298 Specimens of Ceylon Coins. [April, 



tions in the reading. On 20 and the coin below it; 'JrJlfiTrf^r 

 Safyn mitasa. On the fine coins figs. 21, 22; ^farT^T Saya mitasa. 

 And un Nos. 19, 23, 24 and 25 ; fcr5R?f?Trre Vij ay a mitasa. The varia- 

 ble portion of these, satya, saya, and vijaya, are evidently epithets, the 

 prfect, the true, the victorious, — but the name to which they are ap- 

 plied, mitasa, whether of a person or thing, is unfortunately only open to 

 conjecLure. From the analogy of the okro bull, and the evident descent 

 that has been traced in these plates to a Mithraic origin, I feel strongly 

 inclined to read the word fff^^T " mitrasya, of the true, the victorious 

 sun," the Mithras. — Mitra has also the signification " ally," if it be 

 preferred to confine the title to a mundane ruler. 



If the possessive termination be not made out, the terminal s may 

 possibly be used in place of the visarga. 



In figure 22, the trilingual symbol brings us directly to the extensive 

 and oldest of our Hindu series. Of these we have, thanks to Mr. Tre- 

 gbar and Col. Stacy, enough to fill another plate or two, but they 

 must be kept distinct ; while to close the present plate more consis- 

 tently, I have inserted in figs. 26, 27, two small silver coins found by 

 Capt. Burnes at old Mandivi or Raipur in Cutch, having Sassanian 

 heads, and reverses respectively corresponding to figs. 7 and 12. 



The little copper piece 28, from the same place, has the Nagari 

 letters ^t *Tto Sri Bhima ; the last letter uncertain. 



To balance these I have selected three copper coins of Dr. Swiney's 

 store, on account of their having the chakra or the bull for obverse. 

 On No. 31 we can read the titles ^1 . . . . *T^n;r5j Sri . . . Mahdrdja ; 

 the name as usual provokingly obscure ! Dr. S. reads it ganapati. 

 Plate XX. Ceylon Coins. 



After wading through the doubtful maze of obscurity exemplified by 

 the foregoing coins, where we have almost in vain sought a feeble 

 landmark to guide us even as to the race or the country whence 

 they sprung, it is quite a relief to fall upon a series of coins possess- 

 ed of their true and legitimate value as unequivocal evidence of the 

 truth of history. 



The peculiar coins of ancient Ceylon have been long known to 

 collectors : they have been frequently described and depicted in books, 

 and the characters they bear identified as Deva-Nagari, but little more. 

 Marsdbn and Wilson, as will be seen below, were quite at fault in 

 regard to them, and so might we all have remained had not the 

 Hon'ble Mr. G. Turnour published his Epitome of the Ceylon History 

 from the Buddhist Chronicles. Upon my publishing in vol. IV. a 

 sketch of the coin which ranks first in the present plate, and suggest- 



