a ae 

, 
TL. TE TRI 
ae. secu ees... Beis: We 
1925. | Numismatic Supplement No. XXX VIL. N. 65 
only stated in each case whether the line is an Upagiti, Prthvi 
or a Vamshasthavila verse, but employed the metre as the 
clue to the determination of many doubtful questions, and 
constituted it the ultima ratio tor judging the soundness of 
emendations and proposals for the restoration of the text 
(Catalogue of the Coins of the Gupta Dynasties, 1914, Introd., 
pp. cvii-exxiy). 
C. J. Rodgers was on his, guard against this pitfall, and 
thought it necessary to consult two competent Maulavis of 
the Calcutta Madrassa (J.A.S.B., 1888, pp. 18, 27, Notes), who 
would appear to have furnished him with the true order, as 
well as the correct renderings of the distichs. Mr. Stanley Lane- 
Poole also admits having availed himself of the assistance of 
Dr. Rieu in regard to this matter (B.M.C., Introd., cxix). It is 
to be regretted that there are no traces of this punctilious 
regard for metrical correctness in the three latest catalogues of 
Mughal coins, and that the ordering of the words in them leaves 
considerable room for improvement. 1 shall, for the sake of 
brevity, take only the most recent one—the excellent compila- 
tion of Mr. Brown—to whose industry we are indebted for an 
exhaustive list of all such ‘ Baits’ as have been discovered. 
They are just eighty in number, but the order of the words in 
the first hemistichs of at least fifteen of them is demonstrably 
erroneous, and the second line also of one distich is metrically 
unsatisfactory. About seven of them (Nos. 47, 60, 66, 69, 71, 
75 and 79) which are correctly given in Rodgers’ article 
no difficulty, I shall say nothing. I will deal only with the 
eight or nine 
wrote. 
For instance, No. 20 should be : 
9 pe MS oy Uo at) yd ake yl 
pS as yt Gla sla be; SLE ds 
Each line consists of four .4clee and the metre is Hajaz-i- 
Musamman-i-Salim. : 
In the second line of No. 40, the insertion of the word 
& before .ol). and the substitution of slsol for sl is 
obviously required to. make the line conform to the rules of 
scansion. 3 pig Be 
The metre of No. 51 is exactly the same as that of No. 20, 
as is obvious from the fact that the second hemistich of both 
are absolutely identical. It consists of four .,»©<, and the 
couplet therefore must read 
\ 9 pe MS oy So e Kio giles _ 
pst WS opt pha ma ibe, ened 
