CORNELL UNIVERSITY LIBRARY
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OF THE
ASIATIC SOCIETY OF BENGAL
VOL. L.
PART I. (History, Antiquities, &c.)
(Nos. I. to IV. — 1881 : with 19 Plates.)
EDITED BY
J^HE ^HILOLOGICAL jS ECRETARY.
“It will flourish, if naturalists, chemists, antiquaries, philologers, and men of science
in different parts of Asia will commit their observations to writing, and send them to
the Asiatic Society at Calcutta. It will languish, if such communications shall be long
intermitted; and it will die away, if they shall entirely cease.” Sir Wm. Jones.
CALCUTTA :
PRINTED BY J. W. THOMAS, AT THE BAPTIST MISSION PRESS,
AND PUBLISHED BY THE
ASIATIC SOCIETY, 57, PARK STREET.
1881.
CONTENTS
OF
JOURNAL, ASIATIC SOCIETY OF BENGAL, Vol. L, Part I.
FOR 1881.
No. I. Page
Contributions to the History of Bundelkhand. — By Vincent
A. Smith, B. A , B. C. S., . 1
A New Find of Early Muhammadan Coins. — By A. F. Rudolf
Hoernle, Ph. D. (with four Plates), . 53
On the Coins of the Sikhs*. — By Chas. J. Rodgers, (with five
Plates), . . . ; . 71
No. II.
>r
On the Coins of Charibael, king of the Homeritef and Sabseans.
— By Major W. F. Prideaux, F. R. G. S., Bombay Staff
Corps, (with a Plate.) . 95
On the Revenues of the Mughal Empire. — By H. G. Keene, C. S., 99
On the identity of Upello with Upaplava. — By Rishi Kesh Bhat-
TACHARYA SHASTRI, . 103
Translations from the Hamaseh. — By C. J. Lyall, C. S., . 107
The revenues of the Mughal Empire. — By Edward Thomas,
F. R. S., Late Bengal C. S., . 147
Nos. Ill & IV.
Relics from Ancient Persia in Gold, Silver, and Copper. — By Major
General A. Cunningham, C. S. I., C. I. E., Director General of
Archaeological Survey (with nine Plates,) . . 151
Contributions on the Religion, History, &c. of Tibet. — By Babu
Sarat Chandra Das, Deputy Inspector of Schools, Darjiling —
I. — The Bon (Pon) Religion, . . . 187
II. — Dispute between a Buddhist and a Bonpo Priest for
the possession of Mount Kailasa and the lake Manasa, 206
III. — Part I. Early History of Tibet, . 2 LI
Part II. Tibet in the Middle Ages, . 235
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LIST OF PLATES
IN
JOURNAL, ASIATIC SOCIETY OP BENGAL, Pam I,
I’OK 1881.
PI. I, II, III, IV, (p. 58). Early Muhammadan Coins of Bengal.
PL V, VI, (pp. 79, 86). Rupees of the Sikhs.
PI. VII, (pp. 88). Gurmukhi Coins of the Sikhs.
PL VIII, IX. (pp. 89, 90). Miscellaneous Coins of the Sikhs.
PL X, (p. 98). Coins of Charibael.
PL XI — XIX, (p. 153). Relies from Ancient Persia.
\
• %
I
INDEX
TO
JOURNAL, ASIATIC SOCIETY OF BENGAL, Vol. L,
Part I, roe 1881.
A KBAR, Revenues of, p. 99.
Ala-ud-din Mas’aud Shah, coins of, pp. 58,
68.
Amar Das, third Guru of Sikhs, p. 73.
Angad, second Guru of Sikhs, p. 72.
Arjan, fifth Guru of Sikhs, p. 74.
Arms of ancient Persians, p. 60.
Bengal, early Muhammadan coins of,
p. 53.
Bhumipala, see Kirtti Yarmma Deva.
Bon Religion of Tibet, p. 187.
- , list of religious works of,
p. 199.
Bundelkhand, Contributions to History
of, p. 1.
C/HAND, epic of, p. 29.
Chandels, historical traditions of, 1, 7.
