conquered aborigines, are attached to the right
and left. The identity of the attitude of the principal figure of this fine
group with the attitude of the Indo-Scythian kings as shown on their
coins naturally suggests that the sculpture represents one of these
sovereigns. I do not know where the sculpture was found.*
Sir A. Cunningham found at Jamdlgarhi fifteen or sixteen statues,
some seated, and some standing, which he supposes to be those of kings,
and observes that ‘these royal statues are known by their moustaches,
and the numerous strings of gems worked into their head-dresses, Tho
arrangement of the hair is different in each separate specimen, and, as
the features also differ, there seems little doubt that they are portrait
statues.’’>
In the case of one statue in the Lahore Museum, (No 6 of Descrip-
ive List, and No. 63 of Dr, Leitner’s Catalogue), which Professor Cur-
tins compares with the Greek ideal type of Apollo, the royal character
of the person portrayed is unmistakeably indicated by the presence of
the regal fillet, the ends of which float loosely behind his head, in the
same way as they are shown on the coins of Greek princes both of
Europe and Asia.
It is hardly possible that all these so-called royal statues can be
intended as ideal representations of Buddha as Prince Siddhactha,
before he adopted the religious life, though some of them probably
should be so interpreted. Mr. Fergusson suggested that they should be
regarded as images of Buddhist saints, and the presence of the nimbus
behind the head in many cases supports this suggestion. t
The presence or absence of moustaches proves nothing, for Buddha
is frequently represented as wearing moustaches in the works of the
Gandhara school. If the images in question were portrait statues, as
suggested by Sir A. Cunningham, they would probably be inseribed.
It seems hardly credible that sculptors would execute numerous por-
traits of Kanishka and other kings without taking the trouble of indi-
* Cunningham, Descriptive List, No. 2; Leitner, Catalogue, No, 73.
+ Cunningham, Archeol. Rep., Vol. V, pp. 197, 202.
f History of Indian and Bastern Architecture, p. 179,
1889. ] on the Oivilization of Aneient India. 123
cating for whom the portraits were intended. I think it more likely
that these so-called royal figures are not portraits of individuals, but
that they are ideal representations, in some cases of kings, and in some
cases of saints.
The museums in London and Calcutta possess several examples of
sculptures of this class. Two from the upper monastery at Nuttu are
depicted in Major Cole’s heliogravure plates Nos, 24 and 25. The
statue or statuette shown in the latter plate represents a man of dwarf-
ish figure, standing, as if preaching, with a nimbus behind his head.
The legs are thick and badly executed, and the work seems to me to be
of comparatively late date, probably subsequent to A. D. 300. This
figure, in spite of the ornaments and moustaches, appears intended to
represent a preaching saint rather than a king.
The works above described were all, so far as is known, associated
with Buddhist buildings, though in themselves not obviously Buddhist
in subject. I shall now proceed to describe sculptures, the subjects of
which are taken from the rich stores of Buddhist mythology.
The birth-scene of Gautama, or Prince Siddhartha, who in after
days won the honourable title of the Buddha, or the Hnlightened, is a
favourite subject with Buddhist artists, and recurs in their works almost
as frequently as representations of the Nativity are met with in Chris-
tian art.
Sir A, Cunningham, in the catalogue of sculptures excavated,
chiefly at Jamalgarhi, under his supervision, enumerates four examples
of this favourite subject, two of which are now in the Indian Museum,
(G. 1 and 2).* See Plate IX, fig. 1. Major Cole gives a plate of a
tolerably well-preserved specimen discovered at the upper monastery of
Nuttu during subsequent explorations in the Yisufzai country.t
According to Buddhist belief, Maya Devi, the Buddhist Madonna,
was standing under a sdl tree, when she gave birth to the holy infant,
who sprang from her right side, and was received in a golden net by
Brahma, attended by the devas, or angels. This legend appears to be,
like the sculptures which express it, descended from a Greek original.
Mr. Beal has pointed out that, in several respects, it closely resembles
the Greek myth of the birth of Apollo in Delos.{
The details of the scene vary considerably in different sculptures,
but the traditional grouping of the principal figures is never materially
changed. The description of one specimen will, therefore, suffice for all.
* Dy. Anderson’s Catalogue, Part I, pp. 199, 202.
+ Seven examples of sculptures of the nativity of Buddha preserved in the
Lahore Museum are enumerated in Cunningham’s Descriptive List, which, as usual,
gives no indication of the localities where they were discovered.
f Indian Antiquary, Vol. IX, p. 68.
Q
124 V. A. Smith—Greco- Roman influence [No. 3,
On the slab photographed by Major Cole (Plate 11) Maya is shown,
standing, facing the spectator, with her head slightly inclined, and the
weight of her body thrown on the right foot. Her left leg is crossed in
front, with the toes resting lightly on the ground. In her right hand
she grasps a branch of the over-shadowing tree, and her left arm is
thrown round the neck of her half-sister Prajipati, who supports her.
The figure of the sister is turned in a singularly awkward posture, so as
to show most of her back.* The infant Buddha, springing with out-
stretched arms from his mother’s side, is recognizable, though much
mutilated; the figure of Brahma is almost completely destroyed. The
other attendants, who are introduced in some examples, are here want-
ing. A harp in the upper corner of the composition indicates the
heavenly music which heralded the advent of him whose mission it was
to still the discords of millions of human hearts.
In this work the pose of Maya is tolerably graceful, her figure is free
from the usual Indian exaggeration, and her expression, in conformity
with the belief that the Buddha cost his mother none of the pangs of
travail, is perfectly calm. Her hair is richly braided, and arranged in
the form of a crown or tiara,
A very finely executed statuette of Maya Devi, standing alone, which
was obtained at the same monastery, (Cole, Plate 15, figure 2), shows her
in nearly the same attitude as in the birth scene, holding above her head
the branch of a conventional tree, more or less resembling a palm.
The drapery of this figure is specially elegant. The principal gar-
ment is a tunie (chiton) reaching to the knees, and confined at the
waist, by a rich girdle of four strings, adorned with clasp and vine-leaf
pendant.
1889. ] on the Civilization of Ancient India. 14.9
coins of Azes exhumed from under the temple of Malidr-hi-mora (Shah-
dheri), from which the Indo-Ionic capitals and bases were extracted.
The Indo-Corinthian examples should be equally old, at least all
the fine examples. But the oldest that can be proved, belongs to the
time of the Antonines, and is certainly older than Constantine.”
[Here follow detailed references to the stépas at Manikyaéla and
elsewhere, and to the use of the Arian alphabet, which has been sufii-
ciently discussed above. |
“‘T would, therefore, ascribe all the greater works, both of sculpture
and architecture, to the flourishing period of Kushan sway under
Kanishka, Huvishka, and Vasu Deva—, or from 80 to 200 A. D.
Doubtless many sfiépas were erected after A. D. 200; but they were
comparatively small, and their decorations rough and coarse.”
[Reference is then made to the Sahri Bahlol image, and the Hidda
and Baoti Pind topes, which will be discussed subsequently. ]
“ T notice that none of the sculptured head-dresses show any affinity
with Sassanian costume, whereas the coins (Indo-Sassanian) show it
unmistakeably, from about the time of Bahrim Gor. From this I infer
that the sculptures are older than 400 A. D,
“TI believe that the strong Sassanian government from A. D, 230 to
450 formed a very effectual barrier to intercourse between Rome and
N.-W. India. Roman geld coins are plentiful down to the time of
Severus and Caracalla [A. D. 217]. They then disappear until the
time of Justin [A. D. 526], Marcian [A. D. 450], Leo [A. D, 474], and
Anastasius.” [A. D. 491-518].*
I am not able to agree altogether with either Mr. Fergusson or Sir
A, Cunningham, and shall now proceed to state the reasons which seem
to me suflicient to justify me in venturing to differ from such eminent
authorities.
Tt will be convenient to attempt in the first place to fix possible
limiting dates, and, when that has been done, to determine, so far as
may be, the approximate actual dates of the sculptures. The chronolo-
gical enquiry involves the determination of their aesthetic affinities.
As to the initial date there is practically no dispute. It is impos-
sible to be certain that ‘“ the Indo-Grecian style” was really “introduced
* My quotations are from a letter dated 8th January 1889, with which Sir A,
Cunningham favoured me in answer to enquiries, and whieh consequently, express
his latest and deliberate opinion on the subject. In the Introduction to Volume V
of the Archaological Reports he had long ago expressed the same opinion as to the
relation between the Kushén dynasty and the Gandhara sculptures, but the theory
which he then held as to the Kushin chronology obliged him to fix the date of the
sculptures nearly a century and a half earlier than he now does.
150 V. A, Smith—Greco-Roman influence [No. 3,
by the Greeks who ruled the country,” as Sir A. Cunningham affirms
that it must have been, because, with the exception of coins, not a
vestige of Bactrian art is known to exist, and we know nothing almost
about the Greeks who ruled the country beyond the names of some of
them.
But, whoever introduced Greek art into India, so far as our present
knowledge extends, the Taxilan Ionic temples are certainly our oldest
specimens of Indo-Greek architecture, and the statuette of Athene, in
the same posture in which she is shown on the coins of Azes, is our
oldest Indo-Greek sculpture from the Gandhira region. Both the
temples and statuette must date approximately from the beginning of
the Christian era.
It has been shown above (p. 112) that Greek art influenced Indian
sculpture and architectural decoration from the time of Asoka B. C.
250, and that more or less distinct traces of its influence may be traced
in the interior of India for several centuries afterwards. Greek ideas
reached India by at least two routes, namely, overland through Bactria,
and by sea through the ports of the western coast.
The Athene and the Taxilan Ionic pillars are, I think, to be classed
among the results of this old and long-continued Hellenistic influence.
The bases of the Ionic pillars at Taxila, according to the measure-
ments of their discoverer, correspond exactly with the pure Attic model,
as seen in the Hrectheum. ‘ The capitals differ from the usual Greek
forms very considerably, and more especia!ly in the extreme height of
the abacus. The volutes also differ, but they present the same side
views of a baluster, which is common to all the Greek forms of the
Ionic order.”* In other words, the pillars, though with peculiarities of
their own, are Greck, not Roman. The Roman modification of the
Tonic order was characterized by corner yolutes.
At the beginning of the Christian era Roman art, as will be explain-
ed presently, had not affected India, and the fact that the Taxilan Ionic
pillars are Greek, not Roman, in style, harmonizes perfectly with the
numismatic evidence that they were erected soon after B. C. 30.
So far, then, as the Athene and the Ionic pillars are concerned, it
must be admitted that the Gandhara seulptures go back to the be-
ginning of the Christian era, and A. D. 1 may be taken as the anterior
limiting date. Nothing older is known in the Gandhira region. IT
shall endeavour to prove subsequently that nothing else which has been
found there is nearly so old.
{ shall now try to fix the posterior limiting date, which Mr, Fergus-
* Archeol, Rep, Vol, V, p. 71, Pl. XVIII.
—
1889.] on the Oivilization of Ancient India. 151
son places in the eighth century, and Sir A. Cunningham at the be-
ginning of the fifth.
The extension of the Graco-Buddhist series of sculptures down to
the eighth century A. D. by Mr. Fergusson was suggested by the pub-
lished accounts of the opening of the great tope at Manikyéla many years
ago by General Ventura.
The undisturbed deposit which was found in the lower portion of
that building included coins of Kanishka and Huvishka, and none
later, and is legitimately interpreted as signifying that the structure
in its original form cannot be older than A. D. 110, nor much later than
A. D. 150.
The upper deposits, about the exact position of which there is
some doubt, contained various coins ranging in date from A. D. 632 to
about A. D. 730, and undoubtedly show that the top of the building must
have been opened in the eighth century, and a deposit then made. But
they prove nothing more.
We are altogether ignorant of the circumstances under which these
upper deposits were made, and it is very unsafe to build any historical
theories on their existence. The great tope at Manikyala is adorned
with Indo-Corinthian pilasters, the existing capitals of which are exe-
cuted in kankar, or nodular limestone. Sir A. Cunningham supposes
that all the original work of the tope was in sandstone, and that the
kankar mouldings date from the eighth century.* No other example
of Indo-Corinthian work of that date is known, and, if the existing
capitals were executed in the eighth century, I feel certain that they
were mere restorations. As a matter of fact their date is quite uncer-
tain, The attempt to connect the coin of Yaso Varma, A. D. 730,
which was found in the upper deposit, with supposed repairs of the
tope in the eighth century is purely conjectural. All we really know
is that somebody for some reason unknown opened the building at the
top and put ina coin of Ydéso Varma. Such an adventitious supple-
mentary deposit is no substantial basis for an argument that Buddhism
and Indo-Hellenie art still flourished in the Gandhara region in the
eighth century, and, except Yaso Varma’s coin, no evidence whatever,
so far as I am aware, exists to support the inference that the Gandhara
school of art continued to exist so late as the eighth century.
In another place, Mr. Fergusson, still relying on the same poor
little coin, has given an unwarrantable extension to the duration
* The ereat Minikydla tope is discussed by Cunningham at considerable length
in Archwol Rep., Vol. II, p. 139, and Vol. V, pp. 76—78.
+ [It is more probable that the coin is of the 6th century, of a Yaso Varman
about
582 A. D. This would admirably fit in with “ the limiting date” given on
9
p. 153, See Proceedings for August 1888, Ep.],
152 V. A. Smith—Grweco-Roman influence [No. 3,
of Buddhism asa dominant faith in Gandhadra. “There were,’ he
writes, “ probably no great Buddhist establishments in Gandhara before
Kanishka, and as few, if any, after Ydso Varma, yet we learn that
between these dates [%. e. circa A. D, 78 to 730], this province was as
essentially Buddhist as any part of India.*
In support of the last clause of this sentence the Chinese travellers
Fa Hian and Hiuen T'siang are appealed to, but their testimony does not
support the conclusion drawn from it. After the middle of the seventh
“* essen-
century, when Hiuen Tsiang wrote, very few parts of India were
tially Buddhist,” and Gandhara certainly was not. In A, D. 730 very
little Buddhism can have been left in it.
Mr. Fergusson’s language is correct wheu it is confined to the be-
ginning of the fifth century. Fa Hian who travelled in India in the
years A. D, 400—405, found Buddhism vigorous and flourishing in
Gandhara, as in a large part of India. But, at the time of the travels of
Hiuen Tsiang, A. D. 629—642, a very great change had taken place, and
Gandhara was very far from being “ essentially Buddhist.”
The capital city of Gandhara, the modern Peshawar, is, he notes
“about 40 i [= 6 to 7 miles] in circuit. The royal family is extinct,
and the kingdom is governed by deputies from Kapisa [N. of Kabul].
The town and villages are deserted, and there are but few inhabitants.
At one corner of the royal residence there are about 1,000 families
* * * ‘There are about 1,000 sanghdrémas [monasteries], which are
deserted and in ruins. They are filled with wild shrubs, and solitary to
the last degree. The stvipas are mostly decayed. The heretical temples,
to the number of about 100, are occupied pell-mell by heretics.”
At Pushkalavati, the modern Hashtnagar, the pilerim found a
large population, but not of the congregation of the faithful, for the
Buddhist buildings, like those of the capital, were in ruins.
Taxila, east of the Indus, was dependent on Kashmir, the royal
family here also being extinct. The monasteries are described as
‘ruinous and deserted, and there are very few priests; those that there
are, study the Great Vehicle.’’>
The graphic and emphatic words of Hiuen Tsiang prove with abso-
lute certainty that at the time of his visits (A. D. 629—642) the Buddhist
religion in Gandhara was nearly extinct. The utter decay of which he
gives such clear testimony must have been in progress for a considerable
time. Itis not possible that the Buddhist edifices of Peshawar could have
become “ deserted and in ruins, filled with wild shrubs, and solitary to
the last degree”’ in a day.
