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JUNE, 1892.]
Mr. Rodgers' catalogue of the coins in the Lahore Museum is apparently the only archæological publication issued under the patronage of the Pañjab Government for many years past. The book is enclosed, it cannot be said that it is bound, in a flimsy paper cover which falls off at the first perusal. It is to be hoped that the authorities in the Pañjâb, when next they issue a book for the use of historical students, will harden their hearts, and at least venture on the expense of boards.
BOOK-NOTICE.
In Mr. Rodgers' work nineteen pages are devoted to a general introduction, including an extremely imperfect bibliography, one hundred and forty-nine pages to the main catalogue, thirty-one pages to a supplementary catalogue of coins recently acquired by the Museum, and four pages to Pâli coin inscriptions, with transliterations, and a plate of monogrammatic emblems.
It is a great thing to have a printed catalogue of the Lahore cabinet at all, and I fully appreciate the difficulties of the compiler's task, and the abundant labour and learning which he has expended upon it. Yet it is impossible for any reviewer not to regret the chaotic arrangement of the work, and the neglect of the small details which make perfection. It is confusing to find the early Buddhist Kuninda coins and the Yaudhêya pieces (page 23) inserted between the Guptas and the Khalifas, the Indo-Scythian coins with Hindi legends (page 52) placed at the end of the series of the coins of the Sultans of Dehli, and followed by a class dubbed Miscellaneous Old Indian Coins,' which includes pieces of the Indo-Scythian, Gupta, and mediaval periods. Many other instances of eccentric arrangement might be quoted.
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Inattention to minor details is shown in a multitude of misprints, in the neglect to distinguish Indian from Bactrian Pali (Kharôshtri) in the table of inscriptions, and in various other ways. The book is printed in such a manner that much space is wasted.
So much for fault finding. I now turn to the pleasanter task of pointing out some of the items of interest to be found in the book.
Mr. Rodgers, in his Introduction, notices sundry desiderata in Indian numismatics, and it may be of some practical use to call the attention of readers of the Indian Antiquary to the
1 [The States and petty principalities of Patiala, Nabha, Jind, Malêr-Kotla, Kaithal, Kapurthala, Bahawalpur, Ambâlâ and Jagadhri all had coinages of their own, and, so I am told, had many others besides; George Thomas of Hissar, for example. Since I wrote my paper on the
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enormous amount of special work, which is required before it can be said that anything like a general account of the coinages of Northern India becomes possible. Mr. Rodgers remarks "how necessary is a Coin Manual for India, which should, in one volume, show how much is known at the present day on the subject." That one volume would, I fear, have to be a terribly thick one, and many and grievous would be the gaps in its contents.
It is odd (page v.) that the Lahore Museum should not contain a single specimen of the Mitra Dynasty, generally identified with the Puranic Sungas. Many of the coins of these princes have been described by Messrs. Rivett-Carnac and Carlleyie, but a monograph on the subject is wanted.
"The numismatics of Kasmir are full of anomalies (p. vii)." This puzzling subject was long ago treated by Sir A. Cunningham, but there is plenty of room for a more exhaustive treatise on it.
"Much work remains to be done to the coins
of Jaunpur. The various types are, as yet, but imperfectly known." At present the brief notice
in Thomas' Chronicles is the standard account.
The coinages of the local dynasties, such as those of Malwa and Kangra, all require further elucidation.
"The neighbouring (i. e., to Kângrå) state of Chamba also had a coinage of its own. The coins were of copper only, and the characters on them were a kind of Hill Sanskrit or Thakuri. On some of the coins are the Raja's name, and that of one of the gods of Chambâ. They have never been written about." (p. xiii). Ten of these coins are catalogued (p. 121).
Pages xiii to xv of the Introduction contain some valuable observations on the coins of the Mughal Emperors, which, as is truly observed, "form an immense series." Nothing approaching a comprehensive account of this immense series exists, and perhaps the most pressing need of the Indian numismatist is that of a fairly complete description of the Mughal coinages, from the time of Båbar to that of Bahadur Shah II., a period of a little more than three centuries. An absolutely complete catalogue is out of the question, because the number of varieties is almost infinite, but the compilation
subject, ante, Vol. XVIII. p. 321 ff, I spent but a day or so in Patiala, and picked up gold, silver and copper specimens of some of these mintages new to me, and so far as I know, not even suspected to exist by numismatists. - ED.]
