454 On the Coins and Relics of the Mdrrikydla Tope. [Sept. 



Thus in the last number of the Journal Asiatique, in a learned essay- 

 on the origin of the word Africa, the Zend word dthro is quoted 

 as equivalent to the Greek cuOrip, the pure subtle spirit or region of fire, 

 or of the sun, very imperfectly expressed by our derivate ether. 



Of the word Mathra, or MA0PO, we find a lucid explanation in M. 

 Burnouf's commentary on the Yacna, a part of the vendidad-sade. In 

 the passage where he analyzes the Zend compound tanumdthrahe, ' corps 

 de la parole,' mathra is thus shewn to be the equivalent of the Sanscrit 

 word mantra : — 



" II faut reconnaitre que cet adjectif est un compose possessif, et 

 traduire : ' celui qui a la parole pour corps, celui dont la parole est le 

 corps;' et peutetre par extension: 'parole faite corps, incarnee.' 

 Cette interpretation ne saurait etre douteuse ; car le sens de tanu est 

 bien fixe en Zend, c'est le Sanscrit tanu, et le Persian ^ (corps) ; et 

 celui de mathra n'est pas moins certain, puisque ce mot Zend ne differe 

 de Sanscrit mantra que par l'adoption de Ya qui aime a. preceder th et les 

 sifflantes, et par l'aspiration du t laquelle resulte de la rencontre de la 

 dentale et de la liquide r" 



' La parole' is explained by M. Burnoup to signify ' la parole d'Or- 

 muzd,' the word of God, or incarnation of the divinity. A title fre- 

 quently used in the Zendavesta, to designate Zoroaster (Zarathrusta) . 

 Thus I have endeavoured to prove, that all of this class of figures 

 refer to the sun, under his various names and attributes : — the only 

 exception I can adduce is in figure 1 1 of Plate XXV. exhibiting the re- 

 verse of a copper Kanerki coin, in very good preservation. The context 

 of its long inscription has hitherto baffled my attempts at decyphering ; 

 but I am inclined to class it along with the NANAIA reverses. 



Under the risk of being tedious, I have now gone through the whole 

 series of corrupted Greek coins connected with the Manikyala tope, 

 and I trust that the result of my investigation will serve to throw some 

 new light on the subject. I have ventured to give the appellation 

 of " Mithriac" to the very numerous coins which have been proved 

 to bear the effigy of the sun, for they afford the strongest evidence of 

 the extension of the religion of Zoroaster in some parts of Bactria 

 and the Panjab at the time of its reassumption of consequence in 

 Persia ; while the appearance of Krishna on the field at the same time 

 proves the effort that was then afloat, as testified by the works of the 

 Christians, to blend the mysteries of magiism with the current religions 

 of the day. I cannot conclude this branch of the Manikyala investi- 

 gation better than in the following extract from Moor's Hindu Panthe- 

 on : " So grand a symbol of the deity as the sun * looking from his 