* History of Indian and Eastern Architecture, p. 76.
+ Beal, Buddhist Records of the Western World, Vol. I, pp. 100, 109, 187.
y
1889.] on the Civilization of Ancient India. 153
It is quite safe to assume that Buddhism had ceased to be an active
force in the Gandhara region, including Taxila, by the year A. D. 600;
and it is inconceivable that new religious edifices on any corsiderable
scale should have been erected, or works of art deserving of the name,
executed in that region subsequent to that date by the scattered, poverty-
stricken, and necessarily dispirited adherents of a decaying religion.
It follows, therefore, that the series of Greco-Buddhist works in
Gandhara does not extend, as Mr. Fergusson supposed, to the eighth
century, but, on the contrary, was closed by the end of the sixth
century.
As amatter of fact, the closing date must, I believe, be pushed
back considerably farther, but in any ease, A. D. 600 must be taken as the
extreme possible limiting posterior date for any work of the Gandhdra school
in the Lower Kabul Valley. The dates of which we are in search lie,
therefore, between A. D. 1 and A. D. 600,
The above argument, based on the testimony of Hiuen Tsiang,
appears to me unanswerable, but it may be well to supplement it by
other arguments, in themselves of less force, which reduce the closing
date to still narrower bounds. I have already quoted Sir A Cunniue-
ham’s remark that the head dresses of the Gandhara sculptures show no
affinity with the Sassanian costume, and that the sculptures may there-
fore be regarded as prior, not only to A. D. 600, but to A. D. 400,
Another observation of Sir A. Cunningham’s leads to nearly the
same conclusion. He observes that ‘all, or nearly all, Buddhist build-
ing must have been stopped after the occupation of Peshawar by
Kitolo’s son in the latter part of the fifth century.” The Chinese ac-
count show that “the last king of the Yuchi [Yueh-ti] mentioned in
history is Kitolo, who took possession of Gandhara, but was obliged to
return to the west to oppose the white Huns, leaving his son in charge
of the new province. The son established his capital in Fo-lu-she,
or Parshawaér [Peshawar]; and the name of the founder of the Little
Yuchi, as they were afterwards called, still survives in the title of Shah
Kator, the Chief of Chitral.”’*
The coins of the kings of the Little Yuchi are described as bearing
Saiva emblems,t and the kings themselves, therefore, were presumably
Brahmanists. It is going too far to assume with Sir A. Cunningham
that the rule of a Saiva king must necessarily have put a stop to all,
or nearly all, Buddhist buildings, but it must certainly have been un-
* My first quotation is from a private letter. The second is from Archeol.
Rep., Vol. II, p. 63. I have not verified the reference to Chinese authors, which
is not given in detail,
+ Archaeol Rep., Vol. V, p.7. I have not seen any of these coins.
V. A. Smith—Greco-Roman influence [No. 3,
favourable to their erection, In another place Sir A. Cunnincham
speaks of “the first persecution of Buddhism by the Saiva kings of
the Little Yuchi,’”* but I do not know what evidence exists for this
alleged persecution, Whatever may have been the precise attitude of
the Little Yuchi kings towards Buddhism, it is certain that the latter
years of the fifth century were times of conflict and turmoil throughout
Northern India. The Bhitari pillar inscription records the struggles be-
tween the Guptadynasty and the Huns (Hinas), and in or about A. D.
480, on the death of Skanda Gupta, the Gupta empire broke up.-
Whether these panegyrics are overstrained or not I shall not
attempt to decide, but I am fully persuaded that no art at all deserving
of such praise was ever born on Indian soil,
“ India, meditated, brooded, elaborated, but the originating imagina-
tion is not found in the dream-life.”}
Whoever seriously undertakes the critical study of the paintings
at Ajanta and Bagh will find, I have no doubt, that the artists drew
their inspiration from the West, and, I think, he will also find that their
style is a local development of the cosmopolitan art of the contemporary
Roman Empire.
Section VII. Tur Arr or Cornacn i Invi.
The opinion expressed by Lenormant that the mechanical process
of coining money, properly so called, was unknown to the Indians until
they learned it from the Greeks after the invasion of Alexander, was
vigorously combated by the late Mr. Thomas on several occasions, and,
in my judgment, with success.§
* Cave Temples of India, p. 807.
+ Cave Temples of India, p. 311.
t This quotation is taken from a letter of my friend Dr. R. Atkinson, the learn-
ed Professor of Sanskrit in the University of Dublin.
§ The question is discursively treated in Mr. Thomas’ papers on the Harliest
Indian Coinage and on Ancient Indian Weights in the Numismatic Chronicle for
1884, and in his revised edition of the latter paper in the first volume of the Jnter-
national Numismata Orientalia,
178
The truth seems to be that, though all ancient Indian coinages with
the slightest pretensions to artistic merit are ultimately of Greek origin,
yet the idea of coining money, and a knowledge of the simple mechanical
processes necessary for the production of rude coins originated inde-
pendently in India, or, at the least, were not borrowed from the Greeks.
Although I agree with Mr. Thomas and Sir A. Cunningham in
rejecting the theory of the Greek descent of all Indian coins without
exception, it must be admitted that it would be extremely difficult, if
not impossible, to prove that any particular ancient Indian coin now
extant is older than the time of Alexander the Great. Sir A. Cunning-
ham has ventured more than once on the bold assertion respecting the
so-called ‘ punch-marked’ coins, that ‘ many of them are as old as
1000 B. C., and perhaps even older,’*
When it is remembered that no stone building, sculpture, or in-
scription anywhere in India is known to exist which is older than the
reign of Asoka, some Seventy years after the inyasion of Alexander the
Great, it is clear that a claim on behalf of a coin to an antiquity of 1000
B. C. is very difficult to substantiate, Nothing in India exists, which
can be compared with it, that is not seven and a half centuries later in
date. The supposition that any Indian coins are to be dated 1000 B. C.
is &@ mere guess, unsupported by a single fact. I cannot venture to
name any other date for the beginnings of Indian coinage, for the reason
that nothing really is known on the subject. It is possible that certain
coins may be very old, but they cannot be proved to be so, and the
independent origin of Indian coinage cannot be demonstrated by showing
that any given extant piece is older than Alexander, I do not know of
the existence of any Indian coin which may not possibly be later than
his time.
The really valid reason for denying the Greek origin of the art of
of coinage in India is that several classes of early Indian coins do not
exhibit a single clear trace of Greek influence, whereas they are plainly
marked by special Indian characteristicg.
The coinage of India in its most primitive form consisted of small,
oblong, roughly rectangular plates of silver, withont any impression on
the surface, but struck to a definite standard of weight, namely, 82 ratds,
or 583 grains. A slight improyement was made when these little plates
of silver were stamped with rough devices of stars, trees, and so forth.
These devices were impressed by means of small punches, not covering
the face of the coin, and sometimes it appears that all the various
patterns on the surface of a single piece, were not executed at once, but
were impressed successively at different times by the aid of several
* Archeol. Rep., Vol. I, p. 70; II, pp. 229, 264, 288,
V. A. Smith—Graco-Roman influence [No. 8,
“-
ae
1889. ] on the Civilization of Ancient India. 179
punches. Coins of this kind, which were struck both in silver and
copper, are, therefore, known to Indian numismatists as ‘ punch-
marked’ coins. Like the blanks, which presumably preceded them,
they are struck to the Indian standard of 32 ratis. This standard
cannot, I believe, be in any way connected with the Greek metric
system. The punch-marked coins are destitute of legends, but the
purely Indian character of their devices and their Indian standard of
weight render it incredible that they should be the result of Greek
influence.
Other early Indian coins with a general resemblance to the punch-
marked pieces were either cast in a mould or struck with a die covering
the face of the coin, and some few of the oldest of such cast and die-
struck coins, which follow Indian standards of weight, are inscribed
with characters of the form current in the days of Asoka. The devices
of these coins are as indigenous as those of the punch-marked class.*
Tt is, I venture to suggest, by no means unlikely that the use of
legends on coins was suggested by Greek example. The earliest in-
seribed Indian coins are proved by the characters used in their brief
legends to belong approximately to the period of Asoka, whose inscrip-
tions are the earliest examples of the use of the alphabet, afterwards
known as Devanagari. The history of that alphabet has not yet been
satisfactorily traced, and the sudden appearance of long and complicated
records inscribed in its characters during the reign of Asoka is an un-
explained mystery. The simultaneous first appearance on Indian soil
of stone architecture and stone sculpture in the same reign is another
mystery. But, however mysterious be the exact origin of all these
sudden innovations, it is tolerably clear that they were in some way the
result of the foreign, especially the Greek, influences which certainly
affected the policy both of Agoka and his grandfather. It seems to be a
plausible conjecture that the introduction of coin legends about the same
time was another effect of the same potent foreign forces.
However this may be, the various kinds of early coins, to which
I have alluded above, bear no other mark whatever of foreign origin.
It is, therefore, reasonable to conclude that the art of manufacturing
¥ For discussion of these early Indian coins see the above quoted essays by
Mr. Thomas. In Cunningham’s Archeol. Rep., Vol. VI, pp. 213-220, Mr. Carlleyle
has attempted a classification of the punch-marked coins, the weights of which are
discussed by Sir A, Cunningham in ibid., Vol. XIV, p. 16. The classes of early
coins found at Eran are discussed and figured in ibid., Vol. X, p. 77, Pl. XXIV.
See also ibid., Vol. II, p. 10; V, p. 154, Pl. XXXI, and VI, p. 167. But the numis-
matie history of India remains to be written. I assume 1825 grain as the best
established value for the ratf, for the reasons stated in Jowrnnl As, Soc. of Bengal
Vol, LITL, part I, p. 146,
Y
180 V. A Smith—Greeco-Roman influence [No. 3,
such rude coins was invented in India independently of Greek teaching.
But this conclusion does not prove that any such coins should be assign-
ed to a very remote period. It is quite impossible to say when the use
of blank or punch-marked rectangular pieces of silver or copper of definite
weight began, and it is difficult to say when it ended. I suspect that in
out-of-the-way corners of India the old-fashioned punch-marked pieces
continued to be struck centuries after coins of more regular fabric had
become familiar in the more advanced parts of the country, and that
specimens of the ancient, indigenous coinage long continued in circula-
tion side by side with pieces struck in imitation of foreign models. At
the present day the people of the districts between Fyzabad and Patna
obstinately cling to the custom of using the clumsy, mis-shapen lumps
of copper, known as ‘dumpy’ or ‘ Gorakhpuri pice,’ and refuse to cir-
culate the well-executed, and, to Huropean notions, convenient copper
coinage issued from the British mints. During the past year the
Government of India has found itself compelled to make an effort to
suppress by law the currency of the unauthorized ‘dumpy pice.’ The
mere form, then, of any given punch-marked or other rude uninscribed
coin is a very imperfect test of its age.
So far as I can learn, no definite evidence is producible to show
that any Indian coin now extant is of earlier date than B, C. 300. The
complete absence of all traces of foreign influence on the Indian coins
of the most primitive form renders probable the hypothesis that some
of them were struck before India entered into at all intimate relations
with the peoples of the West, but that is the most that can at present
be said in favour of the alleged extreme antiquity of some Indian coins.
The arguments of Mr. Thomas, so far as they are based on the references to
coins in the Code of Manu and other early Sanskrit books, cannot be
regarded as valid, when viewed in the light of modern research into the
chronology of Sanskrit literature.
The rare, but now well-known coins of Sophytes, a prince in the
Panjab, who was contemporary with Alexander the Great, are rather
earlier than any indigenous Indian coins can be proved to be, and are
altogether Greek in device and legend, though perhaps not in weight-
standard. They are modelled on the pattern of coins of the Seleucid
kings of Syria.*
The extensive mintages of the Greco-Bactrian kings (from B. C.
246 to circa B. C. 25) were mostly issued in countries beyond the limits
of India, but long circulated freely in the Panjab, the valley of the
Ganges, and the ports of the western coast.
#* Gardner, Catalogue of Coins of Greek and Scythic kings of Bactria and India,
p. xx.
‘p
1889.] on the Owvilization of Ancient India. 181
No known coin can be determined to have been issued by the great
Asoka or any member of his dynasty. The few legends found on coins
of the period give no clue to the name of the reigning sovereign. Asoka
must have struck coin to a large extent during his long reign, and, as
not a single piece bearing his name has been found, the only possible
conclusion is, that the bulk of his coinage consisted of the rude, unin-
scribed pieces above referred to. These coins were struck, as we have
seen, to the Indian standard, and they circulated side by side with the
Greco-Bactrian issues, specimens of which are found in large numbers
all over Northern India,
The general adaptation in India of Greek or Greco-Roman types
of coinage was the result of the Indo-Seythian invasions about the be-
ginning of the Christian era. The indigenous Indian coinage consisted
of silver and copper. I cannot undertake to say that gold coins were
absolutely unknown in India before the Indo-Scythian invasions, but, if
they existed, they were insignificant in quantity, for not a single speci-
men of them has ever been discovered. The earliest gold coins struck
in India, which follow the indigenous scale of weights, are the heavy
coins of Chandra Gupta II of the Gupta dynasty, and these are not
earlier than A, D, 400. All coins of the Gupta dynasty are die-struck,
and their outward form, whether they follow the Indian or the Greek
weight-standard, is ultimately derived from Greek originals.*
The Indo-Scythian kings introduced a regular gold currency into
India and struck vast quantities of gold coins, as well as of copper.
Their gold coins combine various foreign elements, but are essentially
Roman aurei, equivalent to Greek staters. The Gupta coinage is related
to the Indo-Scythian, and its devices exhibit faint traces of Greek
artistic power as late as A. D. 400. After the break-up of the Gupta
empire about A. D. 480, the coinage of India became utterly barbarous,
and lost all marks of Hellenic influence on design, legend, or standard.
As regards the origin of coinage in India my opinion, in short, is
that the. art of coinage in rude forms arose in India quite independently
of Greek teaching. Neither the invasion of Alexander the Great, nor
the example of his Bactrian successors sufficed to induce the princes of
India to abandon their indigenous style of coinage. One petty chiof
in the Panjab, Sophytes by name, struck coins after the Greek fashion,
but found no imitators in the interior of India. Asoka and the other
sovereigns of the Maurya dynasty continued to issue coins of the old
native pattern, on which they did not even inscribe their names.
* Wor information in detail about the Gupta coinage I must refer to my paper
on the Harly or Imperial Gupta Dynasty of Northern India in the Journal of the
Royal Asiatic Society for 1889, pp. 1-158, with five plates,
182 V. A. Smith—Greco- Roman influence [No. 3,
The general (though not universal) adaptation of Greek numismatic
forms copied from Roman coins was the work of the Indo-Scythian
dynasties, whose rule in the Panjab began a little before the Chris-
tian era, and spread over all Northern India during the three follow-
ing centuries. The introduction of coins of Greek type was synchron-
ous with the development of an extensive gold currency, which partly
replaced, and partly supplemented the existing issues in other metals.
The Gupta coinage A. D. 350 to 480 is a development of the Indo-
Scythian.
From the fall of the Gupta empire to the establishment of the
Muhammadan power all Indian coinages are barbarous and chaotic, and
completely destitute of artistic merit.*
The die-cutters of India never attained any high degree of excel-
lence in their art. Those of Bactria, as distinguished from India,
produced coins, not, indeed, approaching in beauty those of Syracuse,
but possessing characteristics which entitle them to respectful con-
sideration as works of art.
Professor Gardner observes ;—‘‘ In the types used by Greek kings
we find great variety, and they open to us quite a new chapter of Greek
art, affording fresh proof of the remarkable originality of the artists of
the Hellenistic age.