- , chronological tables of, pp.
28, 47.
■ - , inscriptions of, pp. 23, 25.
Charibael, coins of, p. 95.
Chya-Thi-pon, noble family of Tibet,
p. 249.
Coins, Chandel, pp. 14, 15, 16, 17 et passim.
- , early Muhammadan, p. 53.
- , Sikh, p. 74,
- , of Charibael, p. 97*
- , found on the Oxus, p. 162.
- - , of Persian Kings, 169.
- , of Persian Satraps, p. 170
— — , of Tiribazus, p. 170.
- , of Pharnabazus, p. 170.
Coins, of Tiridames, p. 170.
- , of Pharaspes or Pharnaspes, p. 171.
- , Alexander the Great, pp. 172, 186.
- , Andragoras, p. 172.
- , of cities, p. 173.
- ■, Akanthus in Macedonia, 173.
- , Aspendus in Pamphylia, p. 173.
— ■ — , Athens, p. 174.
- , Byzantium, 175.
• - , Kelenderis, p. 175.
- , Tarsus, p. 175.
- , of kings, p. 176.
- , of Pixodarusof Caria, p. 176.
■ - , of Lysimachus of Thrace, p. 176.
- , Seleukus I, Nikator, pp. 176, 186.
- , of Seleukus and Antiochus, pp. 177,
186.
- , of Antiochus I, 178,
- , of Antiochus II, pp. 180, 186.
- , of Antiochus III, p. 180.
» - , of Diodotus, pp. 181, 186.
- , of Euthydemus, pp. 182, 186.
- , list of large finds of, p. 183.
- , of Agathocles, p. 186.
— — , of Pantaleon, p. 186.
- , of Philip of Macedon, p. 186.
Contributions to the History of Bundel¬
khand, p. 1.
Cunningham, Major General A., relics
from Ancient Persia in Gold, Silver
and Copper, p. 151.
Das, SARAT CHANDRA, contribu¬
tions on the Religion, History, &c., of
Tibet, p. 187.
Deva-Holkhopa, noble family of Tibet,
p. 251.
254
Index.
Deva Yarma Deva, see Kirttti Yarma
Deva.
Dispute between a Buddhist and Bonpo
priest, p. 206.
Dhanga, a Chandel Prince, p. 10.
Dress of ancient Persians, p. 157.
Dub-thah S'elkyi Melon, Text and trans¬
lation from, pp. 189, 195.
GaHARWARS, the, p. 1.
Ganda, a Chandel prince, p. 11.
Genealogy of Tibetan Monarchs, p. 231.
Ghiyas-ud-dm Twaz, coins of, pp. 57, 67.
Govind Singh, tenth Guru of Sikhs, p. 75.
* - , coins of, p. 80.
srGyal-kkar rtse-pa, noble family of Tibet,
p. 248.
IX AMASEH, Translations from, p. 107.
Har Govind, sixth Guru of Sikhs, p. 75.
liar Kisan, eighth Guru of Sikhs, p. 75.
Har Rai, seventh Guru of Sikhs, p. 75.
Harsha, a Chandel prince, p. 9.
History, of Bundelkhand, Contributions
to, p. 1.
- - , of Sikhs, p. 72.
- — , of Tibet, pp. 187, 211.
Hoernle, A. F. Rudolf, Ph. D., a new find
of early Muhammadan coins of Bengal,
p. 53.
Inscriptions, chandel, pp. 23, 25.
J ALALAT-ITD-DfN (Riziyah), coins of,
pp. 57, 67.
Jaya Yarma Deva, a Chandel prince,
p. 15.
Jetsun lossan choikyi-nima, a Lama,
author of the Dub-thah, S'elkyi Melon,
p. 187.
- - -, works of, p. 188.
I\ ALIN JAR fort, capture of, p. 28.
Kanauj, list of Rajas of, p. 49.
Keene, H. G., Revenues of the Moghul
Empire, p. 99.
Kirtti Varma II, see Jaya Yarma Deva.
Iurtti Yarma Deva, a Chandel prince,
p. 12.
