116 Coins of the Nine Nagas. [No. 3, 
of coins give their own dates, which accord exactly with the dates of 
the inscriptions and with a solitary notice in Ferishta. 
3. The first series of coins, from No. 1 to No. 14, may be attribut- 
ed, I think with considerable probability, to a dynasty of kings whom 
the Puranas call the “Nine Nagas,” and who would appear to have 
been contemporary with the Guptas. In the Vishnu Purina, it is 
stated that ‘the Nine Nagas will reign in Padmavati, Kantipuri and 
*‘Mathurd, and the Guptas of Magadha along the Ganges to Praydga 
“and Saketa, and Magadha.” Padmavati was at first identified by 
H. H. Wilson with some unknown city in Berar, far to the south of 
the Narbad#, and afterwards with Bhagalpur on the Ganges, but the 
mention of Mathura utterly precludes the possibility of either of those 
places having belonged to the Nagas. Both cities should no doubt be 
looked for within some moderate distance of Mathura. The scene of 
Bhavabhuti’s Malati and Madhava is laid in the city of Padmavati mm 
the Vindhyan mountains. As his description of the locality is a 
favourable specimen of Hindu poetry, I will not curtail it. 
oth ¥ 
‘“‘ How wide the prospect spreads, mountain and rock, 
“Towns, villages and woods, and glittering streams,— 
“There where the Paré and the Sindhu wind, 
“The towers and temples, pinnacles and gates, 
* And spires of Padmdvatt, like a city 
“Precipitated from the skies, appear 
“Inverted in the pure translucent wave.” : 
The Sindhu is, I think the Sindh river on which the city of Narwar 
is situated, and the Pdrd is the Pdrbati or Péré river, which flows 
only 5 miles to the north of the Sindh. Narwar also is in the midst 
of the Vindhyan mountains, and at a moderate distance, about 160 
miles, from Mathur4, so that there are no geographical difficulties to 
overthrow the proposed identification. On the contrary the subse- 
quent mention of the Madhuvati and the Lavana as streams in the 
neighbourhood of the city, renders this identification almost complete, 
as the first may be identified with the Mohwar or Madhwwar on 
the south, and the other with the Ném or Lin to the north. With 
regard to the third city named KA4ntipuri, I agree with Wilford in 
identifying it with the ancient Kutwal or Kutwdr, on the Ahsin river, — 
20 miles to the north of Gwalior. The kingdom of the Nagas there- : 

