1888.] Philological Secretary — Reports on Coins. 205 



described. They belong to the well-known type of ' Horseman and Bull ' 

 coins. On the obverse they show a horseman with the legend S'riHamtrahj 

 and, on the reverse, a recumbent humped bull, with the legend S'rz 

 Hasana Kuralaka, both legends in Nagari characters. Most specimens of 

 these coins have the reverse legend only in the curtailed state of Kurala. 

 In the present collection, however, there are several which distinctly 

 exhibit the full reading KuralaJca* 



The one exception, above referred to, appears to be a coin of the 

 Sultan Shamsu-d-di'n Iltimish, of the same ' horseman and bull ' type. 

 The name, however, on the reverse legend is too fragmentary to be 

 confidently identified. 



All these coins are common enough. They are made of a mix- 

 ture of copper and silver, the former predominating. 



V. Report on 62 ancient coins forwarded by the Collector of Bijnor, 



1707 1921 



with his No. dated 17th August, 1888, and his No. — 



^11, DkJJ JlII, v't^^ 



dated 26th September, 1888. 



The find-place of these coins is not specified, it being merely stated 

 that the coins "were found buried in this district " (Bijnor). One of 

 the coins was received in a broken state, it being stated, that the 

 coin "was broken by the police to test the metal." 



The coins belong to what is called 3" the Indo-Scythian class" 

 of coins. They have been described by the late Mr. E. Thomas in the 

 Indian Antiqiiary, volume XII, p. 6, and belong to the sub-class of what 

 Mr. Thomas has called the " Kushan Branch " of the Indo-Scythian 

 tribes. They are figured in the Ariana Antiqua, plate XYIII, figs. 27, 

 28. They show on the obverse, the figure of the king standing as usual, 

 under his left arm hida or hidu, beyond the spear kasha (with traces 

 of a third letter na), beside the small altar kshanam (or kshamna ; there 

 is a distinct dot or anusvara, generally below, but occasionally beside, 

 the na). On the reverse, they show a seated female figure, as usual. 

 Over her head is a distinct crescent, either let into the dotted margin or 

 immediately below it (as in Prinsep's Indian Antiquities, vol. I, pi. 

 XXIII, fig. 13). The monogram (quite distinct on some examples) is 

 generally PH, or occasionally [^ , neither of which is given in Wilson's 

 list in the Ariana Antiqua. On the right hand margin there are two 

 (in some specimens apparently three) letters which in the most distinct 

 cases seem to read sala. 



* See Dr. Hoernle's paper on " Some new or rare Muhammadan and Hindi 

 coins/' and Plate IV, in the Journal, As. Soc. Beng., vol. LVIII, Part I. 