A&D ARM A, Tibet under the rule of,
p. 229.
Lyall, C. J., translations from the Hama-
seh, p. 107.
MAD ANA YARMA DEVA, a Chaa-
del prince, p. 17.
Mag-pon Sonam Gyalpo, noble family of
Tibet, p. 251.
Magus or priest of ancient Persians, pp.
155, 158.
Moghul Empire, Revenues of, p. 99.
Mughis-ud-din Yuzbak, coins of, pp. 61,
69.
INGnAK, founder of the Sikhs, p. 72.
Nanika, a Chandel prince, p. 7.
Nasir-ud-diu Mahmud Shah, coins of, pp.
59, 68.
OrNAMENTS of ancient Persians, p.
160.
P ARAMARDI DEYA, a Chandel prince,
pp. 20, 29.
Parihars, the, p. 3.
Parmal, see Paramardi Deva.
Parmar, see Paramardi Deva.
Persia, relics from ancient, p. 157.
Persians, arms and ornaments of, p. 160.
- , dress of ancient, p. 157.
- - , Magus or priest of, pp. 158,
155.
Pon, see Bon religion.
Prideaux, Major W. F., coins of Charibael,
King of the Homerites and Sabeeans,
p. 95.
Prithvi Yarma Deva, a Chandel prince,
p. 17.
]R, APIILA, a Chandel prince, p. 8.
Ralpachan, Tibet under the rule of, p. 227.
Ram Das, fourth Guru of Sikhs, p. 73.
Runjit Singh, Sikh Chief, p. 77. '
- , coins of, p. 83.
Relics from ancient Persia, p. 151,
— - , from Sistan, p. 184.
Religion of Tibet, contributions on, p. 187.
- , Bon or Pon. 187.
Revenues of the Moghul Empire, p. 99.
- , of Akbar, p. 99.
Rinchhen-pun-pa, noble family of Tibet,
p. 245.
Rishikesh Bhattacharya Shastri, Identity
of Upello with Upaplava, p. 103.
Rodgers, Chas. J., Coins of the Sikhs,
p. 71.
Index.
255
SaLLAKSHANA YARMA DEYA, a
Chandel prince, p. 15.
Shams-ud-din Altamsh, coins of, pp. 55, 68.
Shon-nu Ssanpo, noble family of Tibet,
p. 246.
Sikhs, coins of, p. 71.
* - , history of, p. 72.
Smith, Yincent A., Contributions to the
History of Bundelkhand, p. 1.
TaG-PA-SSANPO, minister of Tibet,
p. 250.
Tegh Bahadur, ninth Guru of Sikhs, p. 75.
Thi-sroh-de-tsan, Tibet under the rule of,
p. 224.
Tibet, contributions on, p. 187.
- , early History of, p. 211.
- , Bon religion of, p. 187.
- — -, Ministers and Nobles of, p. 245.
Tibet, Sakya Hierarchy of, p. 240.
- , dependency of Mongolia and China
p. 239, 242.
- , genealogy of Kings of, p. 231.
Translations, from the Hamaseh, p. 107.
- , from Dub-thali S'elkyi Me¬
lon, p. 395.
UpELLO, identity of, p. 103.
''VaKPATI, a Chandel prince, p. 8.
Yidyadhara Deva, a Chandel prince, p. 12,
Yijaya, a Chandel prince, p. 8.
Yijaya Pala Deva, a Chandel prince,
p. 12.
XASGVARMA, a Chandel prince, p. 9,
JOURNAL
OF THE
ASIATIC SOCIETY OF BENGAL
Part I. — HISTORY, LITERATURE, See.
No. I.— 1881.
Contributions to the History of BundelTchand. — By Vincent A. Smith,
B. A., B. C. S.
Paet I.
The Peae-Chandel Peeiod. (To 830 A. D.)
The Gaharwdrs.
