1841.] Silver Plate found at Badakshdn. 571 



from his own cabinet. The king's crescent head-dress is the same as 

 that on the silver plate ; and the position of the right arm seems to 

 indicate, that it must have pointed a spear towards the indistinct object 

 which is seen between the horse's fore legs, and which is probably the 

 lion of the plate. 



No. 3 is the reverse of an early Mahomedan copper coin, published 

 by Mr. James Prinsep, as fig. 2, pi. 14, vol. vi, of his Journal. The ob- 

 verse has a head and some illegible letters. I have lately procured a 

 similar copper coin, on which the horseman faces to the right; on the 

 obverse is an inscription in ornamental Cufic characters, '* Us sultan ul 

 azem Ala-ud-dunya wa ud din ;^ and above the horseman on the re- 

 verse are the remains of the letters of the name ; and between the 



horse's legs is the word (^j'-^-o''^ JBdmidn, the place of coinage. I sup- 

 pose this coin to belong to Ala-ud-din Husen, Ghori, who was called 

 the Incendiary, after having mercilessly destroyed Ghazni, and put an 

 end to the Ghaznivide dynasty.* The horseman I believe to have 

 been copied from the coins of the Hindu kings of Lahore, of which 

 No. 5 in the lower corner to the right is a silver specimen of Syalapati 

 Deva. 



No. 4, in the left lower corner, is a gold coin of one of the later 

 Guptas, on which the subject is the same as that represented on the 

 plate ; the only difference being that on the coin the horseman is using 

 a sword instead of a lance. This coin may date about a. d. 500. 

 The earlier coins of the Gupta family also display the same subject ; 

 but on them the lion is attacked by a bowman on foot ; and on the 

 reverse, the goddess Lakshmi is seen sitting upon the vanquished ani- 

 mal. 



The subject represented on the plate, and on the coins of the Gup- 

 tas, is then substantially the same ; namely, a hero-king overcoming a 



* A large hoard of the Indian gold coins of his nephew, the celebrated Mahomed 

 Ghori, the first Mahomedan king of India, has lately been found in the Huzara country. 

 About one-fourth of the gold coins are of " Sri-man Kumdra Pala Deva" — the re- 

 maining three-fourths being of Mahomed Ghori. They are highly curious, as proving 

 that the Musulman conqueror was content to have his name only represented on the 

 coinage of the country, without changing the Brahmanical character of the coin. On 

 the obverse is the seated figure of Durga, and on the reverse, in Deva Nagari characters, 

 is the legend, "Sri Mahajdina Mahamada Sdma," for Sri Moaz-ad-din Mahummud 

 S&m. 



