1865.] 



Ancient Indian Weights. 



65 



Silver. Weight 29"0 grains. B. M., J. A. S. B. vii. pi. xxxii. figs. 

 2, 3, 4, 8. 



Obv. — A female figure, holding on high a large floAver,* and appar- 

 ently in attendance on a fanciful representation of a sacred deer.f The 

 animal has curiously curved horns, and a bushy tail like a Himalayan 

 Yak. Monogram £ .1 



Legend, in Indian-Pali [a similar flower to that in the field is- re- 

 peated at the commencement of the legend] : — 



Rdjnah Kranandasa Amogha-bhratasa Mahdrajasa. (Coin) of the 

 great King, the King Krananda, the. brother of Amogha. 



Rev. — A Chaitya surmounted by a small umbrella, above which ap- 

 pears a curious symbol§ — a serpent is seen at the foot of the Chaitya. 



* This is probably intended to represent a lotus, a favourite object of rever- 

 ence with the Buddhists. One of the Nandas was named Mahd Pad/ma, ''' great 

 Lotus." (Vishnu Purana, 467. The Padma-chcnpo of Tibetan writers. J. A. S. B. 

 i 2.) " The distinctive mark" of one of the four principal classes of Bud- 

 dhists (the Rdhula) was also " an utpala-padma (water-lily) jewel, and tree-leaf, 

 put together in the form of a nosegay." I may as well take the opportunity of 

 noting that the symbols of the remaining three classes of Buddhists were the 

 " shell, or conch" for the Kdjhyapa : a " sofisika flower" for the Updli : and " the 

 figure of a wheel" for the Kdtdyana. (Csoma Korosi, " Jour. As. Soc. Bengal," 

 vii. (1838), pp. 143—4.) 



f The deer was typical of the Pratyeha Buddhas. Deer were the authorised 

 devices for the signets of the priests (" Jour. A. S. Bengal," 1835, p. 625, As. 

 Res. xx. 86). and deer were from the first cherished and sacred animals among 

 the Buddhists — " The Deer Park of the Immortal," at Sarnath, near Benares, 

 was an important feature in connection with the celebrated Stiipa and religious 

 establishments at that place. (" Foe Koue Ki," chapter xxxiv. " Memoires," 

 Uiouen-Thsang, i. p. 354.) 



£ I am unable to offer any solution of the meaning of this sign. It may 

 possibly be an older form of the Tree. 



§ Chaityas, or more properly Stupas (Sanskrit " a pile of earth"), are also call- 

 ed Ddg.ohas in the Mahawanso, a name stated to be derived from DJi&tu and 

 gdbbha/n, "Womb of a relic." (Blah. p. 5.; see also Prinsep's " Essays," i. 

 165.) The monogram which surmount .s the Stfyoa on the coins eventually came 

 to be recognised as a symbol of Dharma; its outline has much in common with 

 the representations of the idol al Jagganath. (Stevenson, J. R. A. S. viii. 331. 

 Cunningham, " Bhilsa Topes," pi. xxxii.) The device in question recurs fre- 

 quently on the later Bacfcrian aud [ndo-Scythio coins. (Num. Chron. xix, pi, 

 p. 12, No. 166. "Ariana A.ntiqua," pi, xxii. 156. Burnouf, ii. 627). 



