1894. j V. A. Smith — History and Coinage of the Gupta Period. 183 
are as early as A. I). 300 or 350, and that they are approximately 
contemporaneous with the Bhr-SaJca, Kirada-Gadahara, Bhadra-Pakalh- 
dhi, and similar coins grouped together by Cunningham as Class B of 
the Later Great Kusans. 
The question of the date of these coins requires further investiga¬ 
tion. 
Section II. Little Kusans (Kidaritai). 
The Little Kusans were a branch of the Great Kusans, and 
occupied Gandhara in or about the years A.D. 425-30, 1 under a leader 
called Ki-to-lo by the Chinese, who is supposed to be the Kidara of 
the coins. 
About the end of the fifth century, the Little Kusan chiefs of 
Gandhara were driven out by the White Huns or Ephthalites, under 
Lae-lih, and obliged to retreat into neighbouring regions. They 
probably ruled in the country to the west of Kalmar—• in Shah-dheri and 
Mansera, to the east of the Indus, and in Yasin and Chitral to the west 
of the river. 2 * * 
The Kidarite, or Little Kusan, coins of the fifth century occur in 
gold, silver and copper. 8 
The rare silver coins are broad, thin pieces, resembling the Sassa- 
nian coins of Persia. Some bear a date, read by Cunningham as 339, 
probably equivalent, according to the faka reckoning, to A.D. 417, a 
little before the conquest of Gandhara. 
The gold, and most of the copper coins, are rude imitations of 
the ordinary Kusan coinage, with the sacrificing king on the obverse, 
and the seated goddess on the reverse. 
Greek legends have completely disappeared. 
The word Kidara , more or less complete, is always found below 
the king’s left arm, and seems to be used as a general dynastic 
name. 
In some cases, letters occur below the king’s right hand, but there 
is no vertical legend outside the spear. 
The reverse margin presents various names, Kidara , Ksatrapa 
Tarika , Cri Vipva, Cri Krtavirya , Cri Sildditya, Cri Kusala , and Cri 
Prakdga ; as read by Cunningham. 
Dr. Hoey has a coin which seems to belong to this series, though 
not included in Cunningham’s lists. 
1 Von Grutschmid (quoted by Stein, Zur Geschichte der pJahis von Kabul, Stutt* 
gart, 1893) gives the date as A.D. 430. 
2 Numismatic Chronicle (1893) p. 190. 
S The detailed catalogue is given, ibid., pp. 199--202, 
J. i. 24 
