1854.] Coins of Indian Buddhist Satraps. 681 



decline of the Mauryati dynasty, and during the decay of the petty- 

 Greek kingdoms of Cabul and the Paujab, it might have been 

 expected that some scion of the royal house of Puru, some secoud 

 Poms, would have asserted his independence ; or that some more 

 daring native adventurer ; some ancient Eanjit Singh, would have 

 carved out a kingdom for himself. Some traces of such events may 

 perhaps be seen in the frequent changes of the Indian dynasties of 

 Delhi and Magadha just before the Christian era, as recorded in the 

 Eajavali and in the Puranas.* This re-assertion of native power 

 and influence may also, I think, be seen in the coins of the accom- 

 panying plate, which bear the unmistakeable Hindu names of Mahi- 

 gula, Jivanisa, and Mdjabdla. 



The corrupt style of the Greek letters and the types, which are 

 imitated from those of Azas and of the later Greek kings, show 

 that these satrap coins must belong to the first century before the 

 Christian era. Now at this very time, the throne of Delhi was 

 occupied by the Maydra family, said to be of lunar descent, amongst 

 whom, there occur three princes, whose names differ so little from 

 those of our coins as almost to warrant the conclusion that they are 

 the same. This conclusion is, I think, mnch strengthened by the 

 prevailing mint mark on the coins of Rdjabdla. It consists of two 

 Pali letters, C| S, forming the word Hasti which I take to be the 

 numismatic contraction for Hastinapura on the Ganges, the cele- 

 brated ancient capital of the lunar race. It is true that these 

 letters might also stand for Hastinagara, the city of Astes, prince 

 of Peukelaotis and the Hashtnagar of the present day. But this 

 is not borne out by the places where the coins have been discovered. 

 Of Zeionisos, or Jivanisa, only four coins have yet been found, all 

 of which were procured in the Punjab. My two specimens came 

 from Kashmir and Rawal Pindi. Of Bdjabdla not a single speci- 

 men, to my knowledge, has been found to the west of the Chenab. 

 My own coins were obtained at Amritsur, Lahore, Harapa, Shorkot 

 Tulamba, Kahror, and Multan, all in the Eastern Punjab ; and at 

 Delhi and Math ura on the Jumna. The greatest number were 

 procured at the last place, and were said to have been found in the 

 ruins of the city, along with some rude hemidrachmas of Strato. 

 * See Prinsep's Useful Tables— pp. 98—100. 



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