1875.] F. S, Growse — Supposed Greek Sculpture at Mathura. 165 



had subsequently been employed in writing the Indian dialects. This 



theory alone could explain the gradual introduction, and improvement in the 



forms, of certain letters which the Bactrian did not originally possess, but 



which formed a component part of the Indian Pali. The discovery of the name 



Kuninda in one of Col. Guthrie's coins was, he said, a remarkable one, and 



would open quite a new field of enquiry. He admitted that the adage about 



brothers was not quite convincing, and that there were several coins in 



which a brother's name had been- invoked to shed lustre on the names of the 



authors of those coins. In such cases, however, the brothers were kings ; but 



in the case of Kunanda, there was nothing to show that Amogha was a royal 



predecessor or contemporary, as the name appears without any regal title 



attached to it. It is well-known that Muhammadan sovereigns were proud 



to call themselves ibn ul sultan, but when one's father happened not to be a 



king no such allusion was made. The Babu had taken the precaution to 



note this pointedly in his paper. 



The Babu also observed that he concurred with Mr. Thomas in making 

 a distinction between the dates of the Gupta dynastic inscriptions and those 

 of post-Gupta records ; but he denied the reading of " repose of Skanda 

 Gupta." The words santa and bhukta on which reliance has usually been 

 placed to produce that sense, correspond in every instance hitherto dis- 

 covered with the word varsha 'year,' and simply mean ' on the expiry of the 

 year so and so.' Where the Gupta era was intended the term Gaupte was 

 employed, as in the Badami inscription published in the last October number 

 of the Indian Antiquary. This era, the Babu supposed, commenced with 

 the expulsion of the Guptas from Guzerat, and not from their extinction. 



The following papers were read — 

 I.- — Supposed Greek Sculpture at Mathura. — By F. S. Growse, 

 M. A.,B. C. S. 

 (Abstract.) 



In 1836, Col. Stacy discovered at or near Mathura a large and curiously 

 sculptured block of red sandstone, which has given rise to much antiquarian 

 discussion. It was carved on both sides with a Bacchanalian group, the 

 principal figure in which was supposed to represent Silenus, and the whole 

 to be the work of Bactrian Greek artists. The stone is now in the Calcutta 

 Museum. During the cold weather of 1873-74, Mr. Growse discovered the 

 companion block in the small village of Pali-Khera, beyond the boundaries 

 of the Mathura township, close to the numerous mounds in most of which 

 Buddhist antiquities have been discovered. 



Mr. Growse then describes the figures and shows that the stones could 

 not have been tazzas, as supposed by Col. Stacy, James Prinsep, and others. 

 In his opinion the central figure is the wine-bibbing Balarama, one of the 

 tutelary divinities of Mathura, attended by his wife Revati and the other 



