1834.] the Coins and Relics of the Mdnikydla Tope. 449 



Should this prove to be the right reading, we have thus the full inscrip- 

 tion on the obverse PAO NANO PAO KANHPKI KOPANO , which may 

 be interpreted " king of kings, Kanerki the splendid." 



I have not alluded to the hypothesis advanced in my former note, 

 that Kanerkos might be the Canishka of Cashmirian history, because 

 the discovery of the Sassanian coins, and the consequent modern 

 date of the present monument, at once overthrow that supposition. 

 It may however be urged in explanation of the great abundance of the 

 Kanerki coins, that this name may be one of a family, or dynastv, like 

 that of Arsaces, on the Arsacidan coins, repeated without further distinc- 

 tion than an alteration in the features and dress of the monarch, 

 throughout the whole line from the real Kanerki downwards. 

 Inscription on the reverse of the Kanerki coins. 

 I now proceed to offer a few remarks touching the inscription and 

 device on the reverse of the Manikyala coins of the Kanerki group. 



That the image represented on all these coins is a sacred personage 

 may be gathered from the glory which invariably encircles its head. 

 In this respect they resemble their Grecian prototypes, upon which we 

 behold the figures of Jupiter, Hercules, Apollo, and Castor and Pollux. 

 The costume of our mythological figure however, differs greatly from 

 the Grecian model, and in the specimens best preserved, as fig. 10, of 

 Plate XXV., it resembles the Persian dress with its peculiar turbaned hat, 

 and a thin flowing robe hanging from the shoulders. 



There are four varieties of attitude, attended with other peculiarities, 

 which it will be better to couple in description with what we have to 

 say on the epigraphe of each. 



The first variety is already well known from Lieut. Burnes' and 

 Masson's specimens : a beautiful coin of this type is engraved in Plate 

 XXV. from one of Kera'mat Ali's collection. 



The figure is wrapped in a flowing muslin robe, of the Indian charac- 

 ter : it faces the right hand ; it is apparently a female, and it bears a 

 lotus. The motto is, NANAIA. Portions of the same name are seen on 

 all of the copper coins in which the figure faces to the right hand. It 

 is also discoverable in the Tipera gold coin (No. 2, of Wilson's plates) 

 already alluded to, in the before inexplicable fragment St N ^ ^ , the 

 first mark of which is part of the device and not a letter : the next 

 three letters are evidently nan. . 



Mr. Masson has conjectured very plausibly, that this name is iden- 

 tical with NdnC. There are he says, numerous shrines throughout 

 that country known to the Muhammedans as the zedrats of Bibi Nam. 

 The Hindus also resort to them, claiming the lady as one of the numer- 

 ous forms of the goddess Pdrbati. 

 2 M 



