[No. 1, 
52 G. Bidie —The Pagoda or Varaha coins. 
so miserable a specimen of our taste and talents should be suffered to go 
forth.” In designing it the artist seems to have deemed it necessary to 
give some reason for the nam e pagoda, by putting on the reverse the figure 
of the gopuram of a Hindu temple, and he then surrounded this with stars 
to indicate that it was a star pagoda. Again on the obverse, to keep it in 
harmony with the old forms, he has introduced the figure of a Hindu god, 
which is apparently intended for Vishnu. There is no date on the coin, 
but it appears to have been first brought into circulation early in the 
present century. 
Ob. The Gopuram of a temple surrounded with stars, and the in- 
scription “ Two pagodas.” 
Rev. Vishnu surrounded with dots, and the words two pagodas in 
Tamil and Telugu. 
Weight. —91'3 grs. Shekleton’s “Assay Tables” give the weight as 
91-0-10 grs. 
Counterfeit specimens of this pagoda are very often seen in jewelry? 
but may usually be easily detected, as in the genuine buns, the milling on 
the edge is obliqne like a section of a rope, whereas in the forged ones 
the milling is like that on modern English coins. The coin as a whole is 
certainly a hideous production, but curious as perhaps the first departure 
from a native towards a European type. 
Adoni Pagodas. 
PI. Ill, Fig. 25. This coin came from Bellary under the name of 
“ Muhammad Shahi pagoda.” It bears no date, but has the name of the 
mint-town Imtyazgurh, which is the designation that was given to Adoni, in 
the Bellary district, by Humayun. The obverse bears the name of Muham¬ 
mad Shah. Adoni was formerly a place of great strength, and from its 
position came to occupy a conspicuous place in the wars and feuds that for 
so many years desolated the southern parts of the Dakhan. During the 
existence of Vijayanagar it was held by the Rayas, and on the fall of that 
state, in 15G5, it was annexed by the Adil Shahi dynasty. In 1690 it was 
captured by the forces of Aurangzib, and included in the Soubah of Bija- 
pur, under the empire of Dehli. When the authority of the latter began 
to decline it was appropriated by the Nizam, and held for a series of years 
by various younger branches of that house. Haider twice attacked Adoni 
without being able to capture it, but in 1786 Tippu took it, after a seige 
of a month, and destroyed its fortifications. On the conclusion of peace 
in 1789 it was restored to the Nizam, and in 1799 was handed over to 
the English as part of the Ceded Districts. This coin was probably struck 
in the first half of last century, while Adoni was still nominally under 
the authority of imperial Dehli. On another specimen which I have 
