3H Major Tod's Account of Greek, Parthian, and Hindu Medals. 



The Zend characters, common to both these medals, afford a proof, wliicli 

 may be considered as decisive, that both these princes held Bactria, or 

 Balk'h, as the seat of empire j for, though the discovery of these coins 

 gives validity to the reported extent of conquest of these princes, yet, had 

 they held the seat of government witliin the Indus, they would have adopted 

 tlie ancient Ndgari character on the reverse, not that of Parthia. 



I shall now state how, and where I found these coins, and describe the 

 method I adopted in my search, which, if persevered in by others, may 

 lead to more discoveries of this nature. For tlie last twelve years of my 

 residence in India (amongst Mahrattas and Rajputs), the collecting ot 

 coins, as an auxiliary to history, was one of my pursuits : and in the rainy 

 season I had a person employed at Mat'hurd and other old cities, to collect 

 all that were brought to light by the action of the water, while tearing up 

 old foundations, and levelling mouldering walls. In this manner, I accu- 

 mulated about 20,000 coins, of all denominations ; among which, there may 

 not be above 100 calculated to excite interest, and perhaps not above 

 one-third of that number to be considered of value : but, among them, there 

 is an Apollodotus and a Menander, besides some rare medals of a 

 Parthian dynasty, probably yet unknown to history. 



By the acquisition of this coin of Apollodotus, I made a double dis- 

 covery, namely, of the coin itself, and of an ancient capital city. 



Conversing with the principal disciple of a celebrated Jain priest of 

 (iwalior, about ancient cities, he related to me an anecdote of a poor man, 

 about thirty-five years ago, having discovered, amidst the few fragments 

 left oi Surapiira, on the Yamuna, a bit of (what he deemed) glass: shewing 

 it to a silversmith, he sold it for one rupee ; the purchaser carried his prize 

 to Agra, and sold it for 5,000, for it was a diamond. The finder naturally 

 wished to have a portion of the profit, and, on refusal, waylaid and slew 

 the silversmith. The assassin was carried to Agra to be tried, and thus 

 the name of Surapura became known beyond its immediate vicinity. This 

 was a sufficient inducement to me to dispatch one of my coin-hunters, and 

 I was rewarded by Apollodotus and several Parthian coins. 



The remains of Surapura are close to the sacred place of pilgrimage, 

 called by us " Betaisor," on tlie Yamnnd, between Agra and Etawah. 

 Tradition tell us, that it was an ancient city, and most probably was founded 

 by Suras'ena, the grandfather of Crishsa, and consequently the capital of 

 the Suraseni of the historians of Alexander, which name they very appro- 



