Indian Antiquary Vol 12

Author(s): Jas Burgess
Publisher: Swati Publications

Page 16

THE INDIAN ANTIQUARY.
(JANUARY, 1888.
Vishnu.
the * k and above the į d, which would make the name appear as liekirda, or i kardi. Outside the spear are the letters indicating the tribal name, which read, Gadaha.
Letters to the right of the standing figure on a line with the small altar TU, kshana ? The ksh is formed by joining the k to the sh, in line, and the cross of the k serves for its own definition, as well as the joint discrimination of the sh from an ordinary 4, p. In some cases these letters seem to read Kshadan.
Reverse. Seated female figure, as usual. Mono. gram, No. 162 Ariana Antiqua. Letters to the right, yapta !
IV-SHANDAI BRANCH. No. 10. Gold. Common. Obverse. Below the arm , Shandhi.
Outside the spear , Bastán?
To the right of the standing figure , j, 7, n, &c. Reverse. As usual. No. 11. Gold. Rare. Obverse. Below the army Bhadra, Outside the spear, Shandhi. Reverse. As usual. V-Lower GUPTA BRANCH. NÁRA (Gupta).
The subjoined later Gupta coins may seem somewhat out of place in this Scythic series, but they bear upon the general system of the perpendicular definition of the Hindi alphabet in loco, and No. 13 has to be introduced, as a new piece, by a reproduction of its already published direct prototype.
Ariana Antiqua. Pl. xviii. 22 (3 coins in the British Museum.)
No. 12. Gold. Rare.
Obverse. King standing, to the front, with Garuda standard to the right, and bow in the left hand, general device similar to those of Samudra Gupta's*' but greatly deteriorated in artistic execution. Below the left arm H, Nára, between the legs , gu.
Reverse. The usual type of Parvati seated on lotas leaves. Marginal legend. FM Baláditya.
VISHNU (Gupta). No. 13. Gold. Rare. Ariana Antiqua, Pl. xviii. fig. 24, (Willock Collection, India Office).
Obverse. Similar devices to No. 12. Below the arm, inside the bo at the bottom J, gu at times y, h.
Reverse. The usual device. Legend of tact Sri Chandraditya.
Since writing the above I have discovered a new coin of a Scythic chief, entitled Pu, and bearing the tribal designation of Mahi. Pao was seemingly a common name enough among central Asian peoples. It is mer tioned by De Guignes as the appellation of the Hun" Chef des hordes-d'Orient," called Lieou-chi, the father of the great LieouYu en-Hai, in the 3rd century A. D. So also, we find a Pou-sa, son of Chi-kien-ki-kin, of the Hoei-ke race, in A. D. 629.
With regard to the tribal name, or subsectional nomenclature of the horde," which is clear and definite on the coin, in old Hindi characters, as Mahi-several possible identifications present themselves among the race lists of the Mahábhárata-ranging from the Mahyas and Suhmas to the eastward, Mahikas or MAhishas to the south, and Må heyas, who were supposed to be settled on the Mahi river in Malw&" which last seems to afford the most probable association in the present instance.
It would be a great point to be able to establish this latter connection, in coincidence with the strong Scythic element generally prevailing on the Indas and the Western coast:
Of course, there is no pretext for making the reference to the Mâhey as, or other previously cited races named in Indian records, to imply that they were in any way co-existent in their new homes with the great war" of the Pandus, &c. But, as regards the text of the Mahabharata
30 Ariana Antiqua, Pl. xviii. Nos. 7, 8, 12. Marsden's Numismata Orientalia, Nos. ML and MLVII. Prinsep's Eneays; Burgess's Arch. Reports, vol. II, No. 4.
3. De Guignes (Paris 1756) Part 2, vol I, p. 145. 51 Ibid, vol I, p. 231.
* Strabo expressly_says: "On the left hand (on advancing from the S. E. of the Hyrcanian Ses towards
the Earth Translator's note) opposite to these parts are situated the Scythian and nomadic nations the rost have the common appellation of Scythians, but each
separato tribe has its peculiar name:-Book XI, c. vili, nec. 2. (Bohn's edition vol. II, p. 245). See also Pliny, Book vi, cap. 19.
3. Mahabharata, quoted in the Vishnu Purana, Hall's Edition, vol. II, p. 165 n. 11.
* Ibid. vol. II, p. 166 N. 8. 8; and also Vishnu Purina itself, Book IV. cap. xxiv, vol. IV, p. 220.
30 V. P., vol. II, page 169 n. 6 and 154, n. 7. Hiones Theang, tome III, p. 155; Cunningham, Geography, p. 400.