remaining signs do not suggest Kharōsthi letters. The fifth letter of Nos. 2 and 3 suggests the Kharōṣṭhi ē; but on the whole the three legends suggest themselves as identical; for the first three letters in all are clearly the same; so are most probably the sixth and seventh; and the fifth letter of Nos. 2 and 3 may be only a badly drawn form of the corresponding letter in No. 1. The only apparent difference between the three legends is, that the fourth letter of No. 1 is wanting in Nos. 2 and 3. I am not able to decipher the legend; but considering the juxtaposition with the other coins of Euthydemus and Eukratides which bear the name of Heliocles, I would like to suggest that the Bactrian legend might also contain that name. The alphabet current in Bactria must have been one of the very early modifications of the Aramaean, similar to the ancient Pahlavi and Kharöṣṭhi. The first and fifth letters are very like the Pahlavi h and the Kharōṣṭhi k respectively. The second letter resembles the Kharōṣṭhi 7. The third and fourth letters resemble the Pahlavi aleph and vau respectively, and together might have been used to express the vowel o. In Nos. 2 and 3 the fourth character is omitted; and the third might also be taken to represent the Aramaean ‘ayin and to express the vowel o. Anyhow the initial four or five characters may easily be interpreted to represent h-l-o-k, the initial portion of the name Heliok (les). It is more difficult to fit-in the remainder, unless we may assume that the name was pronounced with r instead of 1, as in its Indian form Heliyakreya. In that case the sixth letter is r, in its form closely resembling the corresponding Pahlavi and Kharōṣṭhi characters. The seventh letter appears to be mutilated, and there may have been an eighth; but I do not know what the genitive inflection of the local Bactrian or Scythian dialect may have been in those days. Thus the characters may represent the letters h-l-o-k-r, which would well enough make up the name of Heliokles. (b) Coins of Hyrkodes. There are twenty-six coins of Hyrkodes, about 110 B.C., silver obols; mostly of the two well-known types, with Head of King on obverse, and either Standing Figure (17 specimens), or Head of Horse (7 spec.) on reverse, as shown in Brit. Mus. Cat., pl. xxiv, 10 (10 spec.), ibidem, pl. xxiv, 11 (7 spec.), and ibid., pl. xxiv, 12 (7 spec.). But there are two obols, one being a new variety of the well-known type, the other an entirely new type. The new variety (see Plate III, No. 8) shows on the reverse the Standing Figure holding a spear in his left hand, while the usual variety shows the spear in his right hand. Weight 13 grs.; size 0.5". The new type (see Plate III, No. 9) shows the usual Head of King on the obverse, but the reverse has a standing figure to the right, apparently Nike standing on a scroll (cloud ?) with traces of a Greek legend. The King's head is distinctive for this coin. Size 0.5625". Weight 17 grs. (c) Coin of Azes. There is one coin of Azes, c. 30 B.C., silver; nearly the entire legends of both sides clipped away; of the well-known type with mounted King on obverse, and Zeus holding Nike on reverse; apparently in every respect (incl. of monograms) the same as Brit. Mus. Cat., No. 32, p. 75. Weight 36 grs., size 0·5625′′. (d) Uncertain Coins. These are two copper coins, from the neighbourhood of Khotan ; apparently Indo-Bactrian, but too much worn to permit of identification. One is a small round coin, measuring inch, weighing 185 grs., and showing on one side traces of a bull's head facing (?), within an irregular square, enclosed within a marginal circle of dots, without any legend: the other side is entirely indistinguishable. The only, hitherto known, Indo-Bactrian coins with a bull's head facing, so far as I know, are two square copper coins of Menander, in Brit. Mus. Cat., No. 66, p. 49 and No. 4, p. 169 (pls. xii, 5 and xxxi, 10). The other is a small, apparently square coin, measuring of an inch, weighing 11 grs., and showing on one side traces of a conventional stūpa (?) surrounded by an illegible legend: the other side is quite indistinguishable. The only, hitherto known, coin with a stūpa, I believe, is a square copper one of Agathocles, in Brit. Mus. Cat., No. 15, p. 12 (pl. iv, 10). IV. INDO-SCYTHIAN COINS. The coins of this class number 10, and belong to two distinct periods, an earlier from about 50-130 A.D., and a later from about 490-570 A.D. (a) Early. These coins, numbering 9, were found in the collections M. 2, M. 3, M. 6, G. 10, and T. 1. They came from the Khotan country, and their coudition shows that they have been dug out from ancient sites. (1) Kadphises II, c. 50 A.D., two coins, copper; obv, and rev. designs just discernible, legends quite obliterated; type (obv. King Standing; rev. Çiva