THE ARCHAEOLOGICAL SECTION. 
35 
hands; next we find the Bodhisattvas; Avalokitesvara, Man- 
jusrl etc., in their varying forms; such as images with two 
hands, with four hands, and even with twelve hands. The 
next group, in order, are the various forms of Tara, and 
finally we have the terrible female deities of later Buddhism, 
and Buddhist sculptures from Java. 
On the Brahmanical side we find that the first niche 
contains images of Suryya and two figures of Suryyanara- 
yana. The next three niches contain images of different 
forms of Vishnu and his different incarnations, as well as 
those of the nine planets, which, very often, are found side 
by side on the same slab. After this, we come to the Saiva 
section, where we find images of Siva, Siva in conjunction 
with Vishnu, and the various forms of Durga or Parvatl. 
The niche last but one was reserved for Jaina sculptures, and 
the last of all contains a very rare collection of Hindu 
sculptures from Java. In the last room, the Inscription 
Gallery, the wall space was divided into two parts; one 
being devoted to Sanskritic inscriptions, while the other was 
devoted to Arabic and Persian inscriptions. In the centre of 
the room Muhammadan architectural specimens from Gaur 
and other places were displayed. 
In 1903 the Asiatic Society of Bengal agreed to send its 
very fine collection of Indian coins to the Museum, as a per¬ 
manent loan. Having secured a liberal grant of money from 
the Government of India for the publication of catalogues of 
the coins in the cabinet of the Museum and that of the 
Asiatic Society of Bengal, the Trustees took over the 
Society's collection of coins in 1904. Foreign coins and 
duplicates were nob included in this catalogue, and have 
since been returned to the Society. The joint cabinet thus 
formed is one of the best collections of Indian coins. It was 
finally decided by the Trustees that Mr, V. A. Smith, I.C.S. 
(retired), was to undertake the first volume of the catalogue. 
It was to be divided into three parts and was to contain 
non-Muhammadan coins. The remaining volumes of the 
catalogue were undertaken by Mr. H. N. Wright, I.C.S., 
who was permitted by the Government of India to take up 
the work while on furlough in England. The second volume 