“In regard to the style we may note two points: (1). The extra-
ordinary realism of their portraiture. The portraits of Demetrins
(pl. II, 9), of Antimachus, (V, 1), and of Hucratides, (V, 7), are among
the most remarkable which have come down to us from antiquity, and
the effect of them is heightened in each case by the introduction of a
peculiar and strongly characteristic head- dress, which is rendered with
scrupulous exactness of detail.
(2). The decidedly Praxitelean character of the full length on
the reverses. The figures of Herakles (pl. II, 9; UI, 3),of Zeus (IV,
4; VII, 2), of Poseidon, (V, 1), of Apollo (V, 4; IX, 10), are all in
their attitudes characteristic of the school of Praxiteles.”+
Some of the Bactrian coins were struck within the limits of the
territories now known as India, but most of them were minted beyond
the border, and the Bactrian coinage, as a whole, is foreign to India.
* My remarks must be understood as applying only to Northern India in the
widest sense. The system of coinage in Southern India has always been quite
distinct, and I do not profess to have studied its history. The Peninsula was never
brought into really close political relations with Northern India until the es-
tablishment of the British supremacy. Hven Aurangzib’s protracted campaigns did
little to bridge over the gulf between the two regions,
+ Catalogue of Coins of Greek and Scylhic kings of Bactria and India, p. lviii,
1889,] on the Cwilization of Ancient India. 183
I do not propose to discuss its relations with the general course of
Greek art, and refer to its peculiarities only to enquire how far they
affected the art of coinage in India.
The realistic portraits executed by the Bactrian artists were be-
yond the powers of the Indian die-cutters. The Indo-Seythian coins,
except the very latest, are well executed pieces of metal work, but,
without exception, almost totally wanting in artistic merit. The effigies
of the kings are conventional, and the whole design is stiff and formal,
Some of the Gupta coins display more freedom and originality in design,
but not a single example of a recognizable portrait can be found, I believe,
either in the Indo-Scythian or Gupta series,
The influence of the second peculiarity of the Bactrian coinage
noted by Professor Gardner can be discerned in the Gupta series,
though not, I think, in the Indo-Scythian. The peculiar attitude of the
standing statues of the school of Praxiteles consists in this that the
weight of the body is thrown on one leg, the figure being inclined to
one side, and bent in a graceful curve so that the hip on the other side
is arched outwards. This peculiarity, which in the hands of a good
Greek artist, added grace to the representation of the human form,
was imitated by the Graeco-Bactrian mint masters with considerable
success. It caught the Indian taste, but, in the hands of clumsy imi-
tators, was converted into a hideous deformity. An inartistic exageera-
tion of the Praxitelean attitude is characteristic of many of the Gupta
coins ef the fifth century, and of much Indian sculpture from an early
date until the present day.
Unhappily the history of Indian art, is, as observed by Mr. Fereus-
son, a history of decay, and the criticism, passed by Sir A. Cunningham
on Indian sculpture, applies, mutatis mutandis, to other arts :-—
“Tt is a fact, which receives fresh proofs every day, that the art
of sculpture, or certainly of good sculpture, appeared suddenly in India
at the very time that the Greeks were masters of the Kabul valley, that
it retained its superiority during the Greek and half-Greek rule of the
Indo-Seythians, and that it deteriorated more and more the further it
receded from the Greek age, until the degradation culminated in the
wooden inanities and bestial obscenities of the Brahmanical temples,’’*
The employment of fairly well-executed Greek legends on the coins
of the Indo-Seythian kings of the first two centuries of our era proves
that the epithet ‘half-Greek ’ applied to their rule by Sir A. Cunning.
ham is not unsuitable. Kanishka and his successors would not have im-
pressed Greek legends on their coins, unless the Greck language had
considerable currency among their subjects. Ido not, of course, mean
* Archaol. Rep. Vol. L11, p, 100
— oo _
184 V. A. Smith—Greco-Roman influence [No. 3,
to suggest that Greek was ever commonly spoken or read in India, but
it must certainly have been understood by many of the court officials.
The language in the time of Kanishka and Huvishka probably occupied
a position similar to that of the English language in India forty or fifty
years ago, previous to the development of the existing system of public
instruction.
The knowledge of Greek seems to have lingered longest in Gujarat.
Corrupt Greek letters are found on the silver coins of Skanda Gupta
struck in that region as late as A, D. 450, and they also occur on similar
coins of his father and grandfather. The letters on these coins are
unmistakeably Greek in form, but meaningless, and are evidently imi-
tations of legends, which were once significant, executed by men unable
to read Greek. It is plain, therefore, that even on the western coast,
where the agency of maritime commerce had for centuries maintained
an active intercourse with the Hellenistic world, all knowledge of the
Greek language had died out by A. D. 400, In Northern India such
knowledge seems to have been lost two centuries earlier.
Tt is curious that not a single Greek inscription, other than coin-
legends, has yet been discovered either in India or in Afghanistan.
The numismatic facts, to which I have briefly referred, help to
render credible and intelligible the alleged Greek influence on Indian
literature, science, and philosophy, to the consideration of which I shall
now devote a few pages.
Section VIIZ. Tur Origin or tap Inp1An Drama.
The existence of a considerable ancient dramatic literature in the
Sanskrit language was made known to Huropean readers at the cloge
of the last century by Sir William Jones’ translation of Sakuntald, a
charming pastoral play, which is, perhaps, the only Sanskrit work that
has taken a place among the literary classics of the world.
Since Sir William Jones’ time the Sanskrit plays have attracted
many students and translators, notably Horace Hayman Wilson, whose
well-known work, Specimens of the Theatre of the Hindus, is still the
leading authority on the subject.
The question of the origin and affinities of the ancient Indian
drama has excited the curiosity of scholars, from the time of its dis-
covery until the present day, and various attempts have been made to
solve the problem.
The circumstance that the Sanskrit name for a dramatic composi-
tion is derived from a root which conveys the idea of dancing naturally
suggested the theory, which readily found favour, that “ the Indian
drama arose, after the manner of our modern drama in the Middle Ages,
——-e
——?
1889. ] on the Civilization of Ancient India. 185
out of religious solemnities and spectacles (so-called ‘ mysteries’), and
also that dancing originally subserved religious purposes.’”*
But this plausible theory has, unfortunately, very little historical
basis, and a rival theory that the dramatic literature of India is a direct
descendant of the epic seems not to rest on any more solid foundation.t
It is not improbable that rude pantomimic representations of the
incidents of sacred stories, resembling the modern Ramlila, may have
been as popular in ancient times as they are now, but even if they were,
they could hardly be regarded as the parent of the Indian drama. Such
exhibitions in their modern form, of which alone anything is known,
remain unchanged from year to year, and appear quite incapable of
literary development. Their ancient predecessors, if any existed, can-
not be credited with any greater power of generating literature. The
Sanskrit drama includes pastorals, elaborate comedies of real life, com-
plex pictures of political intrigue, and other varieties of highly artificial
composition, The gap between such compositions and a clumsy ‘ mys-
tery’ like the Ramlila is vast and unbridged, and the interval between
them and displays of sacred dancing or formal recitations of epic episodes
is equally wide.
The Indian drama, as Professor Weber remarks, “ meets us in an
already finished form, and with its best productions.” Whence came
this finished form ; was the ripe fruit not preceded by seed or flower ?
It is impossible to believe that the “ finished form” sprang, Minerva
like, from the head of Kalidasa. The dramatic literature of India, like
all other ripe productions of art in all countries and ages, must be
either the result of an independent, and therefore slow, process of
evolution worked out on native soil, or be the more sudden effect of the
fertilization of an indigenous germ by a potent foreign influence.
The latter solution of the problem, is, I have no doubt, the true
one. Itis not easy to disentangle the life history of the indigenous
germ, concerning the true affinities of which opinions may well differ,t
* Weber, History of Indian Literature. (Triibner), p. 197. This theory is well
expressed in the brilliant article on Sanskrit Poetry and the Hindu Drama by Dean
Milman, which appeared in the Quarterly Review for 1831. Dean Milman considered
that the Indian plays more closely resembled the Spanish than those of any other
European country.
+ Brockhaus, who denies all Greek influence on the Indian drama, maintains
the epic theory. I have not seen his writings.
{ Windisch himself (p. 6) admits that the Epics contain a dramatic element,
and that the Indian drama was indebted to some extent, as the Greek also was, to
the epos for help. He is of opinion (p. 8) that dramatic representations, based on
epic stories, existed in India before foreign influences were felt, such representations
being simply due to the natural desire to see, as well as hear, the stories. This
186
V. A. Smith— Greco-Roman inflnence [No. 3,
but the vivifying foreign influence can be isolated, and subjected to
microscopic investigation.
That foreign influence which gave India her noble dramatic litera-
ture is the same which bestowed upon her the arts of the painter,
sculptor, and engraver—the undying spirit of Hellas. India received
this, her spiritual guest, but for a little while and grudgingly. When he
took wing and fled to more congenial dwelling places the arts soon
followed in his train.
Professor Weber was the first to suggest that the representation
of Greek dramas at the courts of the Hellenistic kings in Bactria, the
Panjab, and Gujarat awakened the Hindi faculty of imitation, and thus
led to the birth of the Indian drama; but the suggestion was qualified,
and almost negatived, by the remarks appended to it that the hypo-
thesis does not admit of direct verification, and that no internal con-
nection between the Greek and Indian dramatic literature can be
proved.
The Danish scholar, KE. Brandes, accepted the hypothesis thus
doubtingly propounded, and, rejecting the limitations imposed by its
author, boldly undertook to prove the reality of an internal connection
between the ancient Indian plays and the New Attic Comedy, as chiefly
preserved in the Roman adaptations by Plautus and Terence. I have
not seen Dr. Brandes’ treatise, nor could I read it if I had, but, fortu-
nately for that large class of persons who are ignorant of Danish, sub-
stantially the same thesis has been ably argued by Dr. Windisch in a
language more generally intelligible.*
Tt would be impossible to do full justice to Dr. Windisch’s argu-
ment otherwise than by a complete translation of his essay. I shall mere-
ly attempt to indicate in general terms the nature of some of the leading
proofs on which he relies in support of the proposition that the Sanskrit
drama is of Greeco-Roman parentage.
The general probabilities in favour of the theory that the Indian
plays are derivatives of the New Attic Comedy of the school of Menander
rest chiefly on the evidence which proves an active and long-continued
intercourse between the east and west. Some of this evidence has
already been considered (ante, p. 157). A special agency for the diffu-
sion of knowledge of the forms of Greek drama among Oriental popu-
opinion seems to be pure conjecture, and is not shared by my learned friend Pro-
fessor Atkinson. Windisch also holds (p. 10) that epic recitation, and not a lyrical
performance associated with music and dancing, was the germ of the Indian drama.
* Der Griechische Einfluss im Indischen Drama. Von Ernst Windisch. Aus
den Abhandlungen des Berliner Orientalisten-Congresses. 8vo, pp. 106. Berlin,
A, Asher and Co., Weidinannsche Buchhandlung, 1882.
1889.] on the Oivilization of Ancient India. 187
lations was furnished by the travelling companies of players, who are
known to have traversed the Hellenistic kingdoms; and the poets, as
well as the players, were not averse to travelling. Menander and
Philemon were both invited to the court of Ptolemy Soter.
Greek ideas entered India chiefly by two routes, one overland
through Palmyra and Bactria, the other maritime through Alexandria
and the ports of the western coast, especially Barygaza, the modern
Bharoch. We know from the anonymous Periplus of the Hrythrean
Sea, which was written between A. D. 80 and 89,* that a very active
commerce was then carried on between Barygaza and the inland city
Ozéné (the modern Ujjain in Sindia’s territory), where Asoka had once
been Viceroy, and which, in the time of the author of the Periplus, was
the great depét of the foreign trade.
The scene of the ‘ Toy-Cart,’ the most ancient Indian drama extant,
is laid at Ujjain, and several considerations lead Dr. Windisch to con-
clude that the Indian drama was first developed at that city, asa
direct consequence of intercourse with Alexandria. The few known
facts in the history of the Bactrian king Menander, who flourished about
B. C. 110,+ indicate that the overland communication between India
and the West must have been briskly maintained in his time. The
importance of Palmyra as a commercial depdt (ante, p. 157) was of
later date. Before the Christian era the Western communications of
India were with the Hellenized kingdoms of Asia and Egypt. In the
first century after the Christian era they were extended to Rome and
the Roman provinces. Itis,in my opinion, not at all unlikely that
the New Attic Comedy was known to learned men in India through
the Latin adaptations of Plautus and Terence as well as in the original
Greek.
Whether it be admitted or not that the Indian drama is of foreign
origin, no one, I suppose, will venture to deny that ample opportunities
existed during several centuries for the importation of all sorts of Greek
ideas, dramatic or other.
In the opinion of Dr. Windisch the cumulative effect of the evidence
of resemblance in particular points between the Indian and Grmco-
Roman dramas is so great that “ we must recognize either a wonderful
case of pre-established harmony, or the existence of Greek influence on
the Indian drama.” The dilemma appears to me to be expressed with
perfect accuracy, and I am fully convinced of the reality of the Greek
* The proof is given in the Introduction to McCrindle’s translation.
+ This is the date adopted by Professor Gardner in his Catalogue of Coins of
the Greek and Scythic kings of Bactria and India,
Z
188 V. A. Smith—Greeco- Roman influence [No. 3,
infinence on the Sanskrit drama, and further, that without that influence
the dramatic literature of India would never have come into existence.
| The formal structure of the Sanskrit dramas closely resembles that
with which we are familiar in Plantus aud Terence. Like the Greco-
Roman, the Indian plays are divided into acts and scenes, and each
piece is preceded by a prologue. The mere fact of the existence of the
prologue in the Indian, as in the European plays, is in itself surprising,
and can hardly be regarded as a merely casual coincidence. The im-
probability that it is such becomes much greater when we observe that
in both cases the prologue is devoted to the same purposes, the an-
nouncement of the names of the poet and the play, the gaining favour
of the spectators, and the preparation of their minds for the piece
itself,
Again, it cannot well be the result of accident that the love-story
of the Indian drama is in plot, development, and dénouement essentially
of the same kind as that of Greco-Roman comedy. The plot of the
‘Toy-cart,’ the most ancient Indian play extant, may be accurately
described in the words applied by Rost to the Cureulio of Plautus :—
“The subject of this comedy is very simple, and depends, as usual, on
a secret intrigue, the lover’s want of money, and the supplanting of a
rival.”
The fair Perditas of Plautus and Terence, who eventually prove to
be high-born daughters of Athenian citizens, find their parallel in the
maid-servants of the Indian plays (Milavikdgnimitra and Ratndévalé), who
turn out to be princesses in disguise; and the dvayvwpipds, or recog-
nition of the disguised young lady, which is a critical incident in nearly
every Greco-Roman play, is repeated, merely with variations of detail,
in the Indian adaptations.
Other stock characters of the Terentian comedy have algo been
imported into the Sanskrit drama,
The parasitus edax, the miles gloriosus, and the servus currens, so
familar to all readers of the Greco-Roman comedies, are reproduced
respectively as the vita, sakdra, and vidiishaka of the earliest Indian
drama. The external origin of these strongly marked characters, is
clearly indicated by the facts that the three personages are found to-
gether only in the ‘Toy-cart,’ the oldest drama, which was composed
while India was still in communication with the Hellenistic world, and
that all three were discarded by Bhavabhiti, who lived about A. D. 700,
when Greek influence had ceased to directly affect India. Dr, Win-
disch’s detailed analysis of these characters is very interesting, but is too
long for reproduction.
