201 
1894.] V. A. Smith— History and Coinage of the Gupta Period. 
contained six of these pieces, which are described as follows by 
Dr. Hoernle. 
“ No. 5. Six specimens. Plate I, figs. 6, 7. 
Obv. King’s head or bust, facing right, with fillet behind, as 
on No. 1, [viz., 15 Bull coins of Mihirakula.] In front 
of face, a symbol, resembling an angular shaped 9, 
which, if it be a graphic sign, may be read as bra 
or pra. 
Pev. Circular area, divided into two halves by a straight line ; 
in the upper half a wheel within a circle of dots; in the 
lower half the two letters [characters] WIT tora, in 
large bold Gupta characters of a late type.” 1 
Circular dotted margins on both sides. Weight not stated. Diam. 
of fig. 7 is ’75 inch. Pig. 6 represents a somewhat smaller coin. 
It is, I think, impossible to doubt that these Sassanian Bust coins 
were struck by Toramana, the father of Mihirakula. The division of 
the field into two portions by a horizontal line, with a symbol above, 
and the king’s name below, is copied from the Gupta copper coinage. 
The Gupta kings inserted as the symbol their family crest, the Garuda 
bird; the White Hun, a sun-worshipper, uses his special emblem or 
crest, the sun’s disk. Cunningham observes (Trans., p. 229,) that 
“ Toramana’s preference for solar-worship is shown by his building a 
temple to the sun in Multan, and by naming his son Mihirkul.” 2 * * S 
If it be admitted, as I think it must be, that the Sassanian Bust 
coins above described were struck by Toramana, the father of Mihira¬ 
kula, it follows that Dr. Hoernle must be mistaken in supposing that, 
in the case of certain double-struck pieces, the emblems of Toramana 
are superimposed on those of his son. Dr. Hoernle makes the admis¬ 
sion that “on one specimen the emblems of No. I, [ soil . Bull type of 
Mihirakula] seem to be superimposed on those of No. 5, [soil. Sassa¬ 
nian Bust coins of Toramana], but this, being an exceptional case, may 
be an illusion.” s 
1 Proc. A. S. B., for 1885, p. 5, PI. i. 
2 Cunningham identifies Toramana Jauvla with the prince called Jabuin, 
in the Chach-Ndma , a history of Sindh, which states that Jabuin built the temple 
of the sun at Multan. Cunningham holds that this Jabuin was the first of the Sdhi 
dynasty, and he obtains A.D. 505, as the date for the foundation of the sun-temple 
at Multan, by deducting 137 years, the duration of the Sdhi dynasty, from A.D. 642, 
the date when Ohach Brahman became king of Sindh. (Trans., pp. 226, 228, 229.) 
For an account of the sun-temple at Multan, and Sassanian coins connected with 
it, see Arch. Rep. Vo\. V, pp. 115-121, PI. xxxvii; and Num. Chron. for 1894, p. 
268, PI. x. 
S Proc. A. S. B., for 1885, p. G. 
