4M On the Coins of the Gupta Dynasty. [Ho. 0, 



gends.* In this state I allowed the enquiry to rest, until my at- 

 tention was recalled to the subject by the discovery of a coin of a 

 similar description in the ruins of the Sarnath monastery by Pro- 

 fessor Fitz E. Hall.f As in the progress of collecting, my own 

 cabinet had by this time become enriched with new specimens of 

 the type, and as I had the immediate advantage of access to Col. 

 Stacy's ample collection, I was able by a careful collation of the 

 isolated characters of the several varieties to identify the names and 

 titles of three monarchs of the race of the Gupta Kings of Alla- 

 habad and Bhitari lat renown, whose gold currency is conspicuous 

 in the various groups of the heretofore denominated " Canouj 



* J. R. A. S. XII. 70, PI. II. figs. 55, 57. 



f But I have other obligations to acknowledge ; to Mr. Hall I am indebted 

 for explanations and assistance upon all doubtful or difficult interpretations of 

 Sanscrit legends and inscriptions. 



I myself pretend to the most limited knowledge of that language. I indeed, pre- 

 sent the apparent paradox of being able to read and transcribe with precision, that 

 which I only imperfectly understand, and it has happened thus ; scholastic re- 

 quirements taught me Bengali — intimate official intercourse, of five years' duration, 

 with a people who wrote in Hindi, instructed me in all the modifications of that 

 alphabet, from the polished penmanship of the brahman and the current hand of 

 the recorder of evidence, to the quaint contracts of village communities, and the 

 crude writing of the ignorant, who, distrustful ever, would allow no foreign hand to 

 tell their tale. The vehicle of expression varied almost in a like degree, from the 

 glazed surface of the gold-spangled Khuritah to the petition of the northern Bho- 

 tias on their time-honored Birch-bark ! 



Thus broken in, Prinsep's Ancient Alphabets came to me as an. earlier style of 

 English might have done — thereafter, I gathered, as I went, such information as 

 was necessary for my passing purpose ; but, as Indian Numismatics did not ex- 

 clusively occupy my attention, I abstained from devoting my time to acquiring a 

 language that seemed likely to be of no other use to me. 



Thanks have I too — and many— to return for the kindly aid of one, an almost 

 stranger to myself, but united in devotion to our common cause, that most pro- 

 mising young numismatist, G. H. Freeling, Esq. C. S. 



Whatever of novelties his already rich cabinet could boast of either in this or in 

 other departments, have always been freely and unreservedly placed at my disposal. 

 To Major Bush (24 N. I.) likewise my cordial acknowledgments are due for the 

 liberal manner in which he at all risks, has forwarded for my examination his entire 

 Gupta and Saurashtran series ! 



