310 Major Tod's Account of Greek, Parthian, a?id Hindu Medak. 



kingdom, had established himself in all the power the Greeks ever had in 

 India. He conquered the whole of the countries from the Indus to the 

 Ganges, including the dominions of Porus ; and such were his moderation 

 and clemency, that many nations voluntarily submitted to him. Demetrius 

 Nicator, of Syria, endeavoured to prop the declining cause of the Bactrians, 

 but fell himself into captivity ; his son Antiochus was slain in an attempt 

 to release him. The Parthians extended themselves everywhere ; and 

 both they and their foes, the Scythic Tachari, had bands of Greeks as 

 allies. To Mithridates, his successors, or a minor dynasty in India, we 

 must assign these medals.* 



The third series of medals is of a race of this description : I present 

 a few, viz. Nos. 10, 11, 12, 13, all evidently of the same family. No. 10 re- 

 presents a priest, or king, sacrificing. His head is adorned with the high cap 

 of the Magi, and he is feeding the flame on a low altar. A club is placed 

 in his left. Of several in my possession, though we distinctly read the 

 epithet — " Of the King of Kings, Preserver," and on another, " Of 

 the Great King of Kings," yet no proper name can be discerned. On 

 the reverse is the sacred bull, with a man, perhaps the sacrificing priest, 

 and the epigraphe is in the Sassanian character. 



Those which follow will deserve attention, and may perhaps be decy- 

 phered : the characters have the appearance of a rude provincial Greek. 

 No. , the archer kneeling, speaks for itself. That they belonged to 

 Parthian and Indo-Scytiiic kings, who had sovereignties within the Indus, 

 there cannot be a doubt. I have collected some thousands ; but only 

 tiiese few liave escaped the corroding tooth of time. 



The fourth series is scarcely less interesting. They are Hindu, of a 

 very remote period, and have the same character which I have found 

 wherever the Pandu authority existed, in the caves, and on the rocks of 

 Jundgur Gimar, on the pillar of victory in Meywar, and on the columns 

 of Indra-prest'ha (Delhi) and Prat/dg. Some of them are not unlike the 

 ancient Pehlavi, These coins are of gold, and in fine preservation. Like 

 all my medals, they are eitlier from Jgra, Mat'/iura, Ijjai/an, or Ajnier. 

 Dr. Wilkins possesses some, found even in Bengal : he thinks, he can make 

 out the word Chandra upon them. 



* See Lewis's Parthiai; Empirejpage 35. 