and Bull) as shown in British Museum Catalogue, pl. xxv, No. 12. Size 10". Weight 240, 5 and 181.5 grs. (2) Kanerkes, c. 78-110 A.D., six coins, copper, of twc different sizes; all in very poor condition. (a) four coins; obv. King standing to right, rev. figure standing to right, its posture resembling MIOPO or MAO or AOPO; there are only faint traces recognizable; on one obverse also traces of the Greek legend. Two weigh 54 grs, one 64, and one 46 grs., but a piece of the last is broken off its edge. Size of all, 0·7". (b) two coins; size 05"; weight 31 5 and 20·5; one reverse shows figure and legend MAO; the other shows traces, apparently of OADO (figure stepping to right, with both arms uplifted). (3) Hoerkes, c. 110-130 A.D., one coin, copper, in poor condition; size 0.875"; weight 780 grs., obv. King standing to right; rev. faint traces of Civa and Bull to left. (b) Late. (1) Toramāņa, c. 495-510 A.D., one coin, copper, indifferent condition. See Cunningham's Coins of Medieval India, p. 42, pl. iii, 1, 2. Size 10". Weight 830 grs. V. SASSANIAN COINS. (c. 458-484 A.D.). There are seven (or six) of these, all apparently of Firūz II (458–484 A.D.) Plate I, Nos. 5 and 19. They belong to M. 2. They are of some mixed metal, and inextricably baked together in two clumps, one consisting of three and the other, apparently of four coins, weighing 192.5 and 205-6 grs. respectively, and measuring 1.125". VI. MEDIEVAL HINDU COINS. (c. 900-1100 A.D.). These coins number 8, and belong to the following two classes, (a) Mahārājas of Kashmir. The Kashmir coins number 6. They belong to M. 6, and were procured from Khotan, probably found in its Bazars, and not in sand-buried sites. They are similarly still found in Kashmir and India. There has always been commercial intercourse between Khotan and Kashmir. (1) A very early coin, but unknown. No legend on obverse, one akṣara, illegible, on reverse. (2) Sugandha, c. 924-926 A.D., one coin, copper. As in Journal, As. Soc. Beng., vol. XLVIII (1879), p. 281, pl. xi, No. 4. (3) Dikṣēma Gupta, c. 971-979 A.D., one coin, copper. As in ibid., pl. xi, No. 6. (4) Diddā, c. 1001-1024 A.D., one coin, copper. As in ibid., pl. xi, No. 11. (5) Harṣa, c. 1062-1072 A.D., two coins, copper. As in ibid., pl. xii, No. 15. (b) Brahman Kings of Kabul. Samanta Deva, about 926–940 A.D.; 2 coins, silver; of the socalled "Bull and Horseman" type, as in Prinsep's Indian Antiquities (ed. Thomas), Vol. I, Plate XXV, 3, 4, 5; weight 46 and 44 grs.; size 0.7 and 0.625". From G. 4. VII. MEDIEVAL MUHAMMADAN COINS. (c. 800-1585 A.D.). The total of these coins is 127. Many of them, as will be noticed under the several coins, belong to G. 4, and were obtained in Western Turkestan. Of the others, belonging to M. 2, M. 6, many were found in the Takla Makan desert; but it is probable that the more modern ones were procured in Khotan itself and its bazars. These coins belong to very different classes and ages. In the following list they are arranged in chronological order. (a) Abbasi Khalifahs. Ar-Rashid; 1 coin, silver, like British Museum Catalogue, Vol. I, Plate V, No. 224 (p. 83); with a loop for suspension; mint Madinatu-l-Islām, date 192 H. (=807 A.D.): weight 475 grs., size 0.83". Belongs to G. 4. (b) Khans of Turkistān. (1) Yilik Khān; 3 coins, silver, like Br. Mus. Cat., Vol. II, Plate V, No. 433 (p. 121); two of mint Samarqand, dates 397 and 39[8] Ḥ, (=1006 and 1007 A.D.), weight 35.5 and 42 grs., size 0·9375′′ and 1.03125"; one of mint Sarraqusṭah, date 394 H. (=1003 A.D.) weight 38 grs., size 0.9375", see Plate I, fig. 21. The latter as well as one of the Samarqand coins have on the reverse area & above and Je below the central legend, but nothing corresponding on the obverse, while the other Samarqand coin has & and on the reverse and on the obverse. From M. 2. orų Yilik Khan, a chief of the Uighurs, is also known as Satuq Bughra Khan. He lived from 333-429 H. (=944-1037 A.D.), to the age of 96 years. He was the founder of a very extensive, but short-lived empire of the Uighurs, with a capital at Kashghar. See Dr. Bellew in Sir T. D. Forsyth's Report of a Mission to Yarkand in 1873, pp. 125, 41 On one of them apparently spelled Samarkand. 126 (also 121, 130), and Shaw's Grammar of the Language of Eastern Turkistan, in the Journal of the Asiatic Society of Bengal for 1877, p. 334. (2) Muḥammad Arslan Khan; 14 coins; all copper; not in the British Museum Catalogue; date and perhaps mint were in the marginal legend, which is almost entirely clipped off in all specimens. They are from M. 2, M. 3, M. 9 and G. 10. There are three varieties, as follows:: First Variety. (Plates I, 22 and III, 15). Six coins. Weight 105·5-62·5; size 0·9′′. Single-lined area. Reverse. Margins cut away; but in one case di still visible. |