One striking argument, however, must not be omitted. The Sans-
is
1889. ] on the Civilization of Ancient India. 189
krit author Bharata, who wrote a technical treatise (ndtyasastra) on
dramatic art, lays down the rule that the players should be five in num-
ber, namely, the sztradhdra, his assistant, the pdripdrswaka, the vifa,
sakdra, and vidishaka. This enumeration, Dr. Windisch points out, is
equivalent to a list of the regular male personnel of a Graeco-Roman play,
but does not apply to any extant Indian play, except in so far that all
the five personages named appear in the ‘ Toy-cart,’ in which alone the
Sakdra is found. The vita is met with in only one other piece (Nagd-
nanda). It is therefore difficult to understand why Bharata should
have laid down this rule, unless pieces were extant in his time which
conformed to it, and these pieces must have resembled the Greek models
at least as closely as the ‘ Toy-cart’ does.
Tho repulsive character of the lena, or pacrpomes, the go-between
and corrupter of maiden virtue, is faithfully reproduced in the character
of the mother of Vasantasend in the ‘ Toy-cart,’ and the elevation of
Vasantasena herself to a respectable position by the foree of unselfish
love may be compared with the story of Silenium in the Cistellaria of
Plautus. The very name of the ‘ Toy-cart’ (mrichchhakatika) recalls
the names of Plautine plays such as Aulularia and Cistellaria.
The essay by Dr. Windisch, from which I have quoted, does not
exhaust all the arguments which might be adduced in support of his
thesis, and the partial analysis of his reasoning given above is far from
presenting the case, as stated by him, in its full force. Yet, even what
has been advanced in the foregoing pages should, I venture to think,
suffice to shake the faith of those who believe in the indigenous origin
of the Sanskrit drama, and to prove that strong reasons exist for hold-
ing the opinion that India is indebted for the existence of the most
generally attractive department in the vast circle of her literature to
contact with the artistic Hellenic mind.
It is, perhaps, necessary to observe that no one contends that any
extant Indian play is a translation or free adaptation of a given Greek
piece. That certainly is not the case. The best Indian plays are the
work of native genius of high order, employing native materials in its
own way, and for its own ends, but first set in motion by a powerful
impulse received from abroad. The case of the drama is analogous to
that of the Amaravati sculptures. I agree with Mr. Fergusson in think-
ing that those sculptures would never have come into existence, if the
latent powers of Indian artists had not been aroused and stimulated by
the example and teaching of Greek, or at least of Hellenistic, sculptors,
but no one would maintain that the carvings now on the staircase of the
British Muscum should be classed among the remains of Greek art.
They are thoroughly Indian in subject and style, and skilled criticism
190
V. A. Smith—Gireco-Roman influence [No. 3,
is needed to discern the hidden foreign element. So it is with the
drama. The plays are Indian, but the idea of composing such plays is
Greek,
The case of the sculptures of the Gandhara or Peshawar school,
which I have discussed at such length, is on the contrary, analogous
rather to an Indian free translation or adaptation of a Greek play.
Those sculptures are close imitations of the contemporary, especially
the Christian, art of the Roman empire in the third and fourth centuries,
and this fact lies on the surface, visible to any commonly attentive
observer. The Roman or Christian subjects have been made to serve
Buddhist purposes, but haye been transferred bodily to India with
little change, save that of name.
Section IX. Graco-RoMAN INFLUENCE ON ‘tHE Reticion, Myrnonocy,
Scrmncu, AnD Puinosopuy or Inp1a. Conexusron,
A smile will, I fear, pass over the gentle reader’s countenance
when he compares the promise of the title with the performance of the
few pages of this section of my essay. A discussion, in any degree
adequate, of the topics mentioned in the heading would require the
ample room of an octavo to itself, the writer of which should be equipped
with a store of varied knowledge to the possession of which IT can mako
no pretension. So far as I am aware, no one has yet attempted such a
survey of the religion, mythology, science, and philosophy of India as
would give a general view of the boundaries which divide the indi-
genous components from the foreign.
[605—609 | |
J
Kharagraha I.
Dharagena IIT. . Hy)
|
Dhruvasena IT.
(620) |
(Contemp. Harsha-
Vardhana, nephew of
Siladitya Yasodhar-
man)
g
Dharasena IV,
[645—64,9 |
Ill
Dhruvasena III.
[651]
I |
Kharagraha II.
[656] MY,
Il
S'iléditya IIT.
[671]
Biléditya IV.
[691]
|
Siiladitya V.
[722]
S‘iliditya VI.
[760]
Siliditys VO
[766]
Prithiv
Vindhyasakti.
Pravarasena I,
Rudrasena I,
Rudrasena, IT.
(Son-in-law of
Deva Gupta)
Pravarasena IT.
Rudrasena III,
Anonymous.
|
Harishena.
Mahérajas of
Mahodaya
SYNCHRONISTIC TABLE OF THE REIGNS OF THE EARLY GUPTAS AND THEIR CONTEMPORARIES AND IMMEDIATE SUCCESSORS.
13
Gurjara Prince
of Bharochh.
ishena
|
Vindyaka Péla |
[794] J
Devaégakti
Vatsaraja
Nagabhata
|
|
Rémabhadra
|
|
aah sm
|
|
Mahendra Pala
[760]
Bhoja II. >)
Dadda I.
|
|
|
Jayabhata I
|
Dadda II.
[478— 495]
|
|
|
Anonymous.
Anonymous
Anonymous
Dadda IIT.
Jayabhata IT.
Dadda IV.
[628—633]
(Contemp. Harsha
¥ Dhruvasena IT}
Jayabhata III,
Dadda V.
Jayabhata IV.
[706—734 |
14
Early Chalukya.
Jayasimha
Ranaraga
Pulikesin I.
Kirtti Varman I. -
\
Mangaligsa J
Pulikesin II,
(Contemp. Harsha
Vardhana and Govinda)
|
|
Vikramaditya I.
|
Vinayaditya
|
Vijayaditya
|
Se
Vikramaditya II.
|
|
Kirtti Varman II.
(deposed by Dantidurga)
vol. III, p. 41; for column 15, see Ind. Ant., vol. VII, p. 72; for colnmn 11, see Ind. Ant., vol. XII, p. 242; for column 12, see Ind. Ant., vol. XV, p. 110; for column 13, see nd. Ant., vol. XVII, p. 191. a
Jacobi in Géttingische Gelehrte Anzeigen, for 1888, No. 2,; on Is4na Varman’s date see Sir A. Cunningham’s Arch. Rep., vol. IX, p. 27, Ind. Ant., vol. XIV, p. 68, Smith’s Coinage of the Early Guptas, p. 186; I read
» vol. III, Introd., p. 177, 187 ;—column 10, on Dhrnvasena II., see Ind. Ant., vol. XVII, p. 196; for other particulars see my Remarks on the Seal of Kumara Gupta II. in the Journal, As. Soc. Beng., for 1889.
3, Column 3, on Devagupta see Epigraphia Indica, for 1889, No. 11, also Shankar P. Pandit’s Gaiidavaho, Introd., Note I ;-—column 4, on YaSovarman, see
the date as 245 Gupta Samvat ;—column 8, on Bhoga Varman, see Corp, Inser. Ind
One connecting line signifies a son or length of reign, two signify a brother, three signify a nep
1ew, cousin, etc.
A bracket signifies a generation.
165
Rashtrakitas.
Se REAP REA SES NN SEE”
Le
Nepal.
Thakkuris.
Dantivarman
Indra I.
t
Govinda I.
(Contemp. Puli-
kesin II.)
|
Karka I,
Indra IT.
|
Dantidurga
[753 |
|
|
|
|
Krishna I,
Govinda II.
Eleven anonymous kings, at 25 years each, between A. D. 845 and 620.
Siva Deva I.
Dhruva Deva
Sankara Deva
Dharma Deva
Vasanta Deva
Ag Snvarman
[635 — 650 |
Jishnueupta
(653 }
Udaya Deva
Narenda Deva
bai
|
|
“qemu: Esa
Kings of Kashmir,
Mihirakula,
(retired to Kashmtyr)
|
Durlabha Vardhana
(Prajindditya)
Durlabhaka
(Pratipdditya)
S‘iva Deva IT.
[725—748]
(Son-in-law of
Bhoga Varman)
Jaya Deva II.
[750 —758]
en eS ee ee Ee eT
Chandrapida >)
|
Térdpida
|
Lalitaditya I. J
(Contemp. YasoVarman)
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Kuvalaydpida *)
Lalitéditya II. _)
Prithivy4pfda I. °)
| |
|
|
1
Sangramapida II.
|
Jayapida J
etc.
360
510
610
615
620
625
626
630
640
650
655
662
665
680
685
697
725
733
~—T
ES
Or
Bracketed numbers under the names signify known dates.
kar’s Harly History of the Dekkan ; for column 8, see Sir A. Cunningham’s Archwological Survey Reports, vol. XV, p. 164—166 ; for column 10, see Corpus Inser. Ind.,
CONTENTS
OF THE
JOURNAL, Pr. I, ror 1888.
No. 1.—D 4s, A brief account of Tibet from “ Dsam Ling Gyeshe,”
the well-known geographical work of Lama Tsan-po Nomankhan of
Amdo. Gockburn, Sité’s Window or Buddha’s Shadow Cave.
No. 2.—O liver, The Safwi Dynasty of Persia. Syamal D as,
Antiquities at Nagari. Yate, notes on the City of Herat.
Fihrer, Three new copper-plates grants of Govindachandra
Deva of Kananj.
.3—Knowles, Kashmiri Riddles. R&jendralala Mitra,
Notes on a Donative Inscription of Vidyédhara Bhanja, belonging
to ©. T. Metcalfe, Esq. G’a r woo d, Notes on the ancient mounds
in the Quetta District. Beveridge, the Mother of Jahangir.
Rodgers, Notes on the coins mentioned by Major Raverty in
his notes to his Translation of the Tabaqit-i-Nasiri,
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Asiatic petegretiess t from Vols. VI to XI, and Vols. XVII to XX,
each at... : ee
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The Ain-i-Akbari, "Vol. I. Translated into English, ‘with notes and
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CONTENTS.
Page
Catalogue of the Central Asiatic Coins, collected by Captain A. F.
De Leessoe, in the Indian Musewm, Caleutta.—By Dr. A. F.
Ropotr HorrniE at A
JOURNAL
OF THE
ASIATIC SOCIETY OF BENGAL.
oP
Part I—HISTORY, LITERATURE, &e.
~~
Supplement, for No. 1V.—1889.
Catalogue of the Central Asiatic Coins, collected by Oaptain A. F. De
Lessoe, in the Indian Museum, Calcutta.—By Dr. A. F. Rupour
Honrrnue.
(With two plates.)
The coins which are described in the subjoined catalogue were
collected by Captain A. F. de Leessoe on the northern frontier of Afghan-
istdn, in the years 1884 to 1886, during the time of the Afghan Boundary
Commission, on which he was employed as Assistant Political Officer.
The coins were, under the orders of the Government of India,
made over by him to Mr. Chas. J. Rodgers of the Archeological
Survey, for a preliminary examination and report. They were after-
wards presented by the Government of India to the Indian Museum,
with a request that duplicates, when available, should be given to the
Museum in Lahore and to the British Museum in London,
At the request of the Trustees of the Indian Museum, the coins
were carefully examined by me and catalogued. Mr. Rodgers’ prelimi-
nary list proved of great advantage in this work, and most of his
readings and many of nis remarks are embodied in the following pages.
A large number of duplicates were presented to the Lahore Mu-
seum, and a somewhat smaller number to the British Museum. The
numbers from which presentations could be made, are indicated by the
marks + and {.
A. F, R. Hoernle—Oatalogue of [Supplement,
The collection will be found to be one of considerable interest. A
large number of coins, especially of ’Alau-d-din Khwarizmi are either
entirely new or, at least, have hitherto not been published. The most
representative ones of these have been figured in the accompanying
plates.
Abbreviations.
Ar, Ant. = Dr. Wilson’s Ariana Antiqua; B. M. 0. = British
Museum Catalague ; Chron. = EH. Thomas’ Chronicles of the Pathan
kings of Delhi; Ind, Ant. = Prinsep’s Indian Antiquities (ed. Thomas) ;
Int. Num. Or. = International Numismata Orientalia; J. A. S. B. =
Journal of the Asiatic Society of Bengal; J. R. A.
Royal Asiatic Society of England; Num. Chron. = the Numismatic
Chronicle and Journal of the Numismatic Society of England; Num.
Or. = Marsden’s Numismata Orientalia; Or. = Oriental; Sass. = E.
Thomas’ Sassanians in Persia.
Heplanation.
* prefixed, signifies that the coin is not noted in the existing British
Museum Catalogue; + signifies that specimens of the coin have
been sent to the British Museum ; signifies that specimens have
been sent to the Lahore Museum; g signifies that the coin is in
good condition, f, ¢, ¢, that it ig in fair, tolerable or indifferent con-
dition respectively.
——y
1889.]
Captain De Leessoe’s Central Asiatic Coins. 3
CATALOGUE.
| a SR a A
Serial Number.
Number of Coins.
Gold.
q
ilver.
_
Mixed.
.| 183,92
| 263,77
Weight in grains.
60,92
Description.
ROMAN.
Antoninus Pius. Obv., head of em-
perors) 24. NIDUS cA... Rev., draped
female seated on ground, to left. (7)
Constantius II. Obv., head of emperor:
CONSTANTIUS AUG. Rev., standard
between two armed soldiers: GLORIA
EXERCITUS; in exergue SMANZ. (¢)
GREEK.
Alexander. Drachm. Obv., head of
king. ev., seated Zeus with eagle. (¢)
Antiochus. Drachm. Obv., head of
king toright. Rev., Heracles seated ; to left
[A]NTIOXOLY], to right [BA ]3ILE[O3}.
A barbarous copy or forgery with a hole
for suspension. (t)
BACTRIAN.
Eukratides. Drachm. Obov., head of
king; border of dots. Rev., Dioscuri mount-
ed; legend BASIABOS EYKPATIAOY.
Type like B. M. C., vol. V, 6. Rare.
This specimen is probably a forgery ; the
legend is smudged and “ basileos” is double-
struck. None in B. M. C. of 1886, but a
specimen lately obtained from Gen. Sir A.
Cunningham.
Soter Megas. Obdv., bust of king. Rev.,
horseman. Type like Ar. Ant., pl. IX, 12
(with.no fillet to lance, and legend BASIAEY
for BactAevs.) (f)
INDO-SCYTHIAN.
Kanishka. Qev., OKPO. Type like Ar.
Ant., pl. XII, 17. (¢)
4 A. F, R. Hoernle—COatalogue of [Supplement,
nS
j :
5 8 Monrat. 3
a | bp
fs a . A Description.
o Pa ey e
ale p/S/Als] &
A | 8 \olslota}| ©
ala olla] &
INDO-SCYTHIAN—Oonid.
Si als, 1}...] 225,55 Oerki (Oorr). Obv., elephant-rider.
Rev., MILOPO (?) Type like B. M. C., No.
158 (p. 155). (@)
aL) ae 1}...| 168,05 Do. A crude variety of No. 8. Type
like Ar, Ant., pl. XIII, 20. (¢)
PARTHIAN.
Oe TLR Lh 53,69 Mithridates I (Arsacus VI). Type a
in Int. Num. Or,, vol. I, pl. 1,26 (Gardner).
()
1 ES RO eee MF 56,94 t Sinatroces (Arsacus X). Type as
in Int. Num. Or., vol. I, pl. IIT, 2. (g)
2/4 oa eae AS 54,99} Orodes I (Arsaces XII). Obv. with-
out crescent, as in Int. Num. Or., vol. I,
pl. Ill, 20. (f)
VB) Wee) ie. 59,22 t Do. Obv. with crescent, as in Int.
