78 W. Theobald— Early Local Silver Coinages in N.-W. Lidia. [No. 2, 
I will now describe a coin in my possession whereon the animal 
usually termed a deer is unusually well seen, and because the coin is of 
a novel and rare type and a distinct variety of that figured in Coins 
of Ancient India , pi. V, fig. 4. The coin figured (1. c.) is thus described 
by General Sir. A. Cuuningham :—“ Weight 131 grains. Obverse : 
the god Qiva standing to front, with battle-axe-trident in right hand, 
and leopard-skin hanging from left arm. Indian legend : Bhdgavato 
Chatregvara Mahdtand. Reverse : deer in middle, with symbol between 
horns, snake below to right, tree, star and vase to left, chaitya and 
symbols. 
My own coin weighs 261 grains and may be described thus:—Ob¬ 
verse : the god Qiva standing to front, with battle-axe trident in right 
hand, and the left hand resting akimbo on the left hip. A sort of bow 
or loop below left wrist, but apparently no skin of an animal over the 
arm; a small crescent on the forehead, above and behind which spreads 
a mass of thick short curls. Body naked to the waist, loins girt with a 
capacious dhoti , loose folds from which fall down almost to the knees. 
Above the left shoulder a six-rayed star identical with that ofen seen 
behind the figure on the reverse of coins of Aspa Yarma. ( Brit . Mus. 
Catalogue of Greek and Scythic Kings , pi. XX., fig 2). All that re¬ 
mains of the legend is Bhdgavato , as in the above coin. Reverse : a buffalo 
in the field, in side profile to the left, with very convex (bubaline) 
forehead, a bushy tail reaching to the hocks, and a single crescentic horn, 
from the base of which the ear is seen to protrude. Over the head 
an upright staff separating two serpentine bodies intended probably 
for a pair of cobras. On the silver coins figured on plate V (1. c.), figs. 
1 and 2, the snakes are well seen, but the central staff or lingam sym¬ 
bol is absent. Above the muzzle of the buffalo are three balls, the ob¬ 
vious symbol of the masculine triad whether viewed in a sexual or 
theistic sense. In front of the buffalo’s chest is a ‘ stupa,’ or ‘ chaitya ’ 
of six chambers, surmounted by a small J, the equivalent of the 
‘ Cliatra,’ or umbrella, seen on the punch-marked coins, and representing 
perhaps the form taken by that symbol when wrought in stone, as seen 
in Burma at the present day. Below the ‘ stupa ’ occurs the ‘ food re¬ 
ceptacle ’ as I interpret its import (see ante, Yol. LIX, pi. IX, fig. 119), 
and at the bottom of the field a snake, with its head elevated a little from 
points of the horns project behind the king’s helmet, just clear of his head. Of course 
the horns which thus encircle the helmet cannot be those of a buffalo, being rela¬ 
tively too small, bnt are most indubitably those of the ravine deer (Gazella 
bennettii) which measure some ten inches in length, and are, by their size and shape, 
very well adapted for such a defensive purpose, as well as being ornamental 
likewise. 
