272 Memorandum on some medals and coins. [ No. 3, 
QU09098 092004 
Translation. “ Land of great happiness,” or “great happiness for 
people of (the) land.” 
The letters all read backwards from the die having been stupidly 
prepared without reference to the stamped or cast surface from it, 
coming out reversed. The inscription surrounds a wheel or circle, 
the symbol of Budha, “ emblematic,” says Col. Cunningham, “ of the 
passage of the soul through the circle of the various forms of exist- 
ence,” and here typifying as shown by the inscription the attain- 
ment of the great object, nirvana, rest in the happy land. 
No. 2.—This coin is from a different die to No. 1, but the device 
is generally the same. There is no difference in the inscription 
which is shown reversed. 
No. 3.—In this medal the animal intended to be represented is the 
same as in the others; the inscription is also the same; but this 
time is written correctly. The wheel here has only six compartments 
there being eight in the others. Hach compartment also has a small 
circle within it. 
No. 4.—No material difference. Underneath the animal on the 
obverse, is a six-rayed star; on the reverse, is the same inscription as 
before, and the central wheel or circle with eight compartments. 
The popular idea among the Burmese regarding these medals is, 
that they were cast by order of the king called Bau-dau-phra, who 
reigned from 1782 to 1819 A. D.; that he feared losing the remote 
maritime province of Tenasserim and trusted to some supernatural 
power by means of these medals to preserve his province from foreign 
invasion, and thus secure “great happiness for the people of the 
country.” This is a very far-fetched and unlikely interpretation. I 
think it much more probable that the medals are the work of a 
provincial Governor for a local purpose. They appear indeed to be 
quite unknown to people of good education from upper Burmah, to 
whom I have shown them. 
No. 5 is of a different type from the preceding. The obverse is a 
bird of no earthly form. The reverse bears what appear to be 
Burmese characters, but of which no meaning can be made. 
No. 6 is a medal which I am not prepared to explain, but the 
reverse with the square symbol in the centre is apparently a rude 
