642 Note on ancient Hindu Coins. [Nov. 



If this alluded to their armorial insignia, we may thus find an ex- 

 planation of the standard on the earlier coins ; — and it may be equally 

 applied to the Apurujita dhvaja of fig. 16. 



Another curious circumstance is mentioned in Col. Tod's chronicles 

 of Mdrwdr, that may help us a step forward in the investigation of 

 this obscure history. It is there said, " Dharma-Bhumbo had a 

 son, Ajata Chandra. For twenty-one generations they bore the 

 titles of Rao, afterwards that of Rdj'a." We are again left in 

 the dark as to who first assumed the title of Raja ; but as we find 

 the title Rao in Greek visible on the very latest coin that bears an 

 inscription in that character; while on the fine gold coin discovered 

 by Lieut. Conolly, of Vikrama, fig. 25, we have the title Mahd~ 

 rdja Adhirdja Sri, quite distinct ; it must have been between the two 

 that the change of title was assumed. But I should be inclined to inter- 

 pret the above passage in the Yati's roll, as meaning that up to Aji 

 Chandra, or for the 21 generations preceding him, the title Rao had 

 been used, and henceforward that of Rdja was adopted : for why 

 should the historian allude to the circumstance until the change of title 

 actually took place ? Moreover, there are only 16 generations men- 

 tioned from Aji Chandra down to the last of the Kanouj sovereigns, 

 the celebrated Jata Chandra or Jey-Chand, anterior to whom 

 the title was certainly borne, for we find it on the coins of Vikra- 

 ma, Samudra-gupta, and others, names not included in the list, but 

 which we know from the style of the Deva Nagari character must have 

 belonged to a much earlier epoch than the seventh or eighth century, 

 in which Bhumbo is placed. 



The Rev. Dr. Mill has led us to put little faith in the authority 

 of the bards and panegyrists of the native courts ; and it must be 

 confessed, that the contrast of Colonel Tod's genealogy with the 

 incontestible testimony of the Sanscrit inscriptions read by Cole- 

 brooke, Fell, and Wilson, is enough to perplex the most ingenious 

 amalgamist ! We must then maintain a thorough independence of all 

 such traditionary documents, and adhere in preference to the faithful 

 evidence of monuments and coins. In the present case, I have 

 shewn how these confirm one another in a remarkable and unexpected 

 manner, in regard to the names on the Alhihabad pillar, inscription No. 

 2, all of which re-appear on these early Kanouj coins. In a subsequent 

 paper I shall produce equally convincing evidence that those of the 

 Benares and Delhi inscriptions are reproduced upon a second series of 

 Kanouj coins of a much more modern character. 



All then that can be now attempted is, to recapitulate the names 



