385 
18G1.] Statements touching the Guptas, Sfc. 
a single assertion, or inference, made by the gentleman aforesaid, now 
known to be wrong, that I have signified my adhesion to ? In pass- 
ing, the “ subsequent researches” which the Babu alludes to are, I 
believe, entirely my own. But who would ever have surmised so 
from his language ? Nor have I written about Toramana what is 
imputed to me above ; nor have I, as the Babd, a little further on, 
says I have, ventured on the “ assumption,” that Budhagupta was 
first sovereign, &c. I cite my own words : “ Budhagupta, by pos- 
sibility, may have been the first sovereign of a tentative independent 
branch, which almost certainly ended with himself; for Toramana, 
his proximate, if not immediate, successor, was not a Gupta, and very 
likely was a usurper.” The expressions “ by possibility” and “ very 
likely” do not, to my apprehension, denote assumption. 
Again, the Babu, having pronounced Toramana to have been “ an 
usurper in central India, and a rebel in his own country,” adds : 
“ Mr. Hall admits the first,” &c. On this I have simply to remark, 
that the phrase “ very likely” does not express admission any more 
than it does assumption. 
My circumspection of phrase with regard to Budhagupta and 
Toramana thus appears to have had but indifferent success. The 
very first person who uses my observations about those kings ascribes 
to me opinions, respecting them, which I never entertained, and 
which I wholly repudiate. 
As an argument to uphold my view, that Toramdna was a sovereign, 
I wrote : “ By the kings of all ages, the minting of money has been 
jealously reserved as a royalty ; and Toramana is known to have 
coined copper.” On this the Babu observes : “ We shall presently 
shew, that a Toramfma did strike gold without assuming the imperial 
purple, and that his copper coins are still extant ; not to advert to 
the privilege of coining held by the Caesars or younger Elijahs of 
Eotne.” And this Toramana, as my critic himself informs us, met 
with “ an untimely death in a prison, to which he was consigned for 
his presumption in striking coins in his own name during the lifetime 
of his liege lord.” That this makes directly in my behalf, it can 
require no great perspicacity to discover. As for Cinsars, or Yuvan'ijas, 
it is well known, that, to all interests and purposes, they were full 
kings. Certainly in India, they issued royal charters ; and, not im- 
probably, they issued money. I have never denied that they did so. 
