414 Bactrian and Indo-Scythic Coins. Ave. 
in the As. Res. V. page 79: and as these sculptures are said by tradi- 
tion to represent the personages and acts of the Mahabharat, the value 
of some of the letters may perhaps be hereafter recovered. In point 
of age the coins can only belong to the Maurya, the Sunga, the Kanwa 
or the Andhra dynasties of Mr. Wi1son’s catalogue (315 B. C. to 428 
A. D.) 
Fig. 15 is copied from a gold coin, presented to me by Captain 
Wane, who discovered it near Ferozpir : it agrees precise- 
ly with figs. 5 and7, of Mr. Wiuson’s plate; the former of 
which, stated to be taken from a drawing of a coin in Col. 
MacKenzin’s collection, seems to have been reversed by the 
artist, to assist the engraver, and inadvertently retaimed in 
that position. Every letter of the legend is identical in the 
three coins. Wewhh [20 a4 - 
Fig. 13 is from the sealing-wax impression of a coin, belonging 
to Dr. Swiney : it corresponds precisely with No. 6 of Mr. 
Witson’s plate, having the dirsul or trident of Srva in lieu 
of the bird of VisHnu. 
These two coins are of the description just alluded to. They have 
been found at Agra, Mathura, Ujayin, Ajmir, and even in Bengal. Mr. 
Witson possesses one found in a tank in the Huglz district. The mix- 
ture of emblems on these coins might almost persuade one that they 
were forgeries, but that no two have hitherto been seen identically 
the same, and it would be manifestly impossible to forge a new die for 
each, especially when their price is little beyond the value of the me- 
tal. The female on the reverse sometimes sits on a well formed chair 
or settee, sometimes in the Indian fashion on a lotus flower, at others 
like Durga on a lion* ; she holds a cornucopia in the left hand, in the 
right a scarf or ribband: a glory encircles her head; her left knee 
is bare. 
The obverse represents a king clad in a coat of mail, and with scale 
armour on the legs; where the coin is worn, (as in fig. 15,) the dress 
exactly resembles the modern coat and trowsers. The head dress in 
fig. 13 has a resemblance to the Sassanian or Persian cap. The left 
hand is invariably raised, as if holding a spear: the right is extended 
as if placing an offering on a small fire altar. This hand is more clearly 
defined in fig. 15, than in any coin of the class I have seen; and it may 
be questioned, whether the action isnot rather that of plucking a flower, 
for an artist would hardly represent the hand in so hot a position, 
were the object beneath a fire altar ! 
* Vide Col, Top’s plate. 
