90 



H. Rivefct-Carnac — Coins of the Siint/a Di/nasti/. 



Mitra might fairly be supposed to be one of the most recent of these 

 kings. 



I have no suggestions to offer regarding any of them, save Bhadra. 

 ghosa. It will be seen from Prinsep's list and also from Wilford's Essay 

 in Asiatic Researches, Vol. XI, that one Qliosa Vasii preceded Vajra Mitra. 

 Regarding this Vajra Mitra, Wilford in his Essay on Vila-amaditya and 

 Salivahana (see Asiatic Researches, Vol. IX, page 145,) writes as follows : 

 " The first Vicramaditya is mentioned in the Cumarica-c'handa ; in 

 which it is declared that after 3020 years of the Cali-yuga had elapsed, 

 then would Vicramarca appear. He reigned fourteen years, and of course 

 died in the year 3034, when the era of Yudhishtir ended and his own began. 

 In the list of the kings, who were to appear in the Cali-yuga, to be found 

 in the Bhagavata, Brahmanda, Vayu and Vishim Puranas, there are two 

 kings, the seventeenth and eighteenth in regular succession from Chandra- 

 gupta, who reigned seven years each. The first is called Vicrama, and the 

 other Mitra ; and they are supposed to have been originally meant for 

 Vicrama mitra who, according to some, reigned fourteen years ; and in 

 these lists, the father, or predecessor of Vicrama, is called GhosJia Raja or 

 the king of thickets, which is another name for Gandharupa, or Gadha-raja 

 in the west. This looks like an interpolation ; and the more so, as it will 

 appear hereafter, that Ghosha-Raja died in the year 440 of our Era." 



The Vajra Mitra of Prinsep's list is here supposed to be Vikrama Mitra 

 or Vikramaditya, whose father and predecessor is Ghosa Raja. Wilford 

 thinks that this name Ghosa looks like an interpolation. But perhaps the 

 discovery of a coin belonging to this period, bearing the name of Ghosa, 

 may help to establish the correctness of the entry ? 



It is perhaps also worthy of notice that Prinsep's list of the Kanwa 

 Dynasty gives the name Sliiimi Mitra, a contempoi'ary of Vikramaditya. 

 The coins of Bhumi Mitra and Bliadraglwsa are certainly of about the 

 same period, and possibly of the same dynasty. I am aware that since 

 Wilford and Prinsep wrote, Mr. Thomas, General Cunningham and others 

 have done much to clear up the doubts existing in respect to early Hindu 

 Chronology. I am in hopes that those who are better informed than my- 

 self on the subject may be able to draw some practical conclusion from the 

 coins which I have been able to collect. 



I may add that the mass of them have now been tolerably well cleaned. 

 They have been carefully examined and read by Mr. Carlleyle and myself, 

 but no new types save those sent to the Society have been found. They 

 are entirely at the disposal of the Society if they wish to see them, and I 

 hope that a complete set may be accepted for the Society's Museum. The 

 only reservation I have to make is, that a complete selection of the best 

 specimens should be reserved for the British Museum, which Institution 

 ought, I think, to have the first choice. 



