1840.] Lieut. Cunningham on Bactrian coins, 885 



the name of Azas in Bactrian Pali ; thus establishing beyond a doubt 

 that these two princes were cotemporaries, and rendering it highly- 

 probable that Azas was the son or brother of Spalyrisas, and an asso- 

 ciate in the kingdom, or that he was tributary to that prince. Now 

 the coins of Spalirisas have an intimate connexion by their type with 

 the coins of Vonones, which have on the reverse the name of Spal- 

 haras, bearing an evident family resemblance to the name of Spalyrisas ; 

 and thus affording an additional evidence that Vonones must have 

 been nearly cotemporary with Azas, about 80 b. c, and consequently 

 much anterior to the Parthian Vonones 1st, who reigned in a. d. 

 4—14. 



The coins of these Tndo- Parthian kings are highly interesting, as 

 they seem to hold out a hope that we may bring the Arsacidan chrono- 

 logy to our aid ; but as in the case of Vonones, so also in that of 

 Abalgasus, there appear good reasons for believing that our Indo- 

 Parthian prince was much earlier than the Parthian king Balgasa or 

 Vologases. The general appearance in type, make, and style of characters 

 observable in the coins of Abalgasas and of his father Undopherras, 

 connect these princes too closely with the Indo- Parthian Vonones and 

 his successors Spalyrisas and Spalurmas, to permit the identification, 

 however much we might wish for it. For the Parthian king Volo- 

 gases 1st did not begin to reign until a. d. 50, which is nearly 100 

 years later than the period of our Abalgasas, supposing his father 

 Undopherras to have succeeded to the family of Vonones and his 

 successors. Again, the Chinese historians affirm, that in 26 b. c. the 

 Indo- Scythians conquered the whole of Northern India, of which they 

 retained possession until 222 a. d. ; and Ptolemy, in describing 

 the extent of the Indo- Scythian empire, says, to use the words of 

 Professor Lassen, that " its main part is situated along both banks 

 of the Indus." Now this is the very country in which the coins of 

 our Vonones and Abalgasus are found ; and hence we may almost 

 confidently say, that they must both have flourished before the final con- 

 quest of the Indo-Scythians in b. c. 26, and consequently cannot be 

 identified with the Parthian princes of the same names, whose reigns 

 fall within the most brilliant period of the Indo- Scythian rule. Indeed 

 if I have read the Bactrian Pali legend of the coins of Abalgasus 

 rightly, we have the plainest proof that he cannot be identified with 



