1880.] C. J. Roclgers — The Ooins oftJie MaJidrdJaJis of Kangra. 13 



ever annually melted clown and very soon there will be no more obtainable. 

 Some o£ them may contain a very small amount of silver. It is very 

 seldom I now meet with any in Umritsur. It is so with everything. I do 

 not know what provision Government may be making to secure a cabinet of 

 coins for the museums of the country, I believe no provision whatever is 

 being made. A few private collectors are at work for their own cabinets 

 which in the course of a few yeai's will find their way to Europe. The 

 coming generation will have to receive history on mere hearsay. The nu- 

 mismatic monuments are fast disappearing. The old liajahs in many cases 

 are known already only by name. No records are obtainable of them. One 

 would think that before it is too late Government should interest itself in 

 tlie matter. The British Museum is far richer in the coins of India than 

 any Museum in India. This is a mistake. If India is to be for the In- 

 dians, it is a pity to export from the country all those mementoes of former 

 things and dynasties. Patriotism and loyalty go hand in hand with us. It 

 would surely be wise in our Government to create a love of country in the 

 hearts of the people of India. We want something to displace the grasp- 

 ing and selfishness which everywhere show themselves. The historic 

 remains which lie round about us are not understood, or are rather misun- 

 derstood and not valued. History is taught as a matter of dates and 

 names and is useless. Museums are collections of odd things which are to 

 the educated and uneducated alike voiceless. The teachers of history can- 

 not read the coins which would add interest to tlieir lessons. 



Of all the provinces of India, the Panjab has more historic associations 

 than any other. From the time of Darius to that of the Empress of India, 

 the Panjab has been an arena on which great struggles have taken place. 

 Yet the coin cabinet of the Lahore Museum is wretchedly poor. A few 

 Grseco-Bactrian coins, a few Indo-Scythian coins and a few odds and ends 

 with the names attached to them of the persons who presented them (!) are 

 all that are visible to the ordinary visitor. The curator, in whose charge are 

 the valuable coins which are always kept under lock and key, is generally 

 engaged during the day. So visitors passing through Lahore see next to 

 nothing of what ought to be visible at all times. There is no catalogue of 

 the coins, and many valuable ones have been already lost. This is again a 

 mistake. It is exactly the same at Delhi, where the coins are all in a box ! ! 



These remarks are made not in a captious spirit, but with a real desire 

 to direct attention to the proj^er use of museums and provincial coin cabi- 

 nets, and also with the hope that both be made more use of in tiie 

 education of the people for whom the museums were built and with whose 

 money they are supported. 



I will now proceed to make a few notes on the coins represented in 

 Plate II. 



