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JOURNAL, R.A.S. (CEYLON). 



[Vol. X. 



This argument is certainly ingenious, but it rests on an explanation 

 of the names Gagiputra, Gatiputra, and YaMiputra, which can hardly 

 be accepted. The custom of taking the mother's name was common 

 in the early ages of Buddhism. King A^atasatru is called Yaidehi- 

 putra, meaning either the "son of Yeidehi" or "the son of a Yaideha 

 woman." In the genealogies of the Ya^urveda the same system pre- 

 vails. The name of Gagriputra which is mentioned there, is probably 

 the same as the Buddhist name Gagiputra. It would be impossible to 

 suppose that king A^atasatru was called Yaidehiputra, because this was 

 his teacher's name ; and the same difficulty will be felt by most 

 scholars with regard to King Dhanabhiiti YaMiputra, King Agara^a 

 Gatiputra, and King Yisadeva Gagiputra. 



Another argument in favour of the early date of the Bharhut ruins 

 advanced by General Cunningham is of great value. About three 

 years ago, he says, a small hoard of silver coins was found in a field 

 near Jwalamukhi, which comprised five coins of the native princes 

 Amoghabhuti, Dara Gosha, and Yamika, along with some thirty speci- 

 mens of the Philopator coin of Apollodatus. There were no other coins 

 in the hoard, and as the coins of Apollodatus, as well as those of the 

 native princes, were all quite fresh and new, the whole must have 

 been buried during the reign of Apollodatus, or not later than 150 B.C. 

 The Indian characters on the coins of the native princes have all got 

 heads, or matrds, added to them, while several of them have assumed 

 considerable modification in their forms, more particularly the "#," " m," 

 "gh," which have become angular on the coins. But these letters are 

 invariably round in all the Bharhut inscriptions, exactly like those of 

 the known Asoka records. The absolute identity, therefore, of the 

 forms of the Bharhut characters with those of the Asoka period is a 

 very strong proof that they must belong to the same age. 



With regard to king Amogha, General Cunningham adds that the 

 name which Mr. Thomas reads Krananda, and which he tried to 

 identify with Xandrames, is really Kumnda. The inscription reads : — 



" Rap'na Kunindasa Amoghabhutisa Mahara^asa," Kuwinda being 

 the name of a people. The same custom of giving the national name 

 prevails in the Madhyamika coins, two specimens of which were given 

 by Prinsep, but upside down. The legend is : — 



" Ma^himikaya sibi^anapadasa," " coin of the Ma^himikaya of the 

 county of Sibi." 



iSibi is the scene of the Yessantara 6rataka, situated in the neigh- 

 bourhood of Chetiya, and if Chetiya was Yidisa or Bhilsa, Sibi would 

 be Ujavi or Chitor, the very place where Prinsep's two coins were 

 found, and where General Cunningham discovered eight more of the 

 same type. According to him, -Sibi would be the true original of 

 Siwalika, which among the early Mohammedans included all the 

 hilly country to the south of Delhi. Equally important are numerous 

 coins (several hundreds) of the Malavana, another people mentioned 

 in the Mahabharata. Their legends are written in various characters* 



