150 CEYLON BRANCH — ROYAL ASIATIC SOCIETY. 



totte, and other places on the north coast, and of which various 

 descriptions have at different times been given, a Those found 

 at Calpentyn were contained in a chatty buried in the earth at 

 the depth of about three feet from the surface, and amounted 

 in number to about 5,000. It has been supposed by some that 

 they w r ere a hoard buried there for security ; but the circum- 

 stance of the coins being ail of one description, and that so in- 

 ferior, seems to militate against such a supposition. 



The condition of the coins is extremely unequal s some being clear 

 and in good order while others shew the effects of exposure to 

 the air or damp, and others are as much reduced and defaced 

 as the old worn out silver coinage of England. The best spe- 

 cimens weigh about 65 grains of metal, which is about the weight 

 o the Oodypoor pysa. 



In the specimen of which a representation is annexed, No. 1 

 m see on the reverse, the monkey chief Hanuman, 

 " Of strength resistless, and wide wasting wrath. " b. 



Uttara Rama Cheritra Act 1. Sc. 2. 



But this carries us back to mythological times, and to the 

 old legend of Rama and his "fawn eyed" Sita, 



She was the daughter of a powerful prince Janaka who having 

 in his possession by inheritance a valued bow of great strength s 

 derived originally from Maha deo, declared that no one should 

 have her in marriage who could not bend that bow. It was 

 like the bow of Ulysses, Rama the son of Dasaratha King of 

 Ayodhya or Oude, bent it and obtained the hand of Sita ; but 

 by some court intrigues he was obliged to leave his home and 



a See Asiatic Researches Vol. 17 p. 597, and Journals of the Ben- 

 gal Asiatic Society fur IS35, p. 673, and for i 837 p. 298 seq. 

 See also Journal CejLn Asiatic Society p. 69. 



b There is a representation of this coin in Davy's Ceylon, p. 245, 

 but there tne reverse is turned upside down, and it is said ths 

 characters ♦•resemble more hierogij phics than letters." 



