26 



Notes on Indian Currencies. 



[NO 1, NEW SERIES'; 



lasted about 120 or 130 years, and terminated about B. C. 120 or 

 130, many coins have found their way into India, and have been 

 dug out from time to time about Cabul and Peshawur, and " one 

 as far East as Muttra on the Jumna." — See Elphins tone's History 

 of India, Appendix iv. p. 247. 3d edition. 



A better and more complete account however of Alexander's in- 

 vasion, and of the Grceco-Parthian kingdom after his time, of which 

 Bactvia was only an independent Satrapy, is given in Piinsep's His- 

 torical accounts from Bactrian coins and in Professor Wilson's book 

 on Bactrian numismatics. Previous to the researches of these two 

 gentlemen, our acquaintance w r ith the Grceco- Asiatic currency was 

 confined to a stray coin or two which had turned up par hazard 

 here and there ; but now by their study and inquiry upon fresh 

 discoveries, that acquaintance has grown into a considerable chro- 

 nclogical knowledge, not only of the order of the kings, but of the 

 general history of that part of the country from Alexander's inva- 

 sion to A. D. 215, the end of the Grceco-Parthian dominion. 



Pennant in his Hindostan, page 70, speaking of a place on the 

 gulf of Cambay, North of Surat, called Barochia probably the an- 

 cient Barygaza, the greatest emporium of all India in ancient times, 

 says — 



" Numbers of ancient drachmae have been found here, inscribed 

 " with Greek letters and the names of Apollodotus* and Menander,f 

 " king of Bactria, who also reigned in this part of India." 



Also, in page 78, talking of Ougein, a city north of the Nerbud- 

 da and supposed to be Ozene in Ariians PeriplusJ, having just 

 described a vasa myrrhina or drinking cup of T. Petronius made 

 of a stone called myrrhine from Ougein, and described by Pliny — he 

 (Pennant) says — " Even in those early times the merchants had 

 " their course of exchange, and made great profit by the change 

 " of the gold and silver denarii§ for the money of the country." 



* B. C. 135 



+ B. C. 155, according to Prinsep's Historical Results from Bactrian coins. 

 X Written about A. L>. 30. 



§ Prinsep in vol. i. p. 396 of the Journal of the Asiatic Society, for September 

 1832, says the Denarius was the principal silver coin of the republic— and weighed 

 90 grains — but was reduced by Augustus to 60 and by Constantine to 40 who also 

 hanged its name to Centionalis, because 100 pieces equalled 1 lb. of silver. 