Num. Or., vol. I, pl. IT, 28. (f)
14, 1...] 1p. 59,87 Do. Obv. with star and crescent, as in
Int. Num. Or., vol. I, pl. III, 26. (f/f)
oh e Bee Wels, 58,10 t Phraates IV (Arsaces XII1). Obv.
with eagle only, asin Int. Num. Or., vol. I,
pl. IV, 6. One has a loop attached to the
middle of the oby., to turn the coin into a
button, and weighs 59, 85 grains. (¢)
LG MU ele 60,86 Do. Obv. with eagle, crescent and star,
as in Int. Num. Or., vol. I, pl. IV, 12. (#)
Acie BIS. 2| 58,93 t Do. Obv. with Nike, crescent and
star, as in Int. Num. Or., vol. I, pl. IV, 11.
Apparently a mixture of silver and_ copper.
One is perforated for wearing, and weighs
57,46 grains. (7%)
18 ale 1, 56,30 Do. Obv. with eagle and crescent. Rev.
with eagle. Not in Int. Num. Or.; but cf.
vol. I, pl. IV, 6. Apparently a mixture of
silver and copper. New. (%)
Ug URS ll eg 50,74 t Vonones I (Arsacrs XVIT). As in
Int. Num. Or., vol. I, pl. V, 4. (f)
—_y)
a
-——
—————————
Captain De Leessoe’s Central Asiatic Coins. 5
Description.
a a
3 |. | Murat. A
a|5 £
ire Bp
A 3° A
A 3 Pas aa Be
a) a lglg]
= 3 fols|Si-q}| ©
nm | % ede o\S|
770) at eres ba 56,44
PAN ed | Ree 55,14
22 Tl eatiet| 54,66
215} Usillesed aba 44.10
24) 1)...|...| 1]---| 85,02
95} 1)...| 1). 63,20
96 11...|...{ 1]--.| 162,18
27; 1J...|...| 1]--.| 192,54
28 Deal Mess 61,95
29 1 (eeu aie be 49,54
30 Cees | ib 62,42
Sue 1 Pea aed 62,26
PARTHIAN—Oontd.
t Goterzes (Arsacrs XX). As in Int.
Num. Or, vol. I, pl. V, 20. (f)
t Artabanus IV (Arsaces XXVI) or
Mithridates IV (Arsacus XXVII). As in
Int. Num. Or., vol. I, pl. VI, 5, 22, 24, 25.
Two are perforated for wearing, weighing
55,14 (small hole) and 51,66 (big hole) ; the
third is entire, weighing 52,25 grains. (f, 4,
The entire one has on the rev. a trace of
Mongol over-striking.
Vologeses IV (Arsacus XXXII). As
in Int. Num, Or., vol. I, pl. VII, 10. (4)
Artabanus V (Arsaces XXXIV). As
in Int. Num. Or., vol. I, pl. VII, 19. (2)
SUB-PARTHIAN,
Anonymous. Obv., head of king, to
right, with torquis, as in the coins of Ar-
saces X XIX (Chosroes) in Int, Num. Or., vol.
I, pl. VI, 17. Rev., fire-altar as on the early
Sassanian coins in Sass., pl. I, 2, Unpub-
lished. (#)
SASSANTAN.
SaporI. Asin Sass., pl. IT, 2-6. With
a perforation for wearing. (¢)
Do. As in Sass., pl. I, 8, 9. (4)
t Ardeshir and Sapor I. As in Sass., pl.
1,12. (4)
+ Sapor II. As in Sass., pl. IV, 2, 3. (f)
Do. Another variety. As in Saass., pl.
IV, 4. @
{ FirtzI. As in Sass., pl. V, 8,9. (f)
Khusrtii I, NavsufrvSy. As in Sas.,
pl. VI, 9% (g)
Serial Number.
Number of Coins.
Gold.
Silver.
Copper.
Mixed.
A. F. R. Hoernle—Catalogue of
Weight in grains.
33
34,
35
386
37
38
39
40
—
62,44.
51,44
27,61
43,87
96,12
37,34
45,72
29,50
54,38
[Supplement,
Description.
SASSANTAN—Contd
t Khusrti II, Parwiz. Asin Sass., pl.
VI. 14. The less perfect one weighs only
53,01 grains. (q)
Do. Of Arab mintage with bismillah
on margin; Sass., p. 93. Perforated for
wearing. (f)
Yezdegird ITI. Small sized coin; not
in Sass.
A very small piece broken away ; otherwise
in good condition.
ABBASIDE.
Al Manstir, 2np Aszasipp. Dirham
struck in Madinatu-s-Salim, 152 A. H.
Asin B. M. C., vol. I, 72 (p. 48). (g)
Do. Legends of oby. and rey. areas,
asin B. M. C., vol. I, 91 and 104 (p. 196,
201). Obv. margin not inscribed, but di-
vided into three sections by three ringlets.
Rev. marginal legend, indistinctly visible
read by Mr. Rodgers 9 @» div Qe
alam » uml, 7. e., struck in Sijistin, 147
AE, (4)
Harun ar Rashid, 5ra Appastpr. Dir-
ham struck at Ma’adinu-sh-Shash, 190
A. H. The same as B. M.C., vol. I, 228,
(p. 84). With a loop for suspending. (¢)
Al Amin, 67H Abspastpr. Dirham,
struck at Madinat Balkh, 195 A. H. Gene-
ral type of coin exactly as B. M. C., vol.
I, 246, (p. 90), except that there are six
ringlets instead of five. (f)
Al Mutawakkil, 10rn Aspasipr. Frag-
ment (about §) of a dirham of 24* A. H.
Mint lost. General type like B. M.C., vol.
I, 317, (plate VI).
* Al Muti’a, 23rd Appasipp. Dinar
struck at Hirdt, 369 A. H.(f) Plate I, fig. 1.
1889. ]
R w
§ | -& | Moran.
i=)
r= ie)
Beles
Als tlhe
a | \a[slig
as A ISIE] ele
eS) 5 9 |r| 0 tg
3 ND | A jOlR\OlA
¢
f. 4] a WA RH ie Be
Captain De Leessoe’s Central Asiatic Coins. 7
ght in grains.
Wei
36,87
Description.
ABBASIDE—Oortd.
Obv., small area within single circle,
surrounded by double marginal inscrip-
tions.
Area: Mat ¥
Bday alt
a Slyyd 4
Inner legend : bot ders alt eo
dled ers 9 en Kino 8h yg?
Outer legend : 9 Usd oye [ oUt ] al)
Wye wyhogt [ c ytt droge 9 OH Wr? J
Rev., area within single circle, sur-
rounded by one marginal inscription.
Area: a)
aut Js) oo”
a
oes? ein!
al
Margin: — govl aleoyt BU} Jpn dom?
aS og [oS enolt cle syeby 5-1 waa]
wy95 pared}
SHAH OF KHWARIZM.
* Aldu-d-din Muhammad bin Ta-
kash. J'ype : on both sides, round areas sur-
rounded by a marginal inscription between
single-lined circles. Both margins defec-
tive: but on obv., mint Nisabur legible ;
date lost. (¢) Plate I, fig. 2.
A. F. R. Hoernle—Catalogue of
Serial Number.
Number of Coins.
Weight in grains.
[Supplement,
Description.
iF
g\>
9 |r |
oS |Q |} =
SHAH OF KHWARIZM.— Contd.
Obv. Rev.
airy’ ast
vt al peed! cyledadt
9 ex”? alt eS Cnty iat dle
at Jysy SS shalt of
ends} sles A oH
alt airy
Margins: fragmentary ; obv. yy} mah voces
Ne aes
Do. Duplicate of No. 41, but double
struck on both sides. Obverse margin é
fragmentary, showing only date 5**; re-
verse margin gone. (i)
Obv. margin : S300 Cpr sirceccseeee Hl em
Do. Duplicate of No. 41; but struck
on rey. side only, margin entirely ‘gone.
t* Do. Type: same as No. 41; but
| different reverse legend; and no ringlets
on oby. Margins nearly gone. (¢)
Rev. at
pest stbloS}
wits Lot} (le
oom”? ealtpit
Ss ytaben!t ws |
Sary 4
Do. Duplicate of No. 44; but double
struck on reverse side. Margins defective
and illegible, (7)
t Do. Duplicate of No. 44; but struck
on reverse side only. Margin nearly gone.
(%)
1889.]
Captain De Leessoe’s Oentral Asiatic Coins. 9
Serial Number.
Number of Coins
|G old.
MetAu,
Copper.
Mixed.
Weight in grains
Silver.
Description.
50
4,
=
ob
pe
o>
to
Ta Mees COO arto
1},..]...|...{ 64,07
SHAH OF KHWARIZM—Oontd.
Do. Duplicate of No. 44; but double
struck on rev. side, and struck on that side
only. Margin gone. (ft)
t Do. Duplicate of No. 44; but struck
on oby. side only, on which there are no
ringlets. One perforated specimen weighs
25,06; two others weigh 20,91 and 18,49
erains respectively. Margins defective and
illegible. (2)
Do. Type: similar to No. 41, with
reverse legend similar to No. 44; and on
oby. side letters in place of ringlets. Both
legends much blundered. Margins gone. (%)
Obv. Rev.
Sead lis
Mt ad ¥ pasy [Llet (sic)
46 daa” wy wot 9 bios} de
al yas) (sic) dos” eu ot
Mo) clit (sic) S»~6 (broken).
o Wi (broken).
Mr. Rodgers reads eSMI on rev.
* Do. Two round areas with marginal
inscriptions within single-lined circles, as
in No. 41; but legends different, also cha-
racters different, 7. e., nasta’liq, as in the
early Pathén coins of India, not Kufic.
One half of the coin is broken away. Re-
verse margin shows 6**. (7)
Obv. Rev.
og: at oyet Bale ciesenes ine:
Rev. margin :
Obv. margin : eters Gt ee Beer
i
=)
A. F. R. Hoernle— Catalogue of
[ Supplement,
Serial Number.
Number of Coins.
Gold.
Silver.
Weight in grains.
Description.
or
pe
52
53
5D
nay
oO
LG rlaes as
16
or
=
35,58
35,58
35,58
34,44
37,89
SHAH OF KHWARIZM—Contd.
*++ Do. Typel, obv., saddled horse
with mint, within single-lined circle ; some-
times three dots under horse; rev. in-
scription within singled-lined circle. One
specimen was assayed by Dr. Scully with
the result : copper 80°9 per cent., lead 13:5,
silver 5°6. (¢) Plate I, fig. 3. The mint is
read by Mr. Rodgers Baliéqan or Taluqan.
Obv. Rev.
wl yy f wlelJ}
Horse } de pbs Y
ee de” wir liod
wlaledt oy
*Do. Type I, similar to No. 51, same
mint, but rev. legend differently arranged.
Rev. wba}
| dle poy!
des”? wits latoJ
wtb ww
* Do. Typel, similar to No. 51; same
mint, but rev. legend differently arranged.
Rev. MI telus}
ol} de phe
dee” wall 5
wlbladt (e)
* Do. Typel. Apparently similar to
No. 51, but double-struck on both sides. (¢)
*+ + Do. Type II. Obv., horseman with
lance at charge; Variety 1, semicircle over
head of rider; some dots here and there;
name of mint above right of rider. Rev.,
inscription only. Both oby. and rev. en-
3
fi
Captain De Lessoe’s Central Asiatic Coins. 11
1889.]
ese Meran. a
o ° fos]
a 4
ce, bi
H/o 4
4] 8 nas =
a |g slSle/s|
B | eo folesis) ©
On} A jOlnlojs| &
56) i... 4) 39,74
57 14 1; 41,00
58 2 .| 2} 39,78
59 Dh. 2} 33,60
36,37
Description.
SHAH OF KHWARIZM—Oontd.
closed within double circle, the inner lined,
the outer dotted. Mint Téliqdn both on
oby. and rev. (¢) Plate I, fig. 4.
Obv. Rev.
wl, wWJlb (in minute letters).
1 wtoled} slabs}
att Us paced ; OE mS rale pbs Mt
des” Gyodf y bs
Occasionally the rev. legend is aranged,
as on No. 51.
*+t Do. Type II, Variety 2, in all
respects like No. 55, except that there is
a bird to right below horse, instead of the
dots. (¢)
*Do. Type II, Variety 3, similar to No.
55, but without semicircular corona, and a
trefoil in the place of the bird. Inscriptions
on oby. and rev. exactly as on No. 55. (#)
*+t Do. Type I, Variety 4, bow-like
canopy over head of rider; crescent above
over left side, and mint above over right
side of rider. Rev., inscription. Both oby.
and rey. enclosed within double circle, the
inner lined, the outer dotted. Mint »%«
(Shafurqan ?) or gs P(t)
Rev. wile}
dlc posd!
one} y) (od}
weld} Gy des”?
* Do. Type II, Variety 5, similar to
No. 53, but bare head; crescent with dot
to left and dot to right of it. Rev., inserip-
tion exactly as on No. 58. Both oby. and
rey. enclosed, within a single-lined circle.
Mint ph» ors P (7)
="
rm
Serial Number.
A. ¥F, R. Hoernle—Oatalogue of
Weight in grains
| Merat. |
je)
(ae
|
Aq Seley
i=} Olt | ord
% lO Mmiols
60 1 ah
61 Sas 8
62) 2)... 2
Oph meen: 2g
64 fey 2
65) 16}, .. 16
66 Qheas 2
[Supplement,
Description.
SHAH OF KHWARIZM—-Oontd.
* Do. Type Il, Variety 6, similar to
No. 59, but without crescent and dots, and
with some indistinct object below horse.
Rev. inscription as on No. 58. (7)
*+i Do. Type II, Variety 7, similar to
No. 58, but only with bow-like canopy.
Rey., inscription as on No. 58, but below
it an illegible mint-name. Both obv. and
rev. either within a single serrated circle,
or within a double circle, the inner lined,
the outer dotted. (7)
* Do. Type III. Obv., horseman with
waving arms, without lance. Variety 1, bird
sitting to left below horse. Rev., inscrip-
tion, nearly obliterated. Oby. and rey. with-
in double lined circle. (b)
*+t Do. Type III, Variety 2, like No.
62, but bird turned to right. Mint Téligdn,
visible on oby. over right side of horse. (7)
*+t Do. Type III, Variety 8, a beetle-
like mark under horse; mint over right
side of horse. Rev., inscription. Both obv.
and rev. enclosed within double-lined cir-
eles. Mint Yaliqin both on obv. and rev.
Legends, on both sides, read and are ar-
ranged exactly as on No. 55. (¢
*+t Do. Type Ill, Variety 4, a star, 5
or 6 rayed, under horse; mint over right
of horse. Rev., inscription. Obvy. enclosed
within double circle, the inner lined, the out-
er dotted; rev. within single-lined circle.
Mint Téliqan both on oby. and rev. Legends
as on Nos. 55 and 63. Plate I, fig. 5. (Some ¢)
* Do. Type III, Variety 5, in all re-
spects like No. 65, except the rev. legend
which reads as follows: (¢
wlJlb (in minute letters.)
add
)
dus” abe Vt
cstedad tx
t
JZ
1889. ] Captain De Leessoe’s Oentral Asiatic Coins. 13
a a
a |-2 | Merman. | 3
om G) BS
A | | + te
w |e A Description.
Oo oe Se ae ~
= 2 ,| | 2 ls a
3 gq Io} 2/}alo op
q A fale lei) -o
S| 5 \SkaiSis| &
n|\| A |Ojmols| &
SHAH OF KHWARIZM—Oontd.
