oct.—~ dec. 1856.] Notes on Indian Currencies. 85 



pire who paid their tribute in gold, and not in silver. In his 3d 

 volume, page 357, speaking directly of the ancient Indian currency, 

 he says, " There is no doubt that the precious metals gold and 

 " silver, particularly gold, were in very ancient times the established 

 " medium of exchange in India ; but this however will not prove it 

 " to have been coined. If we can repose any confidence in the 

 " published translations of native works, the use of coined money 

 " would appear to have prevailed in very remote times, for it is 

 u expressly mentioned in the fable of Krishna ; but it is uncertain 

 " whether the passage is taken from the Mahabarat"^ or the Bha- 

 " gavat,f or from one of the other Puranas.J In the laws of Menu 

 " the respective weights of paras and racticas of copper, silver 

 " and gold, are very exactly determined, without however any allu- 

 " sion to their being stamped. But whatever may have been the 

 " value and character of the ancient Hindoo coinage, it is quite 

 " certain that its use is of very remote antiquity." 



It is but candid however to own, that it is difficult to reconcile this 

 with the foot note, wherein the author seems to confess, he can find 

 no very reliable information for such remote antiquity, for he asks — 



" Is there even any Hindoo coinage older than our sera ? we 

 " certainly know of none. There are indeed plenty of coins im- 

 " pressed with some emblematical device, but none of them have 

 " either date or inscription of any kind." 



In the Greek accounts of India as gathered from Maurice's and 

 Elphinstone's histories — in Strabo's account of Alexander's inva- 

 sion B. C. 327, a description is given of the habits and manners of 

 the natives of India, presenting a picture very similar to what we 

 find in the Southern parts of the Peninsula in our own time, and 

 that " they wore gold and jewels, and were very expensive in their 

 dresses, though frugal in most other things." 



From the kingdom of Bactria founded by a detachment of Alex- 

 ander's army, and which according to Clinton's Fasti Hellenici 



* Familiar to the Hindoos 2 or 3 centuries B.C. 

 t The Bhagavat is an episode of the same poem. 



% Of more modern date, written probably between the 8th and 16th centuries 

 A. D. 



D 



