Indian Antiquary Vol 28

Author(s): Richard Carnac Temple
Publisher: Swati Publications

Page 65

FEBRUARY, 1899.)
INDO-CHINESE COINS IN THE BRITISH COLLECTION.
51
There are altogether five varieties of royal names, all commencing with Gugra; viz., Gugramada, Gugradama, Gugramaya, Gugramoda, and Gugratida. Perhaps n should be read for d (Gugramana, etc.) in every case, or in some of them, seeing that the Kharoshi d and n are hardly distinguishable. Seeing also that sometimes y occurs for j in the title mahardja (maháráya) it may be that Gugramaya is only another form of Gugramada. It is also possible that Gugramoda is really intended for Gugramada, as what looks like the vowel o may be a mere slip of the engraver. In any case there still remain three names which cannot be identified with one another: Gugramada, Gugradama and Gugratida. Accordingly these coins must be ascribed to three, if not five different kings. As all their names begin with Gugra (perhaps Gurga), they would all seem to have belonged to the same family.
(a) The Chinese Legend. The Chinese legend, also, occurs in two different versions; a longer and a shorter one. The longer, consisting of six symbols, is found on the large coins, while the shorter, consisting only of three symbols, is seen on the smaller coins.
The longer legend is arranged in four different ways, three of which occur in our collection. In the first variety, the legend commences opposite the apex of the central symbol and then runs round from right to left. In the second variety it also commences opposite the apex, but rafis in the opposite direction, from the left to the right. In the third variety it commences on the left of the central symbol and runs round from the left to the right. The British Museum Catalogue, No. 1799a, presents a fourth variety, in which the legend runs from right to left, but commences on the right side of the central symbol. In all four varieties the legend is identical, as shown in the subjoined woodcat :
No. 4.
1
2
3
4
5
A portion of this legend was read by Dr. T. de Lacouperie, in the British Museum Catalogue, p. 394. I read the whole as follows :
tchung (1) liang (2) sxe (3) tchu (4) t'ung (5) tsien (6), i.e., "Weight (one) Liang (and) four Tchu (of) copper money."
The symbol which Dr. T. de Lacou perie reads yl'one' does not occur in any of the coins of our collection, nor can I find it on the coin figured by him in the Catalogue, No. 1799a. The 5th and 6th symbols were too indistinct on his coin to be read by him. They are clear enough on some of our coins, and are those shown in the above Woodcut. No. 6 is the well-known sign for isien or money' (British Museum Catalogue, p. xviii). No. 5 is a sign which I have not been able to find in Morrison's dictionary, the only one available to me ; nor is it known to any of the Chinese Literati whom I could consult. I take it to be an old form of the symbol 15 t'ung copper' (see ibid., p. lxiv), made by omitting the long side-strokes of the upper quadrangle of its right-hand portion. A similar modification occurs in the old form of the symbol kuan (see ibid., p. 191), and in the old form of the symbol po liang (see bit., p. 300).
The shorter legend is also identical on all the small coins, though the symbols are drawn in rather varying forms. This is not at all an ancommon practice, as an inspection of the British Museum Catalogue will at once show. The legend, with the varying forms of its symbols
A Dictionary of the Chinese Language in three Parts. By R. Morrison, D.D., 1820.