No. 27. — 1884.] tissamahakama akch^ology. 



55 



The other letter has the form of the Asoka n ; but there are 

 two small circles in relief at the sides of the vertical line 

 of the letter. 



From the roughness of the design and execution, and the 

 long hair of the king, as well as from the letters on the 

 reverse, I conclude that this coin is a South- Indian one. 

 As it was found near the last described coin, in the cutting* 

 for the new sluice, its date is probably not later than the 

 first or second century A.D. Both of these coins were just 

 over the gravel, but not at the spot where the pottery 

 stratum was cut through. 



The coins numbered 1, 2, 3, and 4 evidently represent the 

 same value ; but they are of different reigns. It seems to 

 me exceedingly probable that in these we have at last, if 

 not the often-mentioned Simhalese copper kahdpana (kaka- 

 wana, Sim.) of the Pali works, at any rate one of its subdivi- 

 sions. For an exhaustive discussion regarding the kahapana, 

 reference should be made to Prof. Rhys Davids' work on the 

 Ancient Coins and Measures of Ceylon, 1877 (p. 3 and ff.). 

 Compare also Report on Archcelogical Survey of India, 

 Vol. X., pp. 79 to 81. 



I extract, however, two notes from the former work 

 regarding the kahapana : — 



" Its size and shape are uncertain ; but this at least can be said, 

 that the sculptor of the bas-reliefs at Barahat (who cannot have 

 lived more than a century later than the compiler of the Dharn- 

 mapada), makes them square." (P. 4). 



" We have, therefore, no evidence in Buddhist literature that in 

 Magadha before the time of Asoka, or in Ceylon before the fifth 

 century A.D., there were any coins proper, that is, pieces of 

 inscribed money struck by authority. On the other hand, we 

 have no statements inconsistent with the existence of such coinage, 

 and we have sufficient evidence that pieces of metal of certain 

 weights, and probably marked or stamped by the persons who 

 made them, were used as a medium of exchange, and that some 

 common forms of this money had acquired recognized names." 

 (P. 13.) 



Up to the time of Mahanama, I have met with only two 

 references in the ancient histories to money employed in 

 Ceylon, which was clearly said to be of gold or silver. One, 

 quoted by Prof. Rhys Davids, states that Dutthagamini 



