238 [No. 171. 



The Coins of Arakan — The Symbolical Coins. By Lieut. Thos. Latter. 



The coins of which the accompanying facsimiles are given, are inter- 

 esting, in that they represent whatever ideas they were intended to con- 

 vey, by means of pure symbolism alone ; and afford no clue by which 

 to connect them with any particular prince. They are all, I believe, of 

 a type peculiar to Trans- Gangetic India. No. 1, was found in the city 

 of Haleng, in the Empire of Burmah, and has been already described at 

 some length in a former number of the Society's Journal. It is placed 

 here for the purpose of shewing how the same type of symbol runs 

 through the whole. The remainder are peculiar to Arakan, the last 

 being somewhat common. Knowing these coins to be Buddhistical from 

 their being found only in localities — where no other than that faith has 

 obtained, and having, as I have already said, no clue to justify our con- 

 necting them with any particular monarch ; it is only by viewing them 

 as representing by means of symbols certain dogmas, or tenets, (whe- 

 ther religious, or philosophical) of the Buddhist faith, that we can 

 hope in any way to resolve their meaning. 



In the description of No. 1, I speculated that the side (b) might be 

 intended to convey a symbolical representation of the cosmology of 

 Buddhism. The twenty-eight circular figures in the outer ring repre- 

 senting the twenty-eight Buddhs characteristic of a Mahdgabbha, or 

 grand period of nature ; and the five drop-shaped figures within the 

 circle representing a Buddhagabbha, or lesser period of nature, the pre- 

 sent period being characterized by the presence of five Buddhs ; which 

 are therefore made to preside over a curious emblem composed of certain 

 triangles representing this world in particular. Although I could not 

 at the time account for the reason why this singular combination should 

 be able to convey such an idea ; yet in a subsequent paper, (on the 

 Buddhism of the emblems of architecture), I ventured to suppose (taking 

 the triangles with their points downwards to represent " water ;" and 

 those with their apices upwards to typify " fire ;" that their being made 

 to meet in a circle, (the universe) with a point in it, (this earth) meant 

 to convey the belief in the reiterated destruction of the world by fire 

 and water, whence its Pali name lauga, from lav,, "to be again and 

 again" renovated and destroyed. It is singular that in the two coins, 

 Nos. 2 and 3, my interpretation is indirectly 'corroborated, for in them 



