________________
POLITICAL CONDITION OF THE COUNTRY 233 conclusion from this similarity in the absence of more convincing evidence and to connect the Eran region with Khāravela.
From coins found at Ayodhyā, two separate dynasties can be traced, of one the square cast coins show no trace of foreign influence in their style and types. These coins closely resemble each other in style and are connected by their types. Names of six rulers of this dynasty are known? and we have no literary or inscriptional references to them. They, probably, cover the second Century B. C. The other class of coins belong to a later dynasty. They are round pieces struck from dies leaving the seal-like impression, and hence, very distinct from coins of earlier dynasty. Names of four rulers are come across. Like the first, none of the rulers is otherwise known. Their reign period may be fixed in the next two centuries of the first dynasty.?
Coins of more than a dozen rulers with names ending with "mitra” have been attributed by Cunningham' to a local dynasty ruling in Pañchāla. These form one of the longest and uniform series of ancient Indian coins. They cover a period from about the second Century B. C. to the end of the first Century B. C. The reverse type on these coins is a diety or his symbol--in most cases the former, whose name forms, as a rule, a component of the issuer's name and who was his patron diety, 4 and hence, are of special interest from the point of view of iconography. Cunningham found these coins in Rohilkhand and chiefly at
1. Allan, CAI, Nos. 98-100, pp. lxxxvii f.
2. Cunniugham, Coins of Ancient India, p. 93, Pl. IX ; Rapson, Indian Coins, p. 11; JRAS, 1903, p. 287 ; Allan, CAI, P. lxxxvii.
3. CAI, pp. 79-81. 4. Allan, CAI, P, cxvii.
30
Jain Education International
For Personal & Private Use Only
www.jainelibrary.org
