181 
1894.] V. A. Smith — History and Coinage of the Gupta Period. 
Nono sao Tcosono. Outside spear, vertically, a name in Nagarl characters 
which seems to he Magra. 
Reverse. Throned goddess, and remains of illegible legend. 
I cannot find any published notice of a coin like this. 
The coins of Class A are evidently earlier than those of Class B, 
about to be described, and probably are to be ascribed for the most part 
to the third century A.D. The mechanical execution is good and 
clear, though the style is stiff and conventional. 
Later Great Kusans —Class B. 
The coins of this class are chiefly of gold, and some of the scarce 
copper specimens are ancient forgeries of gold coins. 
Greek letters, if present at all on the obverse, are reduced to a 
meaningless repetition of 0. They have completely disappeared from 
the reverse. Frequently, there is no trace of Greek letters. The 
obverse Nagarl legends occur in three places, viz., (1) outside spear, 
(2) under king’s arm, (3) near the altar, below his right-hand. There 
is no letter between the king’s feet. 
The reverse device is invariably that of the throned goddess. 
Her name is not given, as it is in Class A. In some cases, one or two 
Nagarl characters are inserted between her left arm and the margin. 
The name under the king’s arm must be that of the issuing prince, 
probably, in general, a local governor or satrap. It is often a monosylla¬ 
ble, e.g., Mi, Bha ; but is sometimes a Hindu name, e g., Samudra. The 
coins with monosyllabic Tartar names may be considered earlier than 
those with Hindu names. It must have required a considerable time 
to Hinduize the invaders. Cunningham believes the names outside 
the spear to be those of provinces. Thomas preferred to interpret them 
as names of tribes. At present, it seems impossible to prove either 
interpretation. 1 Cunningham remarks that “ all these coins are found 
in the Northern Panjab.” They are also found in the North-Western 
Provinces, if we may class in this group the numerous Kidara 
Kasana coins, of which 62 were found in the Bijnor District in 1888. 2 
These coins, which are of a common type, occur both in gold and 
copper ( P brass). The name under the arm may be read as ^ Kada, ^ 
Kadi, ^5 Kidu, and ^ Kidara, on various specimens. The word 
^ . T . 
outside the spear is certainly V Kasana, which Cunningham interprets 
1 Numismatic Chronicle for 1893, p. 120 ; Indian Antiquary vol. xii, pp. 6-11. 
8 Described by Dr. Hoernle in Proceedings , A. S. B., for 1888, p. 205. 
