166 
W. Theobald —Note on Some of the Symhols 
[No. 3, 
depicted over the yak’s liead. In Wilson’s coin a it is clear that what¬ 
ever they are, they are separated from, and have no relation to, the horns 
of the animal, and the same remark applies to the coin d in my ovvn 
possession. They are in fact two rather stumpy or conventional figures 
of snakes, presumably the Indian Cobra (Naga tripudians), and this is 
so apparent as to cause surprise that Professor Wilson should have con¬ 
tented himself with including them in his Plate of symbols (No. I64Z>) 
without hazarding any opinion as to their true significance. On the 
copper coins of rude execution, these objects are often degraded into two 
straight-backed siyma-shaped objects quite unconnected with the horns, 
whilst in such coins as those figured by Mr. Thomas (b) and by Babu 
Rajendralala Mitra (c) of superior execution, the lengthened and more 
serpentine form given them, causes the tail cut to approximate sufficient¬ 
ly close to the termination of the horns of the animal, to give rise to the 
mistaken idea that they are really prolongations of them. 
The appropriateness of a pair of cobras among a collection of Bud¬ 
dhist symbols is unquestionable, and on this the remarks of Mr. Thomas 
which relate to the single snake below the chaitya on the reverse of 
these coins may here be quoted. “ (8) The craft of serpent-charming in 
the East, probably from the very beginning, contributed a powerful 
adjunct towards securing the attention and exciting the astonishment of 
the vulgar, whether used as an accessory to the unpretentious contents of 
the juggler’s wallet, or the more advanced mechanical appliances* of pro¬ 
fessors of magic—who among so many ancient nations progressively 
advanced the functions of their order from ocular deceptions to the 
delusion of men’s minds and the framing of religions of which they con¬ 
stituted themselves the priests. India, which so early achieved a civili¬ 
zation purely its own, would appear, in the multitude of the living 
specimens of the reptile its soil encouraged, to have simultaneously 
affected the mass of its population with the instinctive dread and terror 
of the scriptural enemy of mankind—a fear which, in the savage stage, 
led to a sacrificial worship similar to that accorded to less perceptible 
evil spirits. Hence the dominance of the belief in Nagas, which came 
to be a household and state tradition, and which especially retained its 
preeminence in the more local Buddhist faith” (1. c. p. 484). 
In representing two snakes facing one another, we have an indica¬ 
tion, (apart from their tripudiant attitude) that the cobra was intended, 
* The learned writer may not improbably when penning these words have had 
the line of Jnvenal in his mind. 
“ Et movisse capnt visa est argentea serpens.” Satire VI, line 338. 
“ The silver snake 
Abhorrent of the deed was seen to quake.” Gifford’s translation. 
