650 Additions to Bactrian [July, 



champions, a term nearly equivalent to * Satrap.' Now on all the coins 

 of Spalyries (or Spalurmes J hitherto found, the initial letter has been 

 unfortunately cut off; but the three next are \\*i ... lahdrat\\Q same as 

 above, wanting only the final genitive inflection : the next letters may 

 be read *P*1 ^ putasa for (gTO) ' of the son.' Putting the whole together 

 we have 'PuftpdOi T*Wj> TMj^.H fh Ba) Uharaputasa dhamikasa 

 JBalafaramasa 'of Balafarama (either for Balaparama, or ^RlT 

 whose strength is his armour) the just, the son of Balahara.' There- 

 fore as he was brother of the cotemporary of Vonones, < the then 

 kino-' niust also have been a son of the same person : and we should 

 expect to find another coin of a somewhat similar type struck by him. 

 These conditions are satisfactorily combined in the rude square coin of 

 Spalirises, depicted in Plate XXI. vol. IV. and PI. XXXV. of vol. V. 

 fig. 7. He has the same flowing mantle from the shoulders, the sceptre 

 of royalty, and his native name appears to be 'pnM'h Balirishasa : 

 thus the father's native name is Balahdra ; the eldest son's Balirisha, 

 and the second son's, Balavarma, and the copper money of the whole 

 triad is distinguished for its exceeding rudeness no less than its confor- 

 mability of type I The silver money of Spalurmes and Spalirises has 

 not yet been found, or we might probably find that it maintained the 

 name of Vonones the Parthian king, or his successor, on the obverse. 



The style of these three names commencing with Bala, — and the 

 title in particular of the first, Balahdra, — call to mind the Balhdra 

 dynasty of north-western India, of which the epoch cannot be said to be 

 yet well defined. One of the earliest foreign authorities the historian 

 Masoudi, who wrote in 947 A. D. says : — " The dynasty of Phoor 

 who was overcome by Alexander (had) lasted 140 years : then came 

 that of Dabschelim, which lasted 120 : that of Yalith was next and 

 lasted 80 years, some say 130. The next dynasty was that of Couros, 

 it lasted 120 years. Then the Indians divided and formed several 

 kingdoms ; there was a king in the country of Sind ; one at Canouj ; 

 another in Cashmir ; and a fourth in the city of Munich* (Minnagara ?) 

 called also the great Houza, and the prince who reigned there had the 

 title of Balhara*." 



120 -f 80 -f* 120 — 320 years estimated from Alexander's time 

 brings us to B. C. 3, or allowing a few more years to Porus say 10 or 

 20 A. D. Now the reign of Vonones I. as king of Parthia is dated by 

 Vaillant, from A. D. 6 to A. D. 20, so that the accordance of time 

 is here perfect, and we need seek no other explanation of the paramount 

 Persian sovereign's name and effigy on one side, while the other mo- 

 destly bore that of his tributary, because we have witnessed the same 

 * Wilford's Essay, Asiatic Researches, IX. 181. 



