660 Lassen on the History traced [No. 103. 



the Indus river, and to India conquered. Legends, as above 

 described. 



As now by these coins Azes lays claim to having conquered the 

 Indus, so the four animals evidently point out the extent of his 

 dominion. The Bactrian camel requires no interpretation, nor 

 the maneless Hon, which undoubtedly alludes to an Indian 

 district, and though in our time the lion is only met with in 

 Guzerat,* they must in Azes' time not have been confined to that 

 province. I would rather presume, that by the adoption of the 

 lion, the Sinha, the subduing of the lions among Indian men, 

 viz. the Narasinha, Rajaputra was to be represented, therefore 

 the subjugation of the warlike tribes in the modern Rajpootana, 

 which moreover lies beyondf Guzerat. The Indus subjected, 

 refers certainly to the districts towards its mouth, to Pattalene, 

 which on the west is bounded by Guzerat. As now, the ele- 

 phant likewise points to Indian provinces, a question arises as to 

 what particular province this refers. It must of course allude 

 to that part of India, which must have been likewise under 

 Azes' dominion, viz. to the country to the north of Rajpootana, 

 the Punjab ; yet I confess, I know not why the elephant, which 

 might obviously be used as an emblem for the whole of India, 

 should be made to refer to this part of India alone. A glance 



* Mr. Lassen is not aware, of how valuable an argument lie has de- 

 prived himself in not having ascertained the existence of the lion in 

 our days in Hurriana, where they were a few years ago plentiful; they 

 are now more rare, being driven into the desert by sportsmen, and the 

 gradual settlement of the country. Lions have been shot within the 

 last fifteen years on the banks of the Chumbul, not more than fifty miles 

 from Dholepore. np. 



t I have already observed, that the lion even in our days is known 

 to exist at no great distance from the Indus. It is perhaps worthy of 

 remark in this place, that ample evidence is extant as to the great changes 

 which must have taken place in the localities of wild animals in India, on 

 the testimony of Baber, who mentions killing the rhinoceros on the banks 

 of the Sind and Behreh. " There are numbers in the jungles of Pershawur 

 and Hashhagar," according to Baber, (a. d. 1526), whereas in our own 

 days that animal is not found to frequent any part of upper India above 

 the Pillibheet forest^ in Rohilkhund ; under these circumstances, it is hard 

 to fix a location for the Uon in the days of Azes. rjj 



