508 On the Coins of the Gupta Dynasty. [No. 6. 



ness, similar to that already noticed by Prinsep* as existing in the 

 coeval alphabet of the 3rd or Skanda Gupta Inscription on the 

 Girnar Eock. 



The irregularity in the completion of the legend noted as occur- 

 ring on Skanda Gupta's coins with the Bull reverse, appears in a 

 still greater degree in those of the present class. 



The weight of this class of coins is more than ordinarily unequal, 

 rising from 22£ to 33 grains ! 



Though not properly susceptible of classification with any Gupta 

 series of coins, it is needful to notice iu connexion therewith a 

 species of money which seems to constitute au independent derivative 

 from the same Saurastian type that served as a model for the local 

 currency of the Guptas in certain "Western provinces of their empire. 



I allude to the pieces figured as Nos. 6 to 8 and 9, Plate XLIX. 

 Vol. IV. J. A. S. B.f Prinsep at the moment of their publication^ 

 scarcely attempted any decipherment of the certainly very unpromis- 

 ing legends, and was equally at fault in regard to the reverse device 

 which he described as "a symbol in the form of a trident :"§ when 

 subsequently he came to take up the general subject of the Sah 

 and Gupta silver coinage in full detail, || he still essayed no advance 

 upon the attribution of this offshoot of their common prototype. 

 In my paper on the Sah kings^[ I made some slight progress towards 

 determination of the purport of the legends, and apart from the 

 typical coincidences, was able to demonstrate more precisely the 

 Sah association in the decipherment of the words ^T^T HTT t^TO 

 on the margin of the best preserved specimen of the series. 



* J. A. S. B. VII. 348. 



f Other examples of this currency will be founcUdelineated in J. R. A. S. IV. 

 PI. II. fig. 30, XII. PI. II. figs. 35 to 38. 



% December, 1835, 



§ Prinsep writes "figs. 6 to 9 are one step further removed from perfection. 

 The legend where best preserved, as in fig. 9, appears a mere repetition of the 

 letter p, with the suffix r, ri, and y, * * * the central symbol has the form of a 

 trident. Lieut. Burnes informs me that several hundreds of these three species of 

 coins were found in Cutch in 1830, in a copper vessel buried in the ruins of Pura- 

 garh, twenty miles west of Bhoj, a place of great antiquity, and yet marked by the 

 ruins of a palace and a mint." IV. 687. 



|| J. A. S. B. VII. April, 1838. 



% J. R. A. S. XII. 15th April, 1848. 



