1837.] Specimens of Indo-Sassanian Coins. 297 



ble letters ; on fig. 5 they are still more distinct, ^ sr%*: 3> it may 

 possibly be intended for ^ ??^T^T5IT Sri Mahdrdjd, leaving us still 

 in the dark for a name. 



On the reverse of fig. 4, under the bull, are the letters f^rspj ^fl 

 vijaya vug. . . a form that will be found more developed in another 

 branch of this curious series below. 



In the next variety, figs. 7 and 8, of which Dr. Swiney boasts the 

 largest supply, the Sassanian head is no longer retained, but the 

 chakra remains coupled with a kind of cross which may be read as 

 the syllable ku of the old alphabet. The bull of the reverse is now 

 accompanied by an attendant exactly in the fashion of the inferior 

 Kadphises or OKPO group of the Mithraic coins. 



In the succeeding variety, figs. 9, and 10 (Swiney), the chakra 

 gives place to the trident (of Shiva ?) and the bull takes an attitude 

 of repose a la Nandi. The letters ^t^faaT Vidi sagu or Vedesagu are 

 bounded by the marginal dots, and must therefore be complete, how- 

 ever unintelligible. Were there room for a final TT we might con- 

 jecturally read f^SJJTTT Videsagupta, " cherished by foreigners ;" 

 which would tally with the notion of a Parthian interloper. 



In fig. 1 1 (which I also engraved in the Kadphises plate of vol. 

 III.) the trident has the letters ^ tri, as if for trisula. 



In figs. 12 and 13 the symbol is more like the original fire-altar : — 

 to the former are adjoined the letters "^r, or perhaps ^ Rudra, a 

 name of Shiva. 



In figs. 14, 15, (Stacy,) and 16, (Swiney,) the standing figure has 

 quitted the bull to take the chief post on the obverse — the marginal 

 inscription of 14 commences with TJ5T and the last letter is ^r. 



In figs. 17, 18, (Swiney,) the bull is again replaced by the chulcra, 

 with two Sanskrit letters mi or ^$rT — sense unknown. 



And now we advance or perhaps it would be more correct to say 

 retrograde to a much more satisfactory group, forming as it were a 

 link between these Indo-Sassanians, and what have been called the 

 Buddhist coins. 



The specimens of this series, christened the " cock and bull" by Co- 

 lonel Stacy, and first made known by him, were deficient in preserva- 

 tion ; but Mr. Tregear of Juanpur has since been fortunate enough to 

 procure a considerable quantity of various sizes with the epigraph 

 beautifully distinct. They were found in company with copper coins 

 of the Gupta series, which are in the same style both as to the letters 

 and their horizontal situation in what is called the exergue of western 

 numismatics. As pointed out by Mr. Tregear, there are three varia- 