The traditions current in Mahoba and the villages in the neighbour¬
hood unanimously declare that a Gaharwar Raj preceded at some undefined
date the rule of the famous Chandel dynasty. I have carefully noted all
traditions of this kind that I heard, but have not succeeded in learning
much about the old Gaharwar chiefs. One fact we know for certain that
they were great tank builders, and in the country round Mahoba their tanks
are nearly as numerous as those ascribed to the Chandels, from which they
may generally, if not always, be distinguished by the circumstance that in
the Gaharwar embankments no cut stone is employed, whereas part of the
Chandel embankments is generally formed of dressed granite blocks. The
antiquity of the Gaharwar works is attested, not only by the rudeness of
their construction, but also by the fact that in several cases the embank¬
ments are broken and the beds of the lakes or tanks dry.
The greatest of the Gaharwar works is the massive embankment of the
Bijanagar lake, a beautiful sheet of water about four miles in circumfer¬
ence, situated about three miles east of Mahoba.
General Cunningham (Arch. Rep, II, 439) asserts that this lake was
the work of Vijaya Pala Chandel in the eleventh century, but, although it
A
2
V. A. Smith — History of BundelTchancl. [No. 1,
is by some attributed to Bij Brihm Chandel, the general belief is that it
was constructed by the Gaharwars, and, judging from the style of the
masonry, I have no doubt that the latter opinion is correct.
The embankment was repaired by Diwan Mohan Singh, an illegitimate
son of Raja Chhatarsal, about the middle of the last century, and has since
been further strengthened by the English authorities. The ruins of Mohan
Singh’s castle still form a conspicuous object in the view from the embank¬
ment.
The Kandaura Tal, situated in the townships of Thana and Paswara,
and separated by a narrow strip of land from the Bijanagar lake, is one of
the prettiest of the Bundelkhand lakes. It was constructed, it is said by
Kandaur Singh, an officer of the Gaharwar Raja.
The following list comprises all the Gaharwar embankments, so far as
I have noted them, but it is certainly very incomplete.
JPargana Mahoba.
Name of village.
1. Baraipura. A small broken tank. The old ~kliera or mound here is
named Mahilpur, and is said to have belonged to Mahil Parihar,
the counsellor of Raja Parmal.
2. Bhandra. A large tank, containing water.
3. Bhatewar. A considerable dry tank. The village is said to have be¬
longed to Jagnaik Bhat, a servant of Raja Parmal, and a promi¬
nent personage in the Chand Raesa.
4. Bijanagar. An extensive and deep lake, which never dries up.
5. Bilkhi. A considerable lake, which never dries up.
6. Karipahari. A small dry tank.
7. Paswara. A beautiful lake, belonging partly to Paswara and partly to
Thana. It is named the Kandaura Tal, and is said to have been
constructed by Kandaur Singh, an officer of the Gaharwar Raja.
8. Pawa. A considerable but shallow lake, much silted up ; it is named
Bapura.
JPargana J? anwar i-Jaitpur .
1. Nareri. A tank, which dries up in the hot weather. It is said to be
the work of Narhar Gaharwar.
2. Nunaura or Nunyaura. A large tank.
3. Sela Muaf. A tank named Kantala.
The fact that not one of the tanks above enumerated is situated more
than about 15 miles from Mahoba indicates that the Gaharwar principality
was restricted to the immediate neighbourhood of that town.
1881.]
Y. A. Smith — History of Bundelkhand.
3
Many of the Chandel tanks and lakes are associated with temples, but,
so far as I remember, the Gaharwar tanks never are.
All legend connects the Gaharwar clan with Kasi (Benares), but how
or when the Gaharwars obtained possession of Mahoba we know not.
Possibly their movement may have been connected with the commo¬
tions which ensued on the death of Harsha Varddhana, the great king of
Kanauj, in the middle of the seventh century.
A Gorakhpur tradition affirms that the Gaharwars are descended
from the famous Raja Nala and came to Kasi from Narwar near Gwaliar;#
and, if there be any truth in this story, the Gaharwars may have taken
Mahoba on their way from Narwar to Benares.
There seems to be some reason to believe that the Gaharwar rulers of
Bundelkhand were connected with the Gaharwar dynasty of Kanauj, but
I am not at present in a position to discuss the point.
