KANISHKA ACCEPTS BUDDHISM 235 pages of a pious tract that his conversion was due to remorse for the blood shed during his wars, it is impos- sible to check the statement. Probably it is merely an echo of the story of Asoka, as told by himself. Just as the writers of edifying books sought to en- hance the glory of Asoka 's conversion to the creed of the mild Sakya sage by blood-curdling tales of his NAGA PEOPLE WORSHIPPING THE TRISUL EMBLEM OF BUDDHA, OH A FIERT PILLAR. From a bas-relief at Amaravati. fiendish cruelty during the days of his unbelief, so Kanishka was alleged to have had no faith either in right or wrong, and to have lightly esteemed the law of Buddha during his earlier life. The most authentic
evidence on the subject of his changes of faith is af- forded by the long and varied series of his coins, which, like all ancient coinages, reflect the religious ideas of the monarch in whose name they were struck. The finest, and presumably the earliest, pieces bear legends,
