396 On the Epoch of the Gupta Dynasty. [No. 5. 



in the Tope at Manikyala,* its uniform appearance on the money 

 of the Greek and Scythian dynasties of the Punjab, and its limit 

 Eastward is established by the bilingual Buddhist coins of Behat,t 

 and, if the attribution may be held to stand, by the satrap coins of 

 Hustiuapore on the Ganges. J 



Major Cunningham, I understand, proposes to assign these bilin- 

 gual Behat coins of Kunanda to the period of the nine Nandas : § if 

 this be correct, the Pali alphabet of Northern India must have im- 

 proved upon the Southern type, and my supposition of an inde- 

 pendent advance upon the original form of the alphabet, while 

 the old character was still generally retained, is in a measure 

 confirmed. But, whatever of influence this Bactrian style of writing 

 may once have had upon its contemporary at the point of contact, it 

 was certainly doomed to give way before its more efficient competitor 

 and in but brief space to be no more seen !|| 



* J. A. S. B. III. 559 — Ibid, pis. xxii. and xxxiii. 



f J. A. S. B. IV. pi. x. fig. 16 and VII. pi. xxxii. figs. 2, 3 and i. ; A. A. 

 XV. p. 23. 



% J. A. S. B. new series No. lxx. No. vii. of 1854, page 681. 



§ The nine Nandas reigned one hundred years (415 B. C. to 315 B. C. Prin- 

 sep, U. T. page 99 ! 



j| Hwen Thsang who usually gives us very precise information about the lan- 

 guage and alphabets of the countries he visited, is silent on the subject of tbe limit 

 of the Indian alphabet to the Northward. He however, notices that in Oudyana 

 *' Quoiqu'ils parlent une langue particulate, elle ressemble cependant, eu grande 

 partie, a celle de i' Inde. Les caracteres de leur ecriture et les usages de la poli- 

 tesse offrent aussi beaucoup de ressemblance (Documens Geographiques, 426). In 

 Bannian, L' ecriture, &c. ressemblent a ceux du royaume de Toukhara ;" (p. 373). 

 Kapissa is represented [it is not clear whether by Hwen Thsang] likewise as using 

 a form of writing but little differing from that of the Tokhari, but it is added," mais 

 les mceurs, la langue parlee et les lois sont fort differentes." (p. 392). The account 

 of the Tokhari language given, apparently on the authority of Huen Tnsang, 

 though it is to be remarked that he did not visit the capital (p. 464) — is to the 

 following effect ! " Leur langue parlee differe peu de celle des autres royaumes ; 

 les caracteres primitifs de leur ecriture se composent de vingt-cing signes qui se 

 niultiplient eu se combinant ensemble et servent a exprimer toutes choses. lis 

 ecrivent horizontalement de gauche a, droite." (p. 455). 



