398 
JOURNAL, R.A.S. (CEYLON). [VOL. XVIIL 
NOTliS ON THE VARIATIONS OP THE COPPER MASSAS 
OF SIX SINHALESE RULERS. 
By John Still, Assistant to the Archaeological Commissioner. 
The six rulers whose coins are described in these notes 
are Vijaya Bahu, Parakrama Bahu, Sahasa Malla, Lilavati, 
Dhammasoka Deva, and Bhuvaneka Bahu, 
Their coins are all similar in type, differing only in the 
legend, and to some extent in the metal and workmanship. 
But although similar in type, they are eminently variable 
in many details of execution, such as the proportions of the 
figures on the obverse and reverse, the size of their heads 
and the number of fingers on their hands. Much of this is 
due to rough workmanship, but not all, for in many of the 
specimens here dealt with there are distinctly different 
readings from the accepted legend. In some cases, too, one 
letter of the inscription persistently varies, so that I have 
been able to obtain a regular sequence of slight differences, 
which have ended in a letter apparently different from that 
which started the chain. 
In these notes I only attempt to describe the more marked 
divergences from the common type. For instance, among 
sixty-four coins of Bhuvaneka Bahu I have figured twelve 
specimens, whereas it was possible, by taking every slight 
eccentricity into account, to subdivide these into no less 
than thirty-one variations. 
I have taken the kings in chronological order, on the 
supposition that each is the first of his name. There can be 
little doubt concerning Parakrama Bahu the Great, and 
none at all regarding Sahasa Malla, Lilavati, and Dhamma- 
soka Deva, for there was only one ruler of each name. But 
Vijaya Bahu and Bhuvaneka Bahu are less certain. Vijaya 
Bahu the First reigned 1065-1120 A.D,, the Second reigned 
1197-1198, the Third 1236-1240, and the Fourth 1275-1277. 
There was a Fifth, but he is too modern to concern us here 