67) —-Qj...|...|...| 2] 34,55 * Do. Type III, Variety 6, like No. 64
in all respects, except the mark under the
horse which looks like an anvil (?). (7%, 6)
68| 1... |...]...| 1] 41,28 * Do. Type III, Variety 7, like No. 65
except that the mark under the horse is a
snake, and the rev. legend arranged as on
No. 52. (¢)
69) Q}...|...|...] 2) 36,52 *++ Do. Type III, Variety 8, like
No. 62, except that there is no mark under
the horse. (b)
710) eA PS ie Nn * Do. Type III, Variety 9, no mark
under horse, which is gallopping. Both
oby. and rev. enclosed within double circle,
the inner lined, the outer dotted. Rev.
legend as follows: (¢)
[ wleldt ] (cut away.)
eo ot! cbs yt
telat wy os”
71 Fi ees leet ade citi pemesia Low * Do. Type TV. Obv., horseman with
leafed branch in left hand. Mint doubtful
over left side of horse, and bird under horse.
Both oby. and rev. enclosed within double
circle, the inner lined, the outer dotted.
Plate I, fig. 6. (¢)
Obv. Rev.
patodse} (?) wlaldtt
yt pbs Mt
uy os” ean
cleat
72) Bl.ase]--.| 5} 47,205 * +t Do. Type V, horseman with
shouldered sword. Variety 1, bare head ;
mint over right side of horse ; below it a
flower. Rey., inscription. Mint Hirat.
Both obv. and rey. within three circles, a
dotted one between two lined ones. Plate
I, fig. 7. (é)
A. F. R. Hoernle—Catalogue of [Supplement,
eS
&
Number of Coins.
Weight in grains.
Serial Number.
Gold.
Silver.
Copper.
Mixed.
Description.
~I
SHAH OF KHWARIZM—Oontd,
Obv. Rev.
Btyd wilt or lal
Wy Oa”? pbs Mt vare- =” pes Mt
wlblJ} ly tabendt Cyt
*+t Do. Type V, Variety 2, like
No. 72, except that there is no flower below
the horse. (¢)
*+ +t Do. Type V, Variety 3, like
No. 73, but the mark under horse indistin-
euishable ; canopy over head of rider and
mint Balkh rag (?) (2)
* +t Do. Type VI, Obv., horseman
with shouldered flag; bare head; no mint,
Rev., inscription in Kufie characters. Both
obv. and rev. enclosed within three circles,
a dotted one being between two lined ones.
Plate I, fig. 8. One specimen was assayed
by Dr. Scully with the result: copper 22
per cent., silver 7.4, lead 854. (¢)
Rev. uy w=”?
alot
es
*++ Do. Type VII, bare elephant to
left. Variety 1, Obv., a saw-like mark be-
low, and a mint-name above elephant.
Rey., inscription. Both oby. and rev. within
double circle, the outer dotted, the inner
lined. One specimen was assayed by Dr.
Scully with the result: per cent. copper
39-2, silver 8:0, lead 52°7. (7)
Obv. Rev.
Bye (?) as on No. 58.
*+t Do. Type VIL, Variety 2, simi-
lar to No. 76, but no mark below elephant,
and mint and inscription different. (¢)
f
1889. | Captain De Lessoe’s Central Asiatic Coins. 15
a a
§ 8 Mert. | -3
Bis : ie
mw | & ss a Description.
ra |g lg/S/SIE| ce
2 | 8 SIIB] 3
nie ol~aols| -
SHAH OF KHWARIZM—Contd.
Obv. Rev.
wlyla (?) as on No. 66,
(but without the mint).
TS\) alles 1) 34,50 * Do. Type VII, Variety 3, similar
to No. 77, but different mint and inscrip-
tion. (7)
Obv. Rev.
wtaytyS (P) apparently as in No. 58.
Vi PIES a | 81 34.50 * Do. Type VII, Variety 4, similar to
*|No. 77, but different mint and inscrip-
tion. (7)
Obv. Rev.
Fy 988 as on No. 52.
[Shufirgqan.]
SO SES ROI aol eodent *++ Do. Type VII, Variety 5, similar
to Nos. 77, 79, but different mint and in-
scription (2 2, If). Plate, fig. 9.
Obv. Rev.
YG yglae (P) ybltt
Me whe St
en] 9 liad}
(statue os
a Gi eked ea) ep SPR} *+tDo. Type VII, Variety 6, similar
to No. 76; but the mark below is an arabes-
que; the mint above is the same without
the final ¥; rev. inscription different. (¢)
Obv. Rev.
ye or yee Lal}
(Samargand ?) dc poe MW uy,
wlble w? oo”
N. B. What looks like a mint name,
may be only an arabesque ornamental mark.
~
(o>)
A. F. R. Hoernle—Catalogue of
Number of Coins.
Weight in grains.
Serial Number.
Gold.
Silver.
Copper.
[Supplement,
Description.
oe)
bo
oo
icy)
Oo
2
SHAH OF KHWARIZM—Oontd.
*+t Do. Type VII, Variety 7, similar
to No. 81, but arabesque mark above and
three dots in line below elephant. Rev.
inscription different; viz., (¢)
Uden
pbs My
od} dc
cits
*+t Do. Type VII, Variety 8, exact-
ly as No. 82, but a different rey. inscrip-
tion. (3 f)
Rev.
wae b lhl J
dls pes it or dc pbs 4
Het, Wott (on one) wer ty Wot
tele Gy Oe” ula. Gp des”?
* +f Do. Type VIII, bare elephant
to right. Variety 1, obv., mint above ele-
phant; rev., inscription. Both obv. and rev.
within double circle, outer dotted, inner
lined. (7 or 6) ~
Obv. (both in Kufic) Rev.
wlay'yS yibldt
(similar to No. 78) ds plas YI
ot, Laat
Ww Oe? Ut
pytblae
* Do. Type VIII, Variety 2, exactly as
No. 84, but style of letters of obv. mint
somewhat different. (1 ¢). Plate I, fig.
10.
* Do. Type VIII, Variety 3, exactly as
No. 84, but style of letters of obv. mint
slightly indifferent. (7)
1890.]
Captain De Leessoe’s Central Asiatic Coins. 17
ee Z|
§ 3 Mert. :: |
A |< E> |
o 5 | ale 5 Description.
‘a |g giS/B/8]
B |B oleae] 38
a|4 aoe Fe | ;
| | SHAH OF KHWARIZM—Oontd.
To rohael sal Psy 38,91) * Do. Type IX, bare elephant to right,
| | with fettered legs. Variety 1, obv., mint
| over elephant ; rev., inscription. Both obv.
| and rev. within double circle, the outer dot-
| ted, the inner lined. (1f). Plate I, fig.
ile
| Obv. Rev.
wlapyS wlhl..J}
(as on No. 85) Us phe yy
endl bod}
ww og=”
| | wlble
gs} 12.....,..j12} 38911 *+t Do. Type IX, Variety 2, exactl
| 74) a yp q y
| | | | as No. 87, but style of letters of oby. mint
| al slightly different. (7, some t)
| | | | Obv. Rev.
| clays (as on No. 87).
| | | (as on No. 85.)
go, 19...) 12) § *+t Do. Type IX, Variety 3, similar
| | | i eye to No. 88, but inscription different. (7,
| one ¢)
Obv. Rev.
wlaysS (as on No. 84.)
lie 4 | (as on Nos. 89, 84.)
90; 2), 2; 38,91 * Do. Type IX, Variety 4, exactly as
| | | No. 89, but style of letters of oby. mint
oh | slightly different. (7)
Obv. Rev.
| wl ayy (as on Nos. 84, 89).
(as on Nos. 85, 87).
18 A. F. R. Heernle—Catalogue of (Supplement,
EA dll el SE
a | 2 | Mera. | #
E\8 ze
“he sare bo |
- = \aeecna Description.
= ® Seley: |
a — .|H/Olo] SG
S | |O| a on
$\2 S2l5g) 2
a\A Salcial F |
|
| SHAH OF KHWARIZM—Contd.
|
91; 1...| 1) 42,81 * Do. Type X, elephant-rider with
ell lance at charge, to left. Variety 1, obv.,
| mint below elephant; rider bare-headed.
| | Reyv., inscription. Both oby. and rev. with-
in double circle, outer dotted, inner lined.
| | (t) Plate I, fig. 12.
| | Obv. Rev.
| lgytya ? add}
dlc peed re)
| erty Liod
| | Uadew (oy) dese”?
| | S)
Sh altel ee | 1) 38,43 *++ Do. Type X, Variety 2, similar to
| No. 91, but on oby. no mint; bow-like cano-
| oy over rider’s head; dot over elephant’s
PY : i
| head; rev. legend different. (7) Plate I,
| fig. 13.
| Rev. legend, as on No. 83.
GBis PO ashes 20)...| 47,58 +t Do. Type XI, lettered surfaces,
45,11) within circles. Variety 1, as in B. M.
| C., vol. II, Nos. 596—600 (see Plate VII,
| | fig. 599). (¢, some f)
94, Ne, lj...) 34,92 Do. Type XI, Variety 2, as in B.
at M. C.. vol. II, No. 594. (#)
95, 3)...}...] 3)...] 48,25) *t Do. Type XI, Variety 3. Obv. and
rey. within double circle, outer dotted,
inner lined. On oby., two annulets on each
side of the inscription; also on rev. in
diverse places. (7%)
| Obv. Rev.
| °° 00 O
3 bs Ite ulbledt
oes ;
eae al
A. F, R. Hoernle—Oatalogue of [Supplement,
22
Number of Coins.
Weight in :
Serial Number.
Gold.
Silver.
Mixed.
Description.
>
ee
bo
_
SHAH OF KHWARIZM.—Contd.
* Do. Type XVI, on both oby. and
rey., two hexagonal areas intercrossing,
with three dots in each section. Mint
Farwin. Published by W. Rodgers in
J. A. 8. B., vol. LII, p. 57, on Plate IV,
fig. 12.
Do. Type XVII, obv., lettered surface
within double circle, outer dotted, inner
lined. Rev., small double-lined square
inner area; within, figure of horseman,
outside inscription. As in B. M.C. of Or.
Coins, vol. Il, p. 186, onPlate VII, fig.
603. (%)
* + Do. Type XVIII, large thin piece
oby., circular area; rev., double-lined
square area. In marginal sections, apa-
rently, mint Ghaznah. Plate I, fig. 17. (¢)
Obv. Rev.
Area: Yi glaledt Area: yt ylbledt
dc pbs gel wlbleo
a) oily Iiout wbxeyedt
Margin: Orna- Sections : ornmt., r.
ments. and 1,
wy? above.
&5¢ below.
* Do. Doubtful. Type XIX; obv.,
horseman to right, with lance at charge,
within double circle, outer dotted, inner
lined. Reyv., inscription within single dotted
circle; nearly illegible. Mr. Rodgers ob-
serves: “This is the only coin out of
about 3,000, which has the horseman to
the right.”
+
de
1889.]
Serial Number.
Number of Coins.
Gold.
Oaptain De Lessoe’s Central Asiatic Coins. 23
Mora.
Copper.
Mixed.
Silver.
Weight in grains
Description.
—
e
e
112
113
114
116
34,85
58,63
82,70
41,55
SHAH OF KHWARIZM.—Oontd.
* Do. doubtful. Type XX; obv.,
maned lion standing to left, below a dot,
above mint Shaférgdn. Rev., inscription
within lined circle, nearly obliterated.
Obv. wFygR Rev. sevecceve
ible
GHAZNAWYTS anp GHORIS, are.
Masa’ud I. Two circular areas and
margins, asin B. M. C. of Or. Coins, vol. II,
No. 524 (p. 157), but barely legible. (4)
* Farukhzad ibn Masa’tid. Similar
to No. 546 in B. M. C. of Or. Coins,
vol. II, p. 166; but star ‘six-rayed) at top
of rev. area, and zafar (,%6, so W. Rodgers)
at top of obv. area; date 448; the remain-
der identical. The outer marginal legend
of obv. is nearly gone; that on reverse
much cut and obliterated.
Ibrahim ibn Masa’tid ; with Bull rey.,
and lettered surface on oby., as in B. M.
C. of Or. Coins, vol. IT, No. 561 (p. 172),
and in Proceedings, A. 8. B., for 1881, p. 6.
(t)
Undetermined. Probably Ghaznawi.
Legends illegible; but on right hand side
of the legend in the area, there is a perpen-
dicular mark, which is indistinguishable on
the oby., but clearly ‘ on the rey. Com-
pare similar marks on Mahmid’s coin, PI.
V, No 458 in B. M. C., vol. IL, p. 181.
G)
* Ghiydsu-d-din Muhammad biu,
Sam. Two circular areas; both margins
entirely obliterated.
bo
os
Serial Number.
Number of Coins.
Gold.
Silver.
Mertat.
Mixed.
A. F. R. Hoernle— Catalogue of
Weight in grains.
| [Supplement,
a ELE SE TA
Description.
117
118
119
120
121
122
bo
,| 267,35
.| 232,80
.|134,73
| 181,51
.| 122,76
43,86
42,78
GHAZNAWIS ann GHORIS.—Contd.
Ob». Rev.
pee MW leben ‘cin’
CHM! 4 dod} Ee yp apy
oes” 2b,J} ot ous” allt
(2) shea ple oy al} Soaey
tenes (illegible) — eyt_polit
Mr. Rodgers reads on the obv. doubtfully
giwm or ohi5. Plate II, fig. 18.
Do. Same type, but much heavier,
than No. 6 in J. A. S. B., vol. LIT, p. 56
(Pl. IV, fig. 6). Without mint; but ~
date 600 A. H. The rev. margin, as Mr.
Rodgers observes, gives a quotation from
the Quran, Surah IX, 33,
Seb) =I ew» eral tye, Chat (ig
[ enSstell 55 2%5} als wd! le
the concluding portion of which, wiz.
that within brackets, is never given on
these gold coins. (q)
* Do. Very similar to No. 117, but
with mint Ghaznah, and same date 600
A. H. (9)
* Do. Thesame as No. 117, except in
the matter of weight; also without mint.
Its date is 600 A. H. (f)
Do. Same type, as No. 117, but of
smaller size; date 603 A. H., mint obli- a
terated (Ghaznah?). (¢) ‘<
Do. Same as No. 120, except in the |
matter of weight. Mint Ghaznah; date
obliterated (600 ?).
Do. Type: Turki horseman, exactly
as published, by Mr. Rodgers, in J. A. S. {
B., vol. LIT, p. 55 (Pl. IV, fig. 1.) (1 #4)
1889. | Captain De Leessoe’s Central Asiatic Coins. 25
A a]
Bi 5 | Merat. 4e
3 a
alee bp
Bales A Description.
a | 8 Hl| 3
ma] 2] JH) os]
SUL psueeliescd) eee
B | 8 felalsts| &
MD | A |O|R|O|Aa E
GHAZNAWTS AND GHORIS—Oontd.
LES) 92les.|..els.0] 02), SEE Do. Doubtful. Inscribed circular areas.
45,45 Obv. Rev.
[wla]e pbcl wlble vet
124) Ly I )...J.+e/e.s| LL613 * Ghiydsu-d-din and Muizzu-d-din
bin Sam. Type the same asin No. 117.
A silver coin of this type has been publish-
ed by Dr. Stiilpnagel in J. A. S. B,,
VOL. ERS ip. orl CPS eleven NCova lest) amet
shows no mint, but bears the date 599 A. H.
(f)
125) 1) 1/...|...]...] 45,72 * Do. Type, four concentric circles,
exactly asin the silver dirhem, published
by Dr. Stilpnagel, in J. A. S. B., vol.
