1904.] 
Numismatic Supplement. 
373 
to be derived from the Sanskrit Gardabhiya, meaning 11 asinine,” u of 
the Ass dynasty.” How so strange a designation came to be attached 
to the coin is not very evident, bnt I venture to suggest the following 
as a possible explanation. For some twenty years after the settlement 
of the Hunas on the banks of the Oxus, the reigning Sassanian king 
was Varahran V (A.D. 419-438), who from his devotion to the chase, 
and especially to the chase of the wild-ass, gained the nick-name of 
Varahran Gur, or Bahram the Ass[-hunter]. How when the-coins 
of this king began to circulate amongst his enemies, the Hunas, 
these by a very evident jeu d’esprit may have dubbed the,thin insigni¬ 
ficant-looking silver pieces “ Ass-money,” a name that would readily 
“ stick. ” Later on when imitations of coins of the same Sassanian 
type were struck by the Hnnas themselves in India, the name would 
fall to be translated by some Prakrit form of the Sanskrit equivalent, 
Gardabhlya: and this designation, by a process of phonetic degenera¬ 
tion proceeding pari passu with the more and more degraded workman¬ 
ship of the coins themselves, finally dwindled down to Gadhaiya, the 
term in use to-day by the common people. 
[ Gardabhiya = Gaddahiya = Gadahiya > 
= Gadhaiya = Gadhaiya—ka. 
= Gadhaiya]. 
Geo. P. Tayloe. 
III. Sultans op Dehli. 
19. Muhammad bin Tughlah. 
Metal. Silver. 
- Weight. 167 grains. 
Mint . Lakhnauti. 
Bate . x 33 A. H. 
PI. IX. 
This coin has the same legends as coin No. 187 described by 
Thomas ( vide Chronicles, Plate VT. Fig. 6), but instead of one of the 
legends being within a circle, both legends are arranged in square areas. 
This coin is unique so far as is known. 
G. B. Bleazby. 
20. Firoz Shah III. 
Metal. Silver. 
Weight. 93 grains. Mint and date absent. 
This is the only coin of Firoz in silver so far as our information 
J. i. 48 
