1901.] 
W. Theobald —Karsliapcina Coinage. 
59 
SAHARANPUR COINS. 
2 
3 
. 
4 
5 
6 
8 
9 
10 
11 
O. 
0 . 
O. 
0 .- 
0 . 
0 . 
E. 
R. 
R. 
R. 
A Buffalo. This animal occupies the centre of the obverse, aricl 
(as already remarked) has always been incorrectly described 
as a Deer. In some coins the ear is distinctly seen A.I., IV, 
fig. 2, while in others it is omitted. 
A female figure with the head turned towards the Buffalo, and in 
some cases displaying the hair done up into a prodigious ‘ bun ’ 
at the back of the head, as seen in No. 1, symbol of this paper, 
on the ‘ Puranas.’ This figure is clad in trousers, baggy above 
and tight below, such as are worn by women in the Punjaub 
at the present day. 
A pair of Cobras, erect on their tails and facing each other. 
A.I., V, figs. 1 and 2. A variant of this symbol is seen on the 
coins of the Odumbaras, A.I., IV, fig. 14. It was these snakes 
which betrayed Mr. Thomas into the strange mistake of des¬ 
cribing the animal above which they occur, as a deer with 
curiously twisted horns ! On all well-preserved coins, however, 
whether silver or copper, there is no connection between the 
snakes, and the head of the animal above which they occur. 
This assertion is verified by PL XIX, of Thomas’s Prinsep’s 
Indian Antiquities and Pi. XLIV, figs. 2, 3, 4, 5, 7 and 8. Not 
only do these figures support this view, but figs. 9 and 10 of 
the same plate absolutely refute the notion of their being 
horns, by displaying the crescentic bubaline horns as usual, 
but without the Cobra emblem above. It is strange the well- 
known sacred emblem of a pair of snakes never seems to have 
occurred to any of the describers of this coin, some of whom 
must probably have been familiar with the lines of the poet. 
“ Pinge duos angues, pueri, sacer est locus, extra 
Mejite.” Persius. Sat. I, 113. 
“ Paint up two snakes; the spot, boys, is sacred, and if you “ want 
to commit a nuisance, you must go outside.” 
Sir A. Cunningham (A.I., V., figs. 1 and 2, p. 72) contents himself 
with styling these snakes “a Buddhist symbol,” without being 
more explicit, or in any way alluding to the mistakes of previous 
describers. The symbol also occurs by itself on the reverse 
of a coin figured by Thomas. (T.P., XIX, fig. 6) so that it is 
difficult to understand how the real significance of the symbol 
came to be se overlooked. 
A variously shaped emblem on a sort of handle in the woman’s 
right hand ; either a cruciform objectwith three dots (A.I., V, 
fig. 1), or a flower (A.I., V, fig. 2). The first is a symbol commonly 
carried by Vishnu, on later coins.; see Sir W. Elliot, N.O., PI. Ill, 
fig. 105. 
A square figure supportings a T. In some coins, probably from 
inferior execution, the figure is rather trapezoidal than square. 
A ‘ Stupa ’ of three chambers supporting a T. This T. is of course 
a later variant of the ‘ Chattra’ (No. 70). This symbol is placed 
below the belly of the buffalo but is omitted on some coins. 
A six chambered ‘ Stupa’ surmounted by a T. A.I., V, fig. 1. 
A ‘ Triratna ’ above the last. 
A tree, on the right of the ‘ Stupa,’ with three tiers of horizontal 
branches, with a railing below. This tree is in all probability 
intended to represent the Deodar of the adjoining hills, though 
in a very conventional manner. 
Below the ‘ Stupa ’ is a line, which is usually regarded as a snake. 
The line is sometimes very zig-zag, and in some later coins is 
seen duplicated in which case the rippling of water is what is 