The JParihars.
The traditions preserved by the Kanungo’s family of Mahoba declare
that the Gaharwar dynasty was succeeded by the rule of Parihars, who were
overthrown in 677 Sam vat by Chandra Varmma the first of the Chandel
chiefs.
The fact that Mahoba and a large part of Bundelkhand was once sub¬
ject to Parihar rulers does not rest on the authority of Mahoba traditions
alone. I shall now state all the evidence on the point which appears to be
at present accessible.
The little principality of Nagod or Uchahara, situated on the high
road between Allahabad and Jabalpur about 100 miles from Mahoba in a
south-easterly direction, is still governed by a Parihar chief. General
Cunningham in his last volume gives the following account of the tradi¬
tions of this family :
“ The original name of the district is said to have been Barme, and the
Barme Nadi is noted as being the present boundary between the Mahiyar
and Uchahara chiefships. But this stream was at first only the boundary
line which divided the two districts of north and south Barme. At Kari
Talai, which once formed part of Mahiyar, I found an inscription with the
name of Uchahada. The old name of Barme is widely known ; but few
people seemed to know anything about the extent of the country. Prom
the late minister of the Uchahara state, I learned that the Parihar chief-
ship was older than that of the Chandels of Mahoba, as well as that of the
Baghels of Rewa. According to his belief, it formerly included Mahoba
and all the country to the north as far as the Ghats and Bilhari on the
south, and extended to Mau Mahewa on the west, and on the east comprised
* Martin’s Eastern India, II, 4o8 quoted in Beames’ Elliot, I, 121 note.
4
[No. 1,
Y. A. Smith — History of BundelTchand.
most of the country now held by the Baghels. I do not suppose that the
Baghels would admit this eastern extension ; hut it seems to receive some
support from the position assigned by Ptolemy to the Porudri, who are
very probably the same people as the Parihars. The great lake at Bilhari,
called Lakshman Sagar, is said to have been made by Lakshman Sen Pari¬
har ; and the great fort of Singorgarh, still further to the south, contains
a pillar hearing the name of a Parihar Raja. The family has no ancient
records, and vaguely claims to have come from Abd-Sikhar in the west
(Mount Abu) more than thirty generations ago.
“ In Uchahara itself there is no ancient building now standing ; but
there are numerous fragments of architecture and sculpture which probably
date as high as 700 or 800 A. D. This is perhaps the earliest date that
can be assigned to the Parihars in Uchahara, as everybody affirms that they
were preceded by a Teliya Raj, or dynasty of Telis, who resided at Klio ,
over the whole of the country called Barme.”#
This Uchahara tradition is, it will be observed, quite in agreement
with the Mahoba tradition, so far as the latter goes.
The town of Panwari, situated a few miles from the Dasan River,
and about 27 miles W. N. W. of Mahoba, is supposed to have been founded
by Raja Pand, a Parihar Thakur in 960 Samvat = 903 A. D. A fort
called Pandi used to exist near where the bazar now stands. The Panwari
people also affirm that the Parihar rule preceded the Chandel, and that the
Parihar dominions extended from the Jamna to the Narbada. This tradi¬
tion is supported by the fact that the old name of Panwari was Parharpur.f
Part of the town of Mahoba is still remembered as the Parihars’ quar¬
ter, but Thakurs of any clan do not, with one or two exceptions, now reside
in Mahoba, which is believed to have become an unlucky place for both
Thakurs and Lodhis since the overthrow of the Chandels.
The earliest inhabitants of ’Ari in Jaitpur are said to have been Pari¬
hars, who constructed a small tank called Nadiya, which has an appearance
of great antiquity.
An early Parihar occupation is also mentioned in the traditions of a
few other villages.
The Mahoba Kanungos name 677 Samvat as the date of the substitu¬
tion of the Chandel Chandra Varmma for the Parihar ruler. Of course it
is now well known that the real founder of the Chandel dynasty was not
Chandra Varmma but Nanika. The date, however, can hardly be quite
imaginary. General Cunningham and Col. Ellis were on different occasions
* Arch. Report, IX, pp. 5 and 6. At p. 35, General Cunningham distinguishes
Lakshman Sen from Lakshman Singh, and says that the latter was the builder of the
Bilahri tank.
