638 Continuation of Observations [Nov. 



is illustrated by an effigy of the wife of Kartika, or Kumari' feeding 

 his favorite bird the peacock. The same reverse is repeated in the 

 two following varieties, where, however, the female is seated on a 

 wicker morha, or stool, as in fig. 26. 



Fig. 29, a coin of Lieut. Burt's, and its fellow, (presented to me 

 by Miss Watson,) introduce us to a perfectly novel device. The 

 Raja is here mounted on a horse dressed in native trappings. It 

 would be a loss of time to guess the superscription of 29. The same 

 letters occur on both sides of fig. 30, and are plainer : they appear to 

 be Ajita Man'atri c/u 



Two coins of the same style are depicted as figs. 17 and 18, of 

 Wilson, who states that the natives designate them the coins of 

 Hiranya Kasipu. I presented to the Asiatic Society in 1830 a bronze 

 image of a horseman dug up in Bandelkhand, which bears as close an 

 affinity to this class of coin as the Ventura chaprds of Plate L. does 

 to the elephant coin. 



Of the next two coins, No. 31 had been added to my cabinet by 

 Miss Watson, and had excited not a little curiosity, before Colonel 

 Stacy's cabinet fell under my inspection ; my attention was immediate- 

 ly attracted to his more perfect duplicate, (fig. 32,) which at once 

 confirmed the reading I had as yet feared to pronounce, although the 

 image of a richly bedecked horse, unfettered by bridle or rider, had 

 led me to imagine some allusion to the celebrated horse-sacrifice 

 undertaken by one or two of the most powerful of the ancient sove- 

 reigns of India. The deficient letters of one reading happen to be 

 every where supplied by the other, so that there can be no doubt 



about the whole H^^G^'fJ-X: Asvamedha Parakrama, " the hero 

 or paramount hero of the Asvamedha." The female holding a chowry, 

 to fan the flies from the devoted horse, is I presume one of the 

 princesses acting as his attendant. Under the horse on both coins is 

 the syllabic letter *V Si. History must be searched, if indeed any 

 history can be found, ere we can determine who may lay claim to this 

 fine and curious medal, which for the present closes our series of the 

 earlier Kanouj coinage. 



Fig. 33, of which Dr. Swiney has numerous specimens, is inserted 

 in this plate because of the style of its alphabet. The inscription is 

 read by Dr. Swiney, X^iFQ ^X Maharaja Ganapati. 



It will be right to mention here, that one more of the Gupta family 

 appears on a coin in the Willoughby collection depicted in the 

 Asiatic Researches Plate I. I have seen the coin itself, and the facsi- 

 mile ^"l Ri<4« is correct, though the two first letters are of doubt- 