XUIX, p. 30 (PI.IV, No. II). No mint;
but date 599 on the rev. with Muizz’ name.
(é)
126) Bl... linn |e] 2) 40,90 Muizzu-d-din and Taju-d-dia Tdaz.
42,52) Published by Mr. Rodgers, in J. A. 8. B,
vol. XLIX, p. 210 (Pl. XVIII, No. 17).
See also Ar. Ant. Pl. XX, fie. 18. «¢)
127) Veet ate,| DL} 60,96 { Muizzu-d-din bin Sam. Type, Tur-
ki horseman ; exactly as in Chron.,, p. 15,
No. 6 (PL. I, fig. 5). @
128) = 1)...|...}...] 1} 48,19) Do. Type, Rajpit horseman; exactly
as in Chron., p.15, No. 5, (Pl. I, fig. 4).
(¢)
129} 7|...|...]...{ 7] 55,06 t Do. Type, bull and horseman, ex-
actly as in Chron., p. 15, No. 10, (Pl. I,
fig). (t)
130) = 1)...|...| Jj...] 37,44 * Do. Type, on both obv. and rev., an
inscribed hexagon formed by two inter-
lacing equilateral triangles. (¢)
Obv. Rev.
°
weld} (?) Gy oes”
ph
26
|
A. F. R. Hoernle—Catalogue of
[Supplement,
8 3 Merat. 3
Bla PONE
Bhi aS Description.
A| 8 Jed ss
fa |S lolslsis| ‘&
18 Eee] 3
ni} |Salole| &
GHAZNAWIS AND GHORIS—Oontd.
131 1}),..| 43,51 Do. Type, circular areas, enclosed in
dotted ring, exactly as published, by Mr.
Rodgers, in J. A. S. B., vol. XLIX, p. 81,
af (Pl. V, fig. 6). (é)
Obv. Rev.
Jos 580
132 1) 47,85 t Ghiydsu-d-din Mahmud bin Mu-
hammad bin Sam. Type, RAjpit horseman,
exactly as in Chron. p. 32, No. 25, and
Journal R. A. S., vol. LX, p. 177.
133 1} 40,59 *+t Do. Type, elephant rider to left.
Variety 1, similar to No. 91, but without
lance at charge; with goad (ankus) in
right hand. Plate I, fig. 19. (f)
Rev. wlblJ}
n= ent
Los due” oy 9
134 1]... 38,85 * Do. Variety 2, the same as No. 133
in all respects, except slightly different ar-
rangement of rev. inscription. (7)
Rev. wlbloJ}
She pbs Mt
wits Wott
eee)
ae i I dw,
Lod) Dea ee Ml G2e74 *+% Do. Small size; lettered sur-
faces. Plate II, fig. 23. The legends as
read by Mr. Rodgers are :
Obv. Rev.
(3 fat} ol}
sl of b] da?
| | Jes... Joy
is)
LNs}
Number of Coins
Serial Number.
Gold.
Silver.
A. F. R. Hoernle—Catalogue of
Weight in grains
[Supplement,
63,55
66,84
63,29
42,52
41,19
41,49
42.43
42,87| 2
41,97
42,61
MONGOL IL-KHANS OF PERSIA.
There are four minute crude letters in
the space between aU} and o=° which
may possibly be Abagha in Mongol charac-
surrounded by parabee within circle ;
rey. legend within circle. Plate IT, fig. 24,
Similar to No.
ae but hes legend diferent.
t Do. Type, asin B. M. C., vol.
VI, Pl. II, No. 41, but instead of stars
there is an arabesque between the first and
second lines of the legend in the square
The segments contain arabesques,
ead one, which has the mint Marv ( 35)
In all respects like No. 160,
except that the mint is Isfardin ( Crt ydvo! iy
Similar type to No. 160, but
Racicaipitacs different ;
marginal segments being in Mongol charac-
Only the legend Khaghanu
Great Khan’s) in the top-segment is logi-
those in the
1889. ] Oaptain De Leessoe’s Central Asiatic Ooins. 33
mM nm
s | .8 | Morat, 4
o j=) is]
a | Eb
| 6 FI
w| 8 lees Description.
aia lslssie|
Ac)
q 5s IS 1 | 41,4 o
i) 2 jf | 9 ig te
Ml! A Omiols| &
MONGOL IL-KHANS OF PERSIA-Oontd.
ble ; the name which would probably have
been in the bottom segment is entirely
rubbed off. This is most unfortunate, as it
has been impossible hitherto to determine
the coins of this type with certainty. (¢)
Obv. Rev.
Area: aly it St ots
[a 2b,%7 Y goa, Jobst
pau) Jo) a] =” in ornamented
hexagram.
Segment on top: Khaghanu.
163) 1)...| 1)...}..., 49,87 +*t Do. Type: obv., circular area
with inscribed margin; rev., scolloped cir-
cular area with inscribed margin. Both
area legends as in No. 162; rev. marginal
legend was in Mongol character, of which
only traces of last word (luk sen) visible.
Oby. margin entirely rubbed away. (7)
Obv. area: Rev. area:
As in No. 162. wl By
Margin : illegible. Jobat
Margin :...... luk sen.
164] | 1 42.56 * Do. Type: circular areas with in-
seelees seefeee aye) . + f
scribed margins on both sides. Obv. mar-
gin entirely rubbed away; on the rev.
margin there was the date. (2)
Obv. area: Rev. area:
As in No. 162. [ dt) ett
Margin : illegible. Jo's} pbs
Margin dhe tee
VSH5y HE ella eejlegd) Eee! *Do. Type: circular area with in-
scribed margins. Oby., creed in area, with
date on margin; rev., a bow with 2 dots
within it, under the titles. Plate II, fig. 26.
a SOIT nnn EEE!
A. F. R. Hoernle—Catalogue of
[ Supplement,
eae Hime od a
oH 3 METAL. re |
2 cy x
ee op ‘
Sel ex | A Description.
4 | 8 les 2
2 |e lgl8 SIE]
| ERE Be] 3
n |e omole| E 4
MONGOL IL-KHANS OF PERSIA—Contd.
Obv. area: Rev. area:
ali} wll
| Mt att ¥ Jolsst
Secs? all} “wor
al} Joy
Margin...... dd pda eye
T66)" “Weak Tl, 39,89 * Do. Type: similar to No. 165; but
date on rev. margin, and no dots in the
bow.
Obv. area: Rev. area:
al} wills
Mt y Jolt
ys” See
J) Margin : eyed... ye
Margin : illegible.
167 nee) Re 43,60 *Do. Type: obv., square area within
| circle ; rev., similar area with a bow below
titles. Mint Marv, date 6**. Plate II,
fig. 27.
Obv. area: Rev. area:
Mot Y ay SUS
ws” aly Jolt wl
a yy 4° oS
Segment at bottom : dslgine y See
others illegible.
168 eel ls, 39,88 Arghun. As described and figured in
B. M.C., vol. VI, No. 60. Mint Baghdad,
date 68*. Mr. Rodgers read the mint Qazan,
which he supposes to be in Persia. There
is no star either on the obvy. or rev. g)
169 le al ole 38,23 *+t Do. Similar to No. 168; but
37,67| segments on oby. read as follows :
top : gy
1889. ] Captain De Lessoe’s Central Asiatic Coins. 35
METAL.
Description.
Serial Number
Number of Coins
Weight in grains
Gold
Silver.
Copper.
Mixed
MONGOL IL-KHANS OF PERSIA-Contd.
left sleivo (?)
bottom : 9,0
right : qygle}
giving the mint Marw apparently twice,
and the date 68* incomplete.
170} 1z...| 1...}...| 34,98 * Do. Similar to No. 168, but in obv.
area, over 4Jl, a quarter-foil instead of the
star of B. M.C., vol. VI, No. 60. Seg-
ments illegible, except on the left side
ae os? (4)
171) 11...) Eels! 88,16 * Do. Similar to Nos. 168 and 170,
but in obv. area, over 4}!, a pyramid in-
stead of a star. Segments, above...... mye
right hand cred » ; other two illegible.
Date *8*. (#)
172} 1i...] 1l.../...} 38,39 *++ Do. Similar to No. 168; but
' | right hand segment contains a bow; the
three others are illegible. (%)
173 9\.,.| 2}...1...} 38,83 *++t Do. Similar to No. 169, but
36,84| there is a bow within the rey. area, to the
right of the Mongol legend. The segments
read as in No. 169, but in different order :
top: 9°
left : wildy Mint: Marw.
bottom : 35 Date: 68%.
right: dyleiw,.,
The right hand segment shows traces
of some more letters; and it may possibly
have contained the unit figure. Plate II,
fio. 28.
40,70} *++ Do. Same general type as in
38,55] No. 168, but the Mongol legend on rev.
is enclosed within a double circle, the outer
dotted, the inner lined. The oby. area is
Sek at
bo
~)
174
Serial Number.
Number of Coins.
Weight in grains.
A. F. R. Hoernle—Catalogue of [Supplement,
Description.
175
176
eas,
MONGOL IL-KHANS OF PERSIA-Oontd.
marked by a quarter-foil as in No. 166.
The segments read as follows:
39,43
39,37
top: gts Rev.
left: ale St be
bottom : 95 sh in minute letters
ete tens between 2nd and
right: sol} a8 (?) 3rd lines.
Mr. Rodgers remarks on this coin:
“This was struck apparently by Ghazén or
Qazan, the son of Arghun, at the Bazar of
the Camp.” Plate II, fig. 29.
*+ Do. Same general type as in No.
168, but the square area in oby. is formed
by dots, instead of lines. The obv. area is
marked by an arabesque. The oby. seg-
ments read as follows. Mint Nisdbiur, date
#84,
Obv.
top: yojlmas Rev.
left: Qt dhe pln’
bottom : wzbs in minute letterg
right: illegible between 2nd and
3rd lines.
37,83 * Do. Same general type as in No.
a Ye EARN ASA a ren!) oer ese a er
168, but the Mongol legend on rev. is en-
closed in three circles, the exterior ones
lined, the middle one dotted. The segments
read as on No. 174, but in a different
order. Mint Bazér Urdi. (i)
top: gs! hb Rev.
left [wh] 4 illegible, except
bottom)... Ist line.
right } illegible. deta
1889.] Oaptain De Leessoe’s Central Asiatic Coins. 37
Metau.
Description.
Gold.
Serial Number
Number of Coins
Weight in grains
Mixed.
MONGOL IL-KHANS OF PHRSIA—Oontd.
* Do. A similar type to No. 168, but
on oby. double-lined square area within a
lined circle, with arabesques in the seg-
ments; on the rev. the Mongol legend in a
double-lined quarter-foil area enclosed with-
in a double circle, the outer dotted, the
inner lined. Mint Jurjén. Plate II, fig.
EV7\e* sli
eA
is
bo
He
le}
30. (f)
Obv. Rev.
Area: alt St at ¥ Area:
age .
aa at Mongol
at Jyasy Legend
wlaye Gye
Segments : Arabesques.
* Do. A new type. Obv., circular lined
area, with inscribed margin within dotted
circle; rev., circular dotted area, with in-
scribed margin within lined circle. Plate
II, fig. 81. (¢)
178} 1J...| 1...|...| 60,27
Obv. Rev.
Area: Mt My at Area: fs
ol Sy) das” wae Mt
w9yt cy eden} Sultdén Arghtn (in Mongol).
* pe Mt
Margin : illegible. Margin: cs) Sled,
vreee lid yo SUL
AGE AL a ieee, 59,33 *+ Do. Type: similar to No. 163; but
on rev. a plain circular area, with marginal
legend in Mongol characters of which only
luksen legible. Oby. margin worn off;
and the illegible scrawls in the last line
of obv. area may have given the mint, as
in No. 177. (4)
(Jt)
io 6]
A. F. R. Hoernle—Catalogue of
[Supplement,
Serial Number.
Number of Coins.
Gold.
Merat.
silver.
Weight in grains.
Description.
180
181
37,40
42,66
MONGOL IL-KHANS OF PERSIA-Oonid.
Obv. Rev.
Area: st Mt ast Area: pee dt WIG
at Jowy des” Bldol yoy
illegible scrawls ols fale
Margin: illegible. Margin: ......... luksen.
* Do. Type, obv., square area, the seg-
ments apparently only filled with dots;
rev., small circular area formed by three
circles, one dotted between two lined ones ;
with inscribed margin; mint Astardbdd,
date [68]5. Plate Il, fig. 32. (f)
Obv. Rev.
Area: &U as} ¥ Area: wile
AU} Jyaey dos? wt
aU ly le «= Margin: yga% cbtpbet ..,
Segments: dots. = anno red ine
Mr. Rodgers read the date gies and.
observes: “I believe this is the first coin
on which appears the formula &} (3, Js.”
* Do. Type: same as in No. 156. Obv.
legends same as in No. 152; segments,
which probably contained the mint and
date, illegible. Rev., Mongol legend with
Arghunu. (t)
* Do. ox & (Hirdt). Ascription
of original coin unknown.
LINE OF SHAIBAN.
Ay J...)...{| 69,54 Abdulléh II. Too illegible to be de-
a : a termined with certainty. Oby. area has
the creed; the rev. area seems to read as
in B. M. C., vol. VII, No. 150.
ond
no
A. F. R. Hoernle—Oatalogue of [Supplement,
Serial Number.
195
196
197
198
199
200
Ea = ee ee ee See
Number of Coins
Gold
Silver.
Description.
Weight in grains
LINE OF SHAIBAN—Contd.
w ai}
okie
(a sole
Mr. Rodgers ascribes it to Iskandar Shah
(as ibid. No. 145).
Jj...) 40,47 Undetermined. On obv., in scolloped
area, e! eye mint Balkh. (7)
1),..| 48,58 Undetermined. Two circular areas.
(7)
Obv. Rev.
pgsorety, tee 2?
peed... ay (2)
Hts...
MANGIT DYNASTY.
Te lsctas| 70:00) { Muzaffaru-d-din. A modern tilla ;
similar in type to B. M, C., vol. VII, Pl. Vv,
No. 179. Mint Bukhérd, date 1297. Le-
gends as zbid., No. 179. (9)
Heel’ AS 2b Do. Haidari type, as in B. M. C., vol.
VII, Pl. V, No. 212. Mint Bukhara, date
1278. (t)
1)...]...] 48,20) Do. A variety of No. 198; but with
date 1283 on reverse. Mint Bukhérd.
(t)
Obv. Rev.
c By dyes” [s
Ile? Gye cer ee
aap re cs
at
1)...| 83,66 Undetermined. Broad thin piece,
about 13 inches in diameter ; bilingual, Per-
sian and Chinese. Oby., small circular area
With })l=? &%« (money of Bukhérd) ; broad
1889. ] Captain De Lessoe’s Central Asiatic Ooins. - 48
m2 m
x | 2 | Muran, | .8
a 1s FS
a3 ey a
me ce oe Description.
Fi o @/Hlo| 3&
a] IglS/S)5| “a0
g | 8 SlEleel 3
oD Ola |S leg
mie ldsiplols|
MANGIT DYNASTY—Oontd.
ornamental margin, apparently with traces
of Persian inscription. Rev., small octa-
gonal area with Chinese legend; broad
ornamental margin, apparently with Arabic
inscription,
SAFAWY DYNASTY OF PERSIA.
201) 1}...} 1)...)...] 40,01 Ismail I, As described and figured
by Mr. Oliver in J. A. S. B., vol. LVI,
Pl. I, No. IV. Mint Nimroz, date 929,
| About one-third is broken off.
202) = 1)...} 1)...]...] 79,48) { Husain bin Sulaimdn. As in J.
(cA. SOB. vol. TLE, «PU, Ic, Xacti
Mint Isfahdn, date 1130. With a brass
loop for suspension. (y)
203 Vel Lesh! POG Do. The same, but mint Tabriz, date
1131. (g) With a brass loop for suspen-
sion.
