128 Dr. Hoernlc — On neiv Bactrian and G^cpta Coins. [April, 



No hemidrachm of Strato I., exactly like tliis, has hifclierto been 

 known. There is, as I am informed by Mr. R. Stuart Poole, none 

 like it in the British Museum. The usual reverse legend of the silver 

 coins of Strato has prachaclihasa (the Prakrit for lTn^avov<i) in the place 

 of dhramikasa (the Prakrit for 81/caiov), thus : Maliarajasa prachachhasa 

 tradatasa Thratasa. The obverse legend usually reads /3ao-tA.€(05 e7rt(^avovs 

 uonrjpos %rpaT(iivo<i ; but occasionally, as on the present coin, €7rt(^avoi»s is 

 omitted. There are square copper coins of Strato I., which have the 

 same legend with dhramikasa, as this new silver coin ; but their obverse 

 reads /^ao-tXeoos croiTrjpo? ScKaiov ^Tparwi/os, being an exact translation of 

 the Pali. The legend with dhramikasa occurs also on the reverse of 

 square copper coins of Strato and his wife Agathokleia, the obverse of 

 which reads jSaa-iXtcraYjg OeorpoTTov 'Aya^oKAetas, (see Sallet's Nachfolger 

 Alexanders des Grossen, pp. 127, 128 ; Ind. Ant., vol. II, p. 196, and 

 the British Museum Catalogue). Unfortunately, on the present coin, 

 the word dhramikasa is not quite as distinct as one could wish ; the 

 two middle letters mi and ka are much worn ; but the first letter dhra 

 and the last latter sa are sufficiently clear to justify the identification 

 of the word as dhramikasa. In any case it is impossible to read it a 

 prachachhasa ; for that word, when it occurs on Strato's coins, occupies a 

 different position in the legend, before tradatasa, not after it. 



The name of the king I read as Thratasa, not (as is usually done) 

 Stratasa. The fact is that the value of the first letter has hitherto 

 always been wrongly assumed to be str, for no other reason (as it 

 would seem) than because the corresponding place in the Greek name 

 is occupied by the letters str. But the compound st or str was always 

 unpronounceable to the vernacular tongues of India ; and it is, therefore, 

 a priori unlikely that there would be a graphic symbol to indicate a 

 combination of sounds which did not exist in the language. In the 

 North- Western Prakrit (as in all Prakrits) the conjunct st was re- 

 placed by th, and the conjunct str by thr. Hence the Greek name 

 Strato became Thrata (ipT) in the mouth of the natives of North- Wes- 

 tern India. Similarly the Greek name Hippostratos became Hippa- 

 thrata (f%m\r{), and is thus to be read, when it occurs on bilingual Bactrian 

 coins. But the true value of the Arian Pali character -f is directly and 

 clearly proved by its occurrence in genuine Prakrit words in which 

 it indubitably represents the dental aspirate th (^) . Numerous instances 

 occur in the Shahbazgarhi inscription of Asoka. Thus, in line 23, 

 letters 17 and 18, we have nathi 'it is not' (Skr. ndsti) ; in line 24, 

 letters 26 and 27, we ha.ve tatha * there ' (Skr. tatra). As the same 

 words occur in the Khalsi inscription, where they are written in Indian 

 Pali characters, there can be no doubt regarding the true value of 

 the Arian Pali equivalents. 



