. 



44 Journal of the Asiatic Society of Bengal. [N.S., XIII, 



mann gives as e> u j (zaman) = f or ever; but from the legend 

 on the gold coin of Kobad described by Drouin we may infer 

 that it is the shortened form of ,yt?^ (jaubanl). The whole 

 obverse legend of the gold coin is, in Pahla vi characters, jj^l <£%* 



(jaubanl afzu), the meaning of this phrase according to 

 Drouin being " the glory of the young prince." In my opinion 



- ^ "> 



the monogram in question is nothing but the word "afzu, 

 its gradual development being indicated by an examination first 

 of the legend on the obverse behind the head in Dorn, PL 

 XXVI, fig. 1, secondly those on figs, 11, 12 and 14 of the same 

 plate and fig. 20 on PL XXVII , and lastly PL XXVIII, fig. 5- 

 It would appear therefore that the evolution of the monogram 

 commenced in the latter part of the reign of Hormazd IV and 

 was complete by the early years of the reign of Khusrau Par viz . 

 The surprising feature is its appearance side by side with the 

 same word in its entire form. It seems as if this were due to 

 ignorance on the part of the die-sinkers, who possibly regarded 

 the conventional form of " afzu ° asa necessary appendage to 

 the monogram itself. 



What is the true name of this Queen ? The Persians called 





her &&4 di)ji = Puran-dukht, and thus she has been desig- 

 nated by later Oriental and European writers ; but the suffix 

 'dukht' obviously indicates, for the sake of distinction, the 

 sex of the princess, and it is clear from the contemporary By- 

 zantine writers, who never designate her except by the name 

 of Boran, that the Persian authors of the Muhammadan epoch 

 changed the first letter into 'p.' The fictitious Persian form 

 of Puran-dukht should be rejected, as well as Taurandukht, 

 a popular mediaeval rendering which was clearly due to dis- 

 placement of the diacritical dots. The true spelling of the 

 name is therefore Boran, this being the Arabic and Persian 

 pronunciation of the correct Greek form /3opav. 



Queen Boran was the daughter of Khusrau Parviz and 

 sister of Kobad Sheroe and Queen Azarml-dukht. Their mother 

 was the Princess Mary, daughter of the Emperor Maurice. 

 After her suffering several reverses from the Arabs the in- 

 habitants of Madain (Ctesiphon), then the western capita) 

 of the empire, revolted and Boran was deposed in October 



631, the fact of her subsequent murder being recorded by 

 Drouin. 



As Boran, according to the majority of the historians, 

 reigned for 16 or 17 months only, it is surprising to find coins 

 of her third regnal year. The Sassanian sovereigns, however, 

 reckoned the regnal years according to the calendar and not 

 from the date of accession; so that a ruler ascending the 

 throne in the last month of the Persian year would enter his 

 second regnal year on the first day of the following month. 