+ Beames’ Elliot, II. 97.
1881.]
Y. A. Smith — History of Bundellchand.
5
given the following dates for the accession of the Chandels to power —
204, 225, 661, and 682. As it is well established that the Chandel dynas¬
ty attained power in or about 800 A. D. (probably a little later, say in 830
A. D.), it is clear that these dates do not refer to the Vikrama Samvat.#
General Cunningham proposes, and I think rightly, to refer the smaller
numbers, i. e ., the dates 204 and 225 to the era of Sri Harsha of Kanauj,
which began in 607 A. D., and thus to make them equivalent to 810 and
831 A. D. respectively, a conclusion which is in complete accordance with
the Chandel inscriptions.
But, when he attempts to interpret the dates 661 and 682 by referring
them to the Saka era, thus making them equivalent to A. D. 739 and 760
respectively, he is not so happy, for those dates are much too early.
It is curious that the difference between 204 and 225, the extreme
dates of one set, and 661 and 682, the extreme dates of the other set, is
the same, viz., 21 years.
This circumstance may be accidental, but perhaps it may not be too
fanciful to conjecture that the traditions have preserved in two forms the
dates of two events which were separated by an interval of 2 L years, but
have confounded the events.
It is hard to determine the era to which the higher numbers, if they
are not purely imaginary, should be referred.
The recently discovered Kulacliuri era of the kingdom of Chedi,f
which kingdom at one time included Mahoba, naturally occurs to the mind,
but that era would give A. D. 910, 926, and 931 respectively as the equi¬
valents of 661, 677 and 682 ; and the first and last of the dates so obtained
are exactly a century later than the dates resulting from the application of
the Sri Harsha era to the other set of traditional dates.
Still, in spite of this difficulty, I am disposed to believe that the Chedi
era supplies the right key, and I conjecture that there is a mistake of a
century in the tradition, and that the larger numbers should be read as
561, 577 and 582.
Such an interpretation of a tradition may appear to the reader unrea¬
sonably fanciful, but I justify it by showing that similar mistakes do occur
in traditions. I have heard the date of the capture of Mahoba by Raja
Prithiraj stated as S. 1140, the correct date being S. 1240, or more accu¬
rately S. 1239 ; and my notes give the traditional date for the foundation
of Murhari near Jaitpur as “ S. 641 or S. 741.”
What is probably an instance of a similar error will be noticed in the
discussion on the reign of Madana Varmma Chandel in the second part of
this essay.
* The known Chandel inscriptions are all beyond doubt dated in the Vikrama
Sam vat.
f See Arch. Rep. IX. Ill and 112.
6 V. A. Smith — History of Bundelkhand. [No. 1,
I conclude therefore that the date A. D. 831, which best accords with
the evidence of the inscriptions, is the correct date for the overthrow of
the Parihar chief of Mahoba by Nanika Chandel.
Perhaps some important stage in the contest between the rival chief¬
tains marked the year 810, twenty-one years before the final victory.
The existence to this day of the little Parihar State of Uchahara
shows that the Chandel success involved no extermination of the vanquish¬
ed. The Uchahara chief probably throughout retained his local jurisdic¬
tion, in subordination at one time to the Chandels, and at another to the
Haihayas or Kulachuris of Chedi, just as he now retains it in subordina¬
tion to the British Crown.
In the same way we need find no difficulty in believing that Panwari
was occupied by a Parihar Baja in 903 A. D., in which year the Baja of
Mahoba was one of the early Chandels, most probably Bahila Varmma.
The Lakshman Sagar at Bilahri midway between Jabalpur and Ucha¬
hara is attributed to Lakshman Singh (? Sen) Parihar, who is said to have
reigned 900 years ago. If this be true, he was probably a vassal of the
king of Chedi, for Bilahri does not appear to have been generally within
the limits of the Chandel dominions, although, as will be shown, it was
probably held by Madana Varmma in A. D. 1161.
