434 Notice of an Ancient Hindu Coin from Kanouj ', [Sept. 



of Agathocles and of Pantaleon, of rude fabrication, and connect- 

 ed through the devise of a lion with another singular coin having the 

 £ symbol. These are now again brought into a double alliance with 

 the coins of Behat and Kanouj, by the character in which the inscrip- 

 tion is cut. 



On the present silver coin there are five distinct letters, all of which will 

 be found in the analysis of the alphabet, page 112 of the present 

 volume. I cannot attempt as yet to transcribe these mysterious sym- 

 bols in any more familiar character, but it is not too much to hope 

 that ere long another prize from Kanouj may put us in possession of an 

 inscription in two languages, one of which will be known and will 

 serve as a key to the whole : meantime I proceed to describe the 

 peculiarities of the present coin. 



Obverse. A horse standing unattended and naked. In front appears 

 a line of double curvature, which from analogy may be a faint trace of 

 the lotus stalk held by the female in the Behat coin (fig. 1. PI. xviii.) 



Reverse. On the left, the tree symbol with its chequered frame : 

 on the right, a new form composed of two circles touching, tra- 

 versed by a common diameter, which continues above and supports an 

 inverted crescent. Below comes the inscription before mentioned in 

 large and clear letters : in the centre of the field is a crescent, or new 

 moon. Above the recumbent moon is a small animal standing upon 

 her horns, which resembles very closely that depicted on the reverse 

 of the coin from Behat, fig. 1, plate xviii. The connection of this 

 animal with the moon seems to imply some astronomical allegorv : 

 were it clearly a horse, we might imagine it to signify the new moon 

 in the month of Aswini or in the lunar mansion of that name, the first 

 of the 27 Nakshatras of the lunar zodiac, corresponding as is supposed 

 with the star y or £ Arietis ; in which case it might be thought to point 

 to some event that happened at a particular epoch. Should the animal 

 be of the deer genus, it may be taken for Sasin, the antelope or roe 

 (sometimes translated a hare) always attendant on Chandra, and 

 supposed to have been allotted to him from a fancied resemblance of the 

 marks on the moon's face to the spotted skin of this animal*. Sir Wil- 

 liam Jones alludes to this attribute of the moon in his hymn to Surta : 



" Thou nectar beaming Moon, 

 Regent of dewy night — 



From yon bright roe that in thy bosom sleeps 

 Fawn spotted, Sasin hight — " 



The compound image may further be emblematical of princely 

 dignity ; similar in import to the various armorial bearings among 

 European nations ; thus, in the ancient copper plate grant of land dug 



* See Moor's Hindu Pantheon, p. 293. 



