33 
Minis to Coin-Col/ecfors in Southern India. 
Part I. 
(Bt Captain R. H. C. TUFNELL, M.S.C, F.Z.S., 
Member of the Numismatical Society of London.) 
There are few more fascinating pursuits to be enjoyed by 
the " dweller in a foreign land " such as India, than the 
collecting of those records of a bygone age, which, in the 
form of coins or inscriptions, carry us back beyond the reach 
of history to ancient times, when kings and dynasties ruled, 
whose very names are almost unknown to-day. But few 
countries there are that have a history so wrapt in mystery 
as Southern India. While the northern portion of the con- 
tinent can trace back the stories of successive dynasties 
from Moghuls and Pathans right away to the Bactrian 
rulers of the far north-west, the south knows nothing of 
her former existence, save what can be gleaned from such 
meagre information as the grant of some village to a Brah- 
man priest, or an inscription rudely traced on a temple wall 
can supply. Nor is the case different with the successive 
coinages of the two portions of the peninsula. While the 
issues of the north are for the most part characterized by 
fair execution and legible inscriptions, we usually find on 
the medals of the south but little that can aid us in their 
identification. All the more reason then for those interested 
in numismatology to turn their attention in this direction, 
in order that fresh light may be thrown on a subject now 
wrapt in too dark a mystery. It is only by united effort 
that any solid addition to our present scanty knowledge can 
be gained and the recollection that every day the smelting 
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