104 
M. M. Chakravarti— 1Idma-tankis. 
[No. 2, 
We moderns have surprising difficulty in realizing the wealth of 
imagination which in early days was lavished on religious symbolism, 
and the Protean forms and shapes which the triform conception of 
deity generated in the early theopneustic mind. In occasional in¬ 
stances even now, where the religious sentiment is strong and united 
with an emotional or imaginative temperament, the mind seizes on any 
prominent object, as a symbol of the ruling idea. For example, I was 
once walking in Calcutta down ‘ Chowringhee ’ with a friend, when 
he suddenly grasped my arm, and pointing towards the tall Ochterlony 
Monument, asked me in an impassioned tone what that reminded me of. 
As I hesitated as to what I should answer, my friend went on—‘ Is 
not that an emblem of Christ, towering above mankind, as that pillar 
does above yonder plain ? ’ In like manner any triform object, of what¬ 
ever elements the symbol might be composed, would to the imaginative 
believer in a triform godhead, stand as an appropriate symbol of deity ; 
whether the object was made up of a pair of snakes turned towards a 
central ‘ thyrsos ’ or rod, as in the ‘caduceus’; or the triskelis, or wheel 
of three spokes; or its modem homologue, the Isle of Man symbol of 
three legs radiately arranged round a common centre. In the published 
coins, the dots below the tripartite symbols are five, seven, or nine 
in number, but on the coin in my possession they amount to six only. 
This coin appears to be a variety of one figured by General Sir 
A. P. Phayre* and referred to £ Yari Kriya’, though no such king appears 
in the list, nor is that reading (in the opinion of General Sir A Cunning¬ 
ham) supported by the coin itself. The bull on my coin has no necklace, 
and the snake supporters of the ‘ thyrsos ’ (using that phrase for want 
of a better) have seven-jewelled in place of five-jewelled crests. The 
diameter of my coin is 1*25 in., and the weight 105 grains. 
Bama-tanJcis.—By Bablj M. M. Chakravarti, M. A., B. L., Subordinate 
Executive Service of Bengal. 
(With one Plate) 
Rama-tankis (sometimes spelt ‘ Rama-tinkis ’) are gold medals which 
bear on the obverse figures purporting to be Rama and Sita seated on 
a throne and surrounded by attendants, the most prominent of whom is 
the monkey Ilanuman. The figures on the reverse vary. These medals 
are always in gold, circular in area, with flat or concave sides. They 
are found in small numbers, chiefly in the Deccan. They are much 
prized by the Hindus, particularly by the Vaishnavas, and are daily 
* Ibid. PI. II, Fig. 12. 
