1865.] Ancient Indian Weights. 19 



came in process of time to apply to " an ornament of the neck," the 

 component elements supplying the designation in either case. From 

 the passage in question we may reasonably infer that the Nishka of 

 the Vedas had, even then, attained so much of a definite and unvarying 

 form, and partial ornamental fashioning, as to be suitable for decorative 

 purposes in its current shape ; a deduction which would further imply 

 that the piece itself was understood, or admitted to be of a constant 

 and uniform make, and that, in effect, it carried its description in its 

 name. 



It is a question whether it is not also necessary to amend the trans- 

 lation of the adjective, Vis'wa rupa, from " omniform," to the more 

 intelligible " pervaded," or covered " with forms" or symbols,* a 

 rendering which would singularly accord with the state in which we 

 find the silver money of the period. Should any difficulty be felt at 

 the supposition of the adornment of a god with so obvious a work of 

 man's hand, it may be said that bows and arrows are scarcely divine 

 weapons ; but the inherent tendency of lightly-clad, imperfectly domi- 

 ciled races to wear on their persons their more valuable and easily 

 portable wealth, would naturally suggest the notion that the deities 

 followed a similar practice ; and the expression instructs us that the 

 people among whom it was uttered were in the habit of hanging round 

 their necks sections of the precious metals, even as their successors in 

 the land for ninety generations have continued to do ; having thereby 



* This rendering is in complete harmony with Burnouf's " Dinaras marques 

 de signes" (lakshandhatam dindra dvayam), two dinars impressed with symbols. 

 A difficulty has been felt about the supposed Latin origin of the word Dinar ; 

 but, if the passage quoted by Burnouf truly represents the tabric of the earlier 

 mintages, it does not matter what term the original recorder or translator 

 applied to the piece itself; he may well have used the conventional word of his 

 age for gold coin, without damaging the authenticity or antiquity of the legend, 

 or losing sight of the character of the old type of money he was then describing, 

 and which must have been still abundant in the land. But apart from this, 

 Colebrooke, in his Algebra of the Hindus (p. cxxxiii.), has affirmed that Dinar 

 "is a genuine Sanskrit word," the derivation of which Professor Goldstiicker 

 explains by di (preserved in didi, and kindred with div, dip), hence the participle 

 dina, " shining," with the affix dra, implying " pre-eminence." As regards the 

 term Nishka, Max Muller lias thrown out a suggestion that it may be in some 

 way associated with the name of the Indo-Scythian king Kanishka (" Sanskrit 

 Literature," p. 332). Professor Goldstiicker, on the other hand, thinks that the 

 word may be satisfactorily derived from nis, " out," and ka,, " splendour" (from 

 ham, "to shine"). Nishka occurs in Panini, v. 1, 20; v. 1, 30 : v. 2, 119. 



See " Introduction a l'Histoire de Buddhisme," p. 423 ; Max Muller, 

 " Sanskrit Literature," p. 245 ; Prinsep's " Essays," i. 246, note 3 ; and " Jour. 

 As Soc. Bengal," vi. 459. 



