82 



Proceedings of the Asiatic Society. 



[No. 1, 



about the ruins, and I managed, through the influence of a very 

 learned Pundit here resident, to obtain a few, and I am sending you 

 by registered letter dak to-day four ; one silver modern one which 

 does not belong to these parts, but which some one had by him. It 

 is said to be a Bhootan coin, coined in the present King of Nepal's 

 reign. The other three coins are copper — one, a Mahomedan one 

 bears the date 1021, supposed to be Hegira, and therefore about 260 

 years old. The other two neither Hindoos nor Mahomedans can 

 read. The most learned pundits are at fault, but say that the 

 characters are like Chinese, and so they appear to me. If these coins 

 prove any addition to your collection, I will try and get some more." 



The following extract from a letter from Baboo Eungolal Banerjea 

 was also read : — 



" I have also seen a copper-plate inscribed on both sides and bearing 

 the record of a grant of land by Bajah Purusottama Deo of Orissa. 

 It is now in the possession of an old man of eighty years, theBhuniya 

 of Goapadha. He values it very highly, and cannot be prevailed 

 upon to part with it. I have, however, managed to get a transcript, 

 which I enclose. You will perceive from it that, though an Ooria 

 document, it was executed in Bengal, a part of which was at one time 

 held in sovereignty by the Kings of Orissa. The donor, Purusottama 

 Deo of the Surajvansa dynasty, who, according to Stirling, reigned 

 from 1478 to 1503, A. D., died in Bengal on the banks of the 

 Bhagirutee, probably near Triveni, where the grant was made on the 

 occasion of an eclipse. The record names the Granges (Gunga 

 Garllia) but, of course, it means the Hooghly, for you know that was 

 the old bed of the Ganges ; and what is now called by that name by 

 Eaglishmen has no sanctity, and owes its present volume to a shifting 

 of the ever-changing river. The date of the document is Monday, 

 the 10th of JBaisahlia in the year 25 of the Eajah's reign, which will 

 be equal to 1501, or a little before his death. The Bajah was a great 

 patron of Chaitanya Deva, whose religion he adopted ; and it was 

 probably to visit the birth-place of that reformer that he came to 

 Bengal ; for there is no mention any wh are of his ever having entered 

 the country as a conqueror, although Stirling gives a long account of 

 his military successes in Conjeveram. His calling himself " Lord of 

 Gauda" I take to be of no better import than the name of France in 

 the BR. FB. et HIB. BEX of the coins of Queen Anne and the first 



