708 Coins of Indian Buddhist Satraps. [No. 7. 



of the reign of Azas, or about 90 B. C. For the relic chamber, 

 which had evidently not been disturbed since the day on which it 

 was first closed, contained, along with the usual quantity of gold 

 ornaments and gems, four copper coins, all of which are of a well 

 known type of the great Scythian king of Azas. As no other coins 

 were found in this tope, the soundness of this conclusion is, I think 

 undeniable. If this be admitted we have a clear and decisive proof 

 of the prevalence of the Buddhist religion in the Kabul valley 

 nearly one century before the Christian era. But as this fact is 

 still doubted by at least one distinguished orientalist, I will now add 

 another proof of a still earlier date. 



All our most distinguished numismatists, French, German and 

 English are agreed on one point, that the last prince of the Greek 

 kingdom of Kabul was Hermseus, and that his immediate successor 

 was the Indo-Scythian Kadaphes or Kadphizes. The date of the 

 Scythian conquest is variously stated, but the extreme difference is 

 less than thirty years. Raoul Bochette* assigns this event to 125 

 B. C. Professor Lassenf to 120 B. C. and Professor Wilson J to 98 

 B. C. The near agreement of such excellent authorities may be 

 considered as fixing the close of the Greek dominion in India in 

 the latter end of the second century before the Christian era. This 

 point being established, I now proceed to show that Kadaphes or 

 Kadphizes, the subverter of the Grecian dominion, was a staunch 

 Buddhist. 



The coins of Kadaphes, which are of a single type, always bear 

 the same inscription without the change of a single letter. On the 

 Greek side we find in small neat characters, 



KOZOAA KAAA3>EC XOPANCY ZA0OY. 

 " (Coin) of Kozola Kadaphes, king of the Koransu" 



The Ariano Pali legend of the reverse, which is also in small neat 



Bhayawdna-sarirahi Sri Tabachitrasa Khamaspada putrasa dana. 

 " (Casket) containing relics of Bhagwa'n, the gift of Sri Tabachitra, the son 

 of Khamaspada." 

 Two similar instances of relic gifts occurred amongst the Bhilsa tope deposits. 

 * Journal des Savants, 1835, p. 595. 



t Lassen's Greek and Indo-Scythian kingdoms of Cabul, p, 283. 

 X Ariana Antiqua, p. 292. 



