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260
THE INDIAN ANTIQUARY.
[SEPTEMBER, 1883.
the B&rakzais, and the point with regard to them in the present connection is, that they are so called after the original name of the whole Durrant tribe, having retained that designation as being that portion of the tribe which never followed their great saint Shah Makhead. This derivation and information is all new to me, and I give it for what it is worth.
About this Shah Makudd I would remark that the same power of turning stones into sugar is ascribed to him as is so urtiversally ascribed to the better known Shekh Faridu'd. din of Pak Pattan in the Panjab. Shekh Farld's title of Shakr Ganj, or Treasury of Sugar, is derived from this legend, and Shah Makhsud's tomb in the Shakr Darra, Sugar Pass, is said to be on the site of his miracles.
R. C. TEMPLE.
ON THE DATES ON THE COINS OF THE HINDU
KINGS OF KÅBUL, BY SIR E. C. BAYLEY.
To the Numismatic Chronicle (3rd Ser. vol. II, pp. 128-165), Sir E. Clive Bayley has contributed a paper on the coins of the Hindu kings of Kabul.' These coins had already been described by Mr. E. Thomas in 1848, who thought that among the signs which occur before the head of the horseman found on one type of them he could detect dates, and on some of the later coins he believed he had made out a degraded and contracted form of the word Gupta. Sir E. C. Bayley having examined all the coins of this type within his reach, has come to the conclusion--that on certain silver coins of the bull-and-horseman type, and which all bear the name of Sylla. pati, the earliest of the Brahmanical kings of Kabul, there are dates in numerals of a form between those of the mediæval Indian and the modern Arabic forms. In some cases the dates are followed by the word "Gupta," and these dates he reads as '98 (for 698), and perhaps '99 Gupta, and as 707 and 727 (Gupta). On certain other coins of the same general type, but of conventional execution, which bear the names of Sy&lapati and Samanta, indiscriminately, and in rare cases of Bhimad êva, and Khvad a. va yaka, other dates occur, which he reads as 802. Gu,' 812 Gu,' 813, 814, 815 and 817, and on a still later copper coin of degraded type866. These he regards as posthumous, and as belong. ing to the latest and subordinate kings of the
dynasty. Then, in the British Mtubeum is a coin bearing the conventional lion or leopard of the type found on Varka-(Vakka- or Vanka.) déva's coins, but on the other side a peacock of the form found on the small silver Gupta coins. Above the lion is a Hindi legend which is either $: 1 Kamara or Kamra (dêva), possibly it may stand for Kum&ra; and is identifiable with Ka mlů &-the name given in the Jami-ul. Hikayat to the king of India', there described as the opponent of Amrů Lais (878-900 A.D.). This makes it necessary to place part of his reign, the reign of Padma, and the first reign of Varkadê va, between 878 A.D. and Sy&lapati's accession; and the first reign of Varka must have been of some duration, for Muhammadan writers describe him as going through various phases of conduct before he was dethroned. A copper coin bearing the name of Padama or Padma is precisely similar to that of Varkadêva, and hence Sir Edward assigns his place before Varka and after Kamara. Further, on a copper coin of Samantad êva-imitated from those of Varka, as certain of his coine are already known to be and which bears above the lion an Arabic legend which it is proposed to read as Al Mutaki (or Al Muttaki) b'illah,-being the name of the Khalif who reigned from 940 to 944 A.D. On the other side is the name of S&manta. From this it is inferred that Syålapati was contemporary for a time with Khâlif Al Muktadir b'illah (907-8 to 932 A.D.), and that he was probably the king who struck the medal in his honour (published by Mr. Thomas) of the bull-and-horseman type.
Founding on Dr. Bühler's identification of Siladitya VI. of Valabhi with the Dhruvabhata in Hiuen Theang's time and other similar data," he concludes that the Guptâ era began in 190 A.D., and derives the following resulte1. Kamara or Kamlok, contemp. with 'Amrų Lais
I A.D. 2. Padama or Pakma
878 to 887 3. Varkadêva's first reign 4. Syâlapati
887-916 5. Varkadêva's 2nd reign, say 10 years
916-926 6. Samantadêva
cir. 9269-940 Mr. Thomas would object to Sir E. O. Bayley's readings that the latter reads all the dates with the heads of the figures towards the area of the
Jour. R. As. Soc. vol. IX, pp. 177-198. Sir H. Elliot, Hist. Ind. vol. II, p. 422.
Ind. Ant. vol. VII, p. 80 vol. IX, p. 254 ; vol. X, p. 110: and Jour. R. As. Soc. N. 8. vol. XIII, p. 571.
Mr. Thomas would identify him with Khvadavayaks or Khedavayaka: Jour. R.As. Boc. vol. IX, (1848), p. 180.
. Mr. Thomas had conjecturally fixed the date of Samanta's accession as 935, A.D. For Al Birdni's list of this dynasty seo Reinaud, Fragm. Arabes et Persans, pp. 152-164, 221-227, Mémoire sur l'Inde, pp. 178f. 196-7, 212, 246, 257; Prinsep Essays, vol. I, p. 330; Sir H. Elliot, Hist. Ind. vol. II, pp. 420-427.-ED.
