1894.] V. A. Smith— History and Coinage of the Gupta Period. 207 
ningham’s collection, and I found them to give two varieties of his name, 
Mihirakula, and Mihiragula; out of twenty-two of the best specimens, 
ten gave the termination as gula. 
What the termination hula or gula may mean, I must leave Persian 
scholars to decide. 1 But there can be no doubt that his name, as pre¬ 
served by Hiuen Tsiang, and in the Pdjataraygini and the inscriptions, 
is simply the Sanskritised form of a foreign word mihrhul , which in the 
sense of a certain kind of cotton-cloth, actually does occur in the Ain-u 
Ahbari . 2 
Further, on his coins, his name as Mihirakula is coupled with the 
Hindu title Cri; whereas the other form, Mihiragula is coupled with 
the purely foreign name or title of Sdhi.” 8 
“ His coins ... shew clearly his religious or sectarian tendencies, 
both foreign and Hindu. Nine of the coins examined by me with the 
Sanskrit legend Cri Mihirahula on the obverse, have as the principal 
symbol on the reverse, a bull, the emblem of fiva and the faiva 
worship; coupled in the seven cases with the legend Jayatu vrsa [A] , 
victorious be the bull.’ 
Another leading symbol of his coins is an eight-rayed sun or planet, 
usually with a periphery or circle round it; this appears on the obverse 
of three of the same set of coins, and in two instances on the reverse, 
below the fore-feet of the bull. 
And a third leading symbol is the crescent moon, which occurs in 
eight instances in the same set on the reverse, over the back of the bull. 
Also, two coins, of the same set, and one of the set that has the 
Sanskritized foreign legend Sdhi Mihiragula , have on the obverse a 
standard, the top of which is either the eight-rayed sun, or a crescent 
moon, or perhaps a trigula , another emblem of the faiva faith.” 4 
1 Turkish scholars would be more likely to decide the question. (Y. A. S.) 
2 “Blochmann’s translation, Yol. I, pp. 95, 617.” 
3 “ Only the second syllable, hi, actually falls within the edges of the specimens 
examined by me. But other coins of the Kaijmir series give the complete word 
Sdhi, and leave no doubt that this was the title on the Mihirakula dies.—The same 
explanation, and not that it is a coin of Iiii’anya, has to be applied to No. 8 of the 
coins published by Dr. Hoernle in the Jour. Beng. As. Soc., Yol. LIY, Part i [sic, 
read Proc. for 1885], p. 4, f. f.” 
4 It has been shown above that Dr. Fleet was mistaken in supposing that the 
prefix Qn is always coupled with the Jcula form of the name, and the prefix Qdhi 
with the gula form. £ri is found associated with both forms of the name on the 
copper coins. The Sanskrit verb jayatu is coupled with the name Mihirakula on the 
silver coins. Probably, the variation in spelling was regarded at the time as trivial, 
though the gula form may be older than the hula form which produces a legitimate 
Sanskiut compound. That compound, meaning ‘ the solar race,’ is, of course, not 
suitable for a personal name. The wheel, or sun, the crescent moon, and the trident, 
are all found on Gupta coins. 
J. i. 27 
