320
THE INDIAN ANTIQUARY.
Shah, A.H. 936. Mr. Blochmann stated that the reign of this king could not have been of long duration, and he
might probably have only reigned in Western Bengal. The reign of Nuçrat Shah ended, according to the historians, in 940 A.H., and his successor was called Mahmud Shah, no mention ever having been before discovered either in an inscription or on a coin of Firuz Shah of this date. It is
intended, if possible, to secure the stone with this inscrip tion on it for the Indian Museum.—Englishman,
[Oct. 4, 1872.
On the obverse of the coin with the Subhakrta year, is an
inscription of five lines within a circle, the first line is in modern Devanagari characters, and may be read Siva Chitta.
The line under has the same name but in a differ
ent character, probably the old Dravidian alphabet. The third line has the name of Sri Siva Chitta in Deva nagari.
The fourth line reads exactly as the third, but the charac ter is the old Canarese.
The fifth line has again Siva Chitta in Devanagari. The coins having the name of Pramoda and Pingala have on the obverse inscriptions in five lines.
Bombay Br. Asiatic Society. At the monthly meeting of the Society held 8th August 1872. Dr. Bhau Daji read the following report on 19 gold coins received from the Collector of Belgaum—3 larger and 16 smaller.
1st.
Sri Sapta ko.
2nd.
tisa lavvai ara vi
3rd.
ra Jaya kesi.
4th. 5th,
Deva Malava. ra mari.
In the coin with the name of the year Pingala, the letter
The larger three are circular, flat pieces weighing 66 grains. On one side each has a circular line very near the run which is headed. Within the circle is the figure of a
lavvavara there is labhavara, which is equivalent to lab
lion rampant, face to the left.
dhavara in Sanskrit.
In front of the neck is a
short inscription in Devanagari characters comparatively modern, mentioning the name of one of the years of Brihas pati. Chakra, or sixty years cycle of Jupiter. In that year the coin was probably struck.
In one the name of the year is Subhakrata, the 36th in the cycle. The second has Pramoda, the 4th in the cycle, the third has Pingala, the 51st in the cycle.
vi is at the commencement of the third line, and instead of
The legend may be translated— “The brave Jayakesi who obtained the favour of Sri
Saptakotisa and was the enemy of Mallavarma.” The temple of Saptakotisa (Siva) is Narven in Goa. In my paper on Madhavacharya, I have stated that Madhava Mantri established the shrine in the time of IIari-Hara.
line is a small circle and the crescent, evidently to repre
The sixteen coins are all alike, being 59 grains in weight. On one side is the representation of an elephant with trap pings, badly carved and never entire in any one of the
sent the sun and the moon.
collis.
The coin having the name of the year Pingala, has the Svastika symbol, just behind the raised tail, whilst that with the name of the year Pramoda has the same symbol
On the obverse is a conventionalized leaf. These coins ap pear to be cast and not die struck. The age of the coins, judging by the alphabets, is later
under the raised front foot.
than the thirteenth century of the Christian era.
The form of the lion has a general resemblance to the lions found in the cave of Elephanta and in the ruins of
the name of a King Jayakesi and his enemy Mallavarma, but I am unable to find at present their exact position in
Mathura.
the dynasties of Southern and Western India.
A little above the ear of the lion and close to the circular
We have
MISCELLANEA, NOTES.
posed, is carried through the streets. The bearers
1. IN the Indian Antiquary, p. 174, Prof. Weber mentions that an AEsopic fable, that of the flight
involuntarily, and shake the bier till the bones rattle.
of the tortoise through the air, is found in Budda
ghosa. This reminds me that the story is repre sented in a small panel sculpture at the entrance to the Mundòt (Buddhist) temple in Java, near
Boro Bo do r. The fact is mentioned by me in the J. As. S. Ben. of 1862, p. 20. 2. Sultan Baber mentions (p. 144) a curious superstition in the hill country north of the Kābul River (Kuner, Bajaur, Swāt, &c.,): “It is the cus tom, when a woman dies, to place her on a bier which they lift up by the four sides. If the woman has lived virtuously, she shakes the bearers to such a degree that even when they are upon their guard, and attempting to prevent it, the corpse falls from the bier.”
In an annual procession where I write (at Palermo)
are always masons. At intervals they stagger as if I cannot give the reason assigned, and the proces sion has this year been abolished or suspended, but the circumstance is curious in juxtaposition with Baber's story.”
3. I know not if the Maramat Department at Madras still flourishes by that name. But it is worthy of note that a standing commission for the maintenance and repair of the ancient Cathedral here bears the name of Maram m a. It is a curious
trace of the former extent of Muhammadan power to find the same official phrase thus current in Palermo and Madras.
4. It seems to me all but certain that the
Semyll a of Ptolemy and the Periplus, the S aim fºr or Taim i r of the Arab geographers,
Rosalia, a bier containing her bones, real or sup
is Chaul. I should be glad to learn the oldest known native spelling of the latter name. Chain cul Chámul, or Chincur would easily run into Se my l
. . * Since writing the above I am told that the shaking is intended to commemorate the bringing of the bones down
believed to have been discovered in a miraculous way. this may be a postfactitious reason.
in honour of the Patron Saint of the City, St.
from the precipitous Mount Pellegrino, on which they are
-
But
