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



pretty clear and can be made out with certainty. The aksharas 

 just after the symbol for ndra or ndra are indistinct, but on the 

 strength of what precedes them I think they can not be any- 

 thing else but symbols for ditya(k). They could perhaps stand 

 for Kuma(rah), but their shape' will hardly admit of the latter 

 reading. In either case the legend is, I believe, quite new, as 

 is the coin which bears it. This- 1 call a new variety of the 

 Lion-slayer, and not Elephant-rider type because of the epithet 

 Sinhanihanta found in the legend, and owing to the fact that a 

 lion is trampled to death on the obverse side. Mr. Allen in his 

 excellent catalogue has shown five varieties of the Lion-slayer 

 type of the coins of Kumargupta I. In all of them the king 

 shoots the lion while standing, as is the case with the 

 Tiger -slayer types ; but here he kills it by the elephant he is 

 riding. The reverse of this coin, excepting the legend, is that 

 of the Tiger-slayer type, and omitting the trampling of the lion 

 the obverse is like that of the Elephant-rider tvpe. 1 



Lucl 



HlRANANDA SaSTRI. 



mow 



The mth October, 1916. 



185. Three Interesting Sassanian Drachmes. 



[With Plate VIII.] 



Of the three drachraes described below, one is of Kobad 1 

 and is of special interest in that it bears no legend on the obverse 

 and no date but only the mint on the reverse. The others are 

 ol Hormazd IV, one having on the reverse the date and the 

 mint m changed positions contrary to the established usage, 

 while the other is dated in his thirteenth regnal year. 



-p. _ ad I nephew and successor of Balash (484-488) and son 

 of Jjiroz I (459-484), was not disposed to be the humble servant 

 ol the priests and nobles to whom he owed the crown, and to 

 humiliate them he played the dangerous game of encouraging Maz- 

 dak, the energetic priest of a new religion, which demanded in 

 the name of justice that he who had a superfluity of goods and 

 several wives should impart to those who had none. This 

 tneory was actually put in practice to some considerable ex- 

 tent, but then the nobility and clergy rose, deposed Kobad, 

 and imprisoned him in the " Castle of Oblivion " (identified by 

 wl ™«'l_inson as Gilgerd in northern Susiana). placing his 



to £rH a T* 8 iP ?" the throne in m - Kobad > however, escaped 

 to the Hephthahtcs, where he had once lived as a hostage, 



gupta I^rLrvelVS Tl ° f fi 16 Ele P ha ^^r type of Kumara- 

 logue. nairo oft > e Ind,an Museum Calcutta. (See Allen's Cat** 



(See Allen's Cattv 