204. Re fe aes ey ame Fa ia? Do. A variety of No. 202; the oby.
only, but not the rev., has a marginal circle
of pellets. Mint Isfahdn, date 1120. With
a brass loop for suspension. (9)
205 Jj...| H...1...] 82,16] t Do. Another variety of No. 202; as
in J. A. S. B., vol. LVI, Pl. II, No. XXI.
The oby. margin is inscribed, the rev. mar-
gin is studded with pellets; the areas are
formed by dotted circles. Mint Qazwin,
date 1131. With a brass loop for suspen-
sion; also pierced near margin. (g)
206 1}...} 1j...]...{ 80,40 Do. Another variety of No. 202; as
in J. A. 8. B. vol. LVI, Pl. I, No. XXII.
The obv. margin inscribed, the reverse
ornamented with floral design. Mint Tijlis,
date 1132. With brass loop for suspension.
)
207) Da] Ua.) 76390 “4 * Mahmud. Type the same as No.
204; obv., circular arew with margin stud-
ded with pellets; rev., lettered surface
without margin. No mint or date. With a
brass loop for suspension. Plate IT, fig, 34.
he
kx
A. F. R. Hoernle—Catalogue of
[Supplement,
Gold.
Weight in grains.
Serial Number.
Number of Coins.
Mixed.
Copper.
bo
SS ee ee a ed
Description.
SAFAWTI DYNASTY OF PERSTA-Oonitd.
Obv. Rev.
at Yt ay J fyirabe an»
o—.— =” 1 She gael a} oe)...
9 le all} Jo) sevalenw gy? all
aly oJ (only partially legi-
ple.)
Ashraf. Type the same as No. 204;
like No. 200, p. 67, in B. M.C., of Shahs of
Persia. Mint Isfahin, date 1137. With
brass loop for suspension. (gq)
t Tahmasp II. Type similar to No.
202, but the areas are formed by dotted cir-
cles, as in Num. Or., No. DLXXI, Mint
Isfahan, date 1147. With a brass loop for
suspension. (9)
Do. A variety of No. 209, oby. mar-
gin inscribed, as in J. A. S. B., vol. LVI.
Pl. II, No. XXIX. See also No. 150,
p. 56 of B. M. C., of Shadhs of Persia.
Mint Tabriz, date 1134. With a brass loop
and perforation for suspension. (q)
Do. Thesame as No. 210, but mint
Mashhad Mugqaddas, date 1137. The mar-
gins are entirely cut away, with the excep-
tion of one trace at the side with oss on the
obv. With a brass loop for suspension. (7)
Nadir. As described and figured by
Mr. Oliver, in J. A. S. B., vol. LVI, Pl. III,
No. XXXV, and B. M. C. of Shahs of
Persia, No. 1, p. 72. Mint Mashhad, date
1150. In one specimen the date is nearly
rubbed out. With brass loop for suspen-
sion. (/)
Do. As figured in Num. Or., No.
DLXXXYV, and described on p. 472. The
margins are nearly rubbed away, hence mint
and date almost illegible, but probably
Mashhad 1150. See also J. A. S. B., vol.
1889. | Captain De Leessoe’s Central Asiatic Coins. 45
na 44
& |-2 | Moras. | -2
2 O Bb
H | ag AeA
5 st | Description.
4 | & HI] eS
ra | -O | fees)
s q ao| e/a) o mel)
qi 5 laie| Sk )
o Plt oka! 1
D|)A |Oojmioas| &
SAFAWY DYNASTY OF PERSIA-Contd.
LVI, Pl. IV, No. XXXVII. With brass
loop for suspension.
214 1)...| 1)...|... 74,51 Karim Khan (?). Mr. Rodgers ob-
serves: ‘‘no name on the coin; obv., the
distich as on Karim Khan’s coins in B. M.
C. of Shahs of Persia, Introduction, p.
Ixxxvii. Rev. wl wsepstio cys. Mint
Kashan; no date. With brass loop for
suspension. (¢)
215) Ue.) De. 40357 Undetermined. Obv., quarter-foil area
with Shi’ah creed, and inscribed margin,
nearly illegible. Rev., two scolloped areas,
one within the other, and dotted margin.
Legend in inner area illegible; outer ......
| oe eats sone)
916 1... 1.../...| 22,34). Undetermined. Mint Isfahan. Mr.
| Rodgers reads as follows :
| “Obv. wierel ure Rev. in lozenge $)!0,
BLS So (P) Margin lost.”
Biv else Neelew| @bS56 Medal or Token of brass. Obv., the
Persian rayed and faced sun in middle of
wreath of oak-leaves and acorns. Rev.,
crescent and stars in middle of ditto.
AFGHANISTAN.
hyd Mahmud Durrani. A-rupee as figured
ay Da sia hs aaa in Num. Chron., IIId Series for 1888, Pt
XIII, fig. 12, p. 352. Mint Hirat, date
1230. Legends on both sides almost en-
tirely worn off.
Obv. Rev.
(ris
dyes” yline a} 5%
ia eye
rs
ony
A. F. R. Hoernle—Catalogue of [Supplement,
a a
| -2 | Murar. | -§
3 a
rQ a2) Fi,
Ao] ew 4 Fit
5 : 4 ie Description.
o My .
2 |e isisike| &
8] 2 losis} 2
DN} A |O|R|\ola| &
AFGHANISTAN—Contd.
a Oe Rat Fes! ol: 41,44 Do. A quater Rupee. Mint gone;
date 1241. Most of the legend gone.
Obv. Rev.
2742” line rue
ee, sib,
wy
220) = L...| T...|...| 141565 ’Abdu-r-Rahmdn. A rupee. Mint K4-
bul, date 1298. Very imperfectly struck,
showing portion only of legends; edges
much hacked about.
Obv. Rev.
pe eye
(Coa 5 n)
Ode PIVEN Oe
PSA yt [ ls]
EPI il ge tee 1, Do. Arupee. Another Variety. Mint
and date cut away. In the same condition .
as No. 220.
Obv. Rev.
oye re
ertaylt Ay a .) fo
[ ose | ae We eat ree
222) —5J...| 5)...]...] 142,17] Undetermined. All Rupees. Mint
141,52) Kabul; dates, only visible on three, ** 97,
141,21) *** 4, **** 4. In the same general condi-
138,41} tion, as Nos. 220 and 221.
137,75 Obv. Rev.
S) gle Gy
a ly
LosJ} L Sib lewd}
os [12]97
1889. ] Captain De Leessoe’s Central Astatie Coins. 47
—
-| 48] we A
# | -8 | Mora. |
= i &b
5 3 q D oti
me ia 5 escription.
|g islsiks| &
S|, (slele.| 2
n|e ialcla| &
AFGH ANISTAN—(Oonid.
223 1)...|...] 143,18 Undetermined. A rupee, with an
incomplete and unread Persian distich on
the oby.; and with mint Daru-s-Saltanat
Kabul and date 1250 on rev.
224, 1)...| 46,72 Undetermined. Obv., square area with
arabesque in segments; rev., round area
with ornamental margin. No mint, date
we CD
Obv. Rev.
Area: Eine oye
we ala
oe
225 1j...| 43,60 Undetermined. Obv, lozenge area
within ornamental margin ; rey., floral geo-
metric figure.
Obv. eye
std
sob
226 1\...) 38,57... Undetermined. A variety of No. 224.
Mint Hirat on oby., and date 887 or 878 on
rev.
Rev. 5% Obv. AA
x! dh
v
227 1...) 47,16 Undetermined. A variety of No. 224,
but obv. scollopped area, rev. square area.
Mint Hirat, uo date.
Obv. eo) Rev. wy?
a St a}
t. 5 < es
228 lj...| 36,68 Undetermined. Mint Hirat; date **55.
Oby., lotus shaped design; the centre has
Serial Number.
229
230
231
232
233
234,
Number of Coins.
A. F. R. Hoernle—Catalogue of
Weight in grains.
77,26
46,82!
34,24
52,02
53,23
51,97
51,45
50,74
[Supplement,
Description.
AFGHANISTAN—Contd.
tty>5 on two of the pedals Joc; the rest
illegible. Rev., in round area: _ ?
Undetermined. Another variety of
No. 225, but of much larger size. Mint
Hirat, date 919.
Obv. 9449
Shi
Bip
tered
Undetermined. Another variety of
No. 225; mint Hirdt (?), date gone.
Obv. yd
diblodSt ty
sl (2)
Undetermined. Another variety of
No. 225. Obv....uy2; Rev. illegible.
RAJPUTS OF INDIA.
Prithvi Raja. As in Ar. Ant.,Pl. XTX,
fig. 18; Ind. Ant., vol. I, pl. XXV, fig. 21,
pl. XXVI, fig. 30; also Chron. p. 64,
No. 38. (4)
Chahada Deva. With legend Saman-
tadeva; asin Ar. Ant., Pl. XIX, fig. 16;
also Chron., No. 39, p. 70. (¢)
Do. With legend Samasarola; as in
Chron., No. 40, p. 70, pl. I, fig. 15, also Ar.
Ant., Pl. XTX, fig. 31, 34, 37; Ind. Ant.,
Pl. XXVI, fig. 31. (¢)
1889.] Captain De Lessoe’s Central Asiatic Ooins. 49
Description.
a a
f =| |
aren ares Merat. es
o = Ss
2 |o aa
Piam| ReSaae pe fe
2 ox a
~)3 1 Jelsle! 3
|g |g 3 |e o| ,o0
ete || | >| el is)
a) Nz | 9 |e bones =
A|)G |Oljajoje| &
7 { | | )
235} 3 | 3
| |
| |
236 a ae il
238) 1)...|...|
oe,
| | |
nn |
intl |
|
| |
etl lea
239| )...|...| J...
|
|
| |
240| 361...|...|36)...
|
| |
RAJPUTS OF INDIA.—(contd)
50,16! Madana Pala. As in Ar. Ant., Pl:
49,07; XIX, fig. 19, 23, Ind. Ant., Pl. XXV, fic. 16,
47,10) Pl. XXVI, fio. 27, J. R. A. S., vol. IX,
fig. 13; also Chron., p: 62, No. 34, (t)
50,03 Sallakshana Deva. Asin J. R.A. S.,
vol. IX, fig. 11, 12; also Chron., p. 62,
| No. 33. (4)
MUGHALS OF INDIA,
175,25 Farrokh Siyar. A rupee. As in
Num. Or., No. DCCCCXII, but mint Daru-
| ]-Saltanat Lahor, date 1126, regnal 2. (/)
| SOUTH INDIAN.
47,62) Qutbu-d-din Firtiz. Doubtful, but see
| Madras Journal of Literature and Science,
for 1888-89, fig. 4, p.56. Lettered surfaces
enclosed eabtein ‘donble circle, the inner
lined, the outer dotted. (7)
Obv. Rev.
Lid} Obs i 9 gl (P)
ent y 3a
UNDETERMINED.
104,80 Unknown. Circular areas with in-
| scribed margins. Each area contains the
|exceedingly crude figure of an animal,
| which cannot be identified. The marginal
|legends are almost entirely worn off and
| quite illegible. (¢)
39,09 Unknown. Mere copper-drops of varying
23,29) sizes and weights. Mr. Rodgers observes:
13, 66, “No king’s name on them. Some are very
12 09] small, weighing only 4 grains of copper.
11,59) They were all made of drops of copper which
7,70, were stamped on both sides by dies bearing
7,52 J Kufie inseriptions. The edges are still con-
A. F. R, Hoernle—Oatalogue of Central Asiatic Coins. [Supp.
= | cs | Merat. dep | 4
o | oO Bo
4st | 4 +a
5 5 a Description.
ta oO Pi taee: |
@ 1 bg/Sla/S| &
eS A ls] e] al ey
oO B |olm|o "|
n|e oSlaloj| &
UNDETERMINED.—Oontd.
| vex. Some weigh over 50 grains. The
| | | all agree in not being prepared for the die
| by cutting or hammering. No definite de-
scription has yet been deciphered. Some of
them have jos ('adl) on one side; some
have a geometric device. There is not
sufficient inscription on any coin to enable
me to assign them to any king.” The
weights on the margin are those of seven
of the best selected specimens.
N. B. Of the following Numbers there are a number of spare
specimens, all being much inferior to those selected for the Indian
Museum and noticed. in the Catalogue.
Nos. 51—54, 224 specimens.
Nos. 60—70, 48 do.
No. 75, 11 do.
Nos. 76—83, 107 do.
Nos. 84—86, 47 do.
No. 146 , 148 do.
No. 240 , 210 do.
1889. |: Captain De Lessoe’s Central Asiatic Corns. 51
Posrscripr.
The foregoing pages had already passed through the press, when
I received from Professor W. Tiesenhausen of Petersburg a copy of his
paper on the Oriental Coins of Mr. Linévitch, published in the Trans-
actions of the Oriental Section of the Russian Archeological Society,
Vol. IV, pp. 289—320. Among the coins described in this paper, I find
several which appear to be identical with some in the Museum Collec-
tion. Thus Prof. Tiesenhausen’s No. 6 shown in his Pl. I, figs. 2, 3 is the
same as Ind. Mus. Cat. No. 77. The mint is read by the Professor as
wie. His No. 7 seems to be the same as Ind. Mus. Cat. No. 51, but
in the woodeut, accompanying No. 7, the horse is shown without a
saddle. His No. 8 (with a woodcut) is the same or nearly the same as
Ind. Mus. Cat. No. 101. Others are: No. 1 = Ind. Mus. Cat. No. 149 ;
No. 3 = Ind. Mus. Cat. No. 95 or No. 105. Prof. Tiesenhausen’s No. 29,
which is dated 798 A. H. in Timtr’s reign, very much resembles Ind.
Mus. Cat. No. 230; and the latter, therefore, is probably to be attri-
buted to Timir. So are, in all probability, Ind. Mus. Cat. Nos. 224,
225, 226, which in design have much resemblance with No. 230. In
fact, the date of No. 226 is probably to be read 788 in Timir’s reign.
No. 229 of the Ind. Mus. Cat., to judge from its date 919 A. H., may
be a coin of Ismé’il I, the first king of the Safawi dynasty of Persia
(905-932 A. H.).
Journal, As, Soc., Beng., Supp. to Vol, LIX, Pt. I, for 1889. [Puate I,
Central Asiatic Coins in the indian Museum.
COLLOTYPE,—HEBERLET BROS,
rournal As. Sue, Beng. Vol LVI, Pt. 1, Supplement 183
jPLate ti
1D
Central Asiatic Coins in the Indian Museum.
COLLOTYPE.— HE BERLE! BROS,
No.
CONTENTS
OF THE
JOURNAL, Pr. I, For 1888.
1—D 4s, A brief account of Tibet from “ Dsam Ling Gyeshe,”
the well-known geographical work of Lama Tsan-po Nomankhan of
Amdo. Cockburn, Sitd’s Window or Buddha’s Shadow Cave.
No. 2.—O liver, The Safwi Dynasty of Persiaa Syamal Das,
Antiquities at Nagari. Yate, notes on the City of Herat.
Fiihrer, Three new copper-plates grants of Goyindachandra
Deva of Kanauj.
.3.—Knowles, Kashmiri Riddles. Rajendralala Mitra,
Notes on a Donative Inscription of Vidyadhara Bhanja, belonging
to C. T. Metcalfe, Hsq. Garwood, Notes on the ancient mounds
in the Quetta District. Beveridge, the Mother of Jahangir.
Rodgers, Notes on the coins mentioned by Major Raverty in
his notes to his Translation of the Tabaqét-i-Nasiri.
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