LANKESVARA GOLD COIN. 31 

i, ren Sy | 
Fig. 5.—Sri Lankesvara Type, 
Rhys-Davids has identified this coin as belonging to Parakrama 
the Great, who reigned at Polonnaruwa from 1164 to 1197 a.v. I 
venture to hold a different view. Figure 6 is the lion coin of that 
king (copper), and figure 7 is his copper “massa.” Each of them 
bears the legend ‘“‘ Sri Parakrama Bahu,” and not “ Sri Lankesvara,” 
and on each the figure of the king is different in detail from that 
on the Lankesvara coin. 

Fig. 6.—Sri Parakrama Bahu (Lion Coin, Copper). 
The face consists of three lines with a curve at the back, described 
by Prinsep as “ altogether unique in the history of perverted art.” 
The characters of the legend are better formed and less archaic than 
those of the “Sri Lankesvara.’’ The Lankesvara coin would thus 
appear to be anterior to the period of the Great Parakrama. The 
Pali equivalent of Lankesvara, ‘“‘Lankissara,” is applied in the 
Mahavansa to Vijaya Bahu 1. (1065 to 1120 a. D.). The coin was 

very probably issued by that king. True it is that the word is applied 
to two earlier kings as well, Mahasena (277-304 a.p.) and to his 
successor Meghavarna ; but the Nagari characters on the coin are of 
a period much later than that of these two kings. The long reign of 
Vijaya Bahu I., lasting as it did for over half a century, would have 
necessitated more than one issue of his money, which very probably 
accounts for the different types now extant. At any rate one thing 
is tolerably clear: the Lankesvara coin is not to be attributed to 
Parakrama Bahu I. 