I therefore accept the tradition as probably true which affirms that the
Parihar kingdom extended over most of Bundelkhand, and I believe that
its extent was larger about 800 A. D. than at any other timp. The Chan¬
dels, in or about 831 A. D., ousted the Parihars from the government of
Mahoba and also probably from that of Kalinjar and Khajuraho, the Pari¬
hars retaining their grasp on Uchahara and the surrounding country.
I was informed by the Bundela zemindars of Kheoraha-Jeoraha in
Pargana Mahoba that the capital of the Parihar kingdom was Mau-Sahan-
ia between Nayagaon (Nowgong) and Chhatarpur.
According to the local tradition,* Mauza Murhari, close to Jaitpur,
was founded in 1137 Samvat — 1080 A. D. by Baja Udaikaran Parihar,
who is said to have belonged to the same clan as Mahil, the adviser of
Baja Parmal Chandel. The tradition adds, that this Baja was defeated
in battle by the king of Dehli. The remains of his fort are still to be seen.
Whether he was connected or not with the old Parihar dynasty I cannot
say.
The Parihars, who, at later dates, entered Bundelkhand, seem to have
had no connection with the early rulers of the country, but their traditions
are perhaps worth noting.
The Parihars, who settled in 25 villages along the Dasan river,
* That is to say, as I heard it myself. The other traditional dates 611 and 741
given above were obtained by a native agent.
1881.]
7
Y. A. Smith — History of Bundellchnnd.
arrived in the year 1303 Sam vat = 124G A. D. from Gwaliar. There can
be little doubt that this migration was consequent on the capture of Gwa¬
liar and the destruction of the Parihar Raj there by Altamish (Iltitmish)
in 1232 A. D.
The Parihars of the Dasan assert that Raja Ram the leader of the
immigrants in 1246 A. D. founded seven forts at the following places : — ■
(1) Ramgarh, in Pargana Rath, among the ravines of the Dasan,
now deserted ; (2) Panwari ; (3) Rath, on the site known as the Old Fort,
where the Tahsil now stands ; (4) Kalpi j (5) Magraut in the N. W.
corner of Pargana Rath ; (6) Chandaut or Chanot, in Pargana Jalalpur,
where the Rath and Kalpi road crosses the Betwa ; and (7) at Banda, the
Old Fort.
This tradition seems to confuse the memory of the Prae-Chandel king¬
dom of the Parihars with that of the movements of the Parihar clan result¬
ing from the Musalman successes.
Mauza Baura near Jaitpur was occupied by Parihars from Salarpur in
1404 Samvat or 1347 A. D., which year fell in the reign of Muhammad
Tughlak.
Pakt II.
The Chandel Pebiod.
831-1182 A. D.
The general outline of the Chandel genealogy and chronology was
satisfactorily settled by General Cunningham in his Report for 1864-1865,
but some details still admit of discussion, and later discoveries require the
modification of some of the conclusions then arrived at by General Cunning¬
ham.
In the following pages I shall endeavour to exhibit concisely all that
is now known respecting the reign of each of the Chandel princes, and
shall at the same time discuss the doubtful points in the chronology and
genealogy of the dynasty, entering into a more complete collation of the
published and translated inscriptions than has yet been attempted.
(I.) Ncinilca. ( Probable date 831-850 A. Z).)
This prince is mentioned as the founder of the dynasty in the leng Lalaji
(or Visvanath) and Chaturbhuj inscriptions of Dhanga at Khajurako, and
in the imperfect Mahoba inscription dated S. 1240. #
* Proc., A. S. B., for 1879, page 143.
8
Y. A Smith — History of PundelWiand. [No. 1,
We know nothing of the events of his reign, hut it may be assumed
that he was the leader who wrested Mahoba from the Parihars.
(II.) Vakpati. (Probable date 850-870.)
Mentioned only in the Lalaji and Chaturbhuj inscriptions.
Nothing positive is known of his reign, but it should be noted that Bhoja
king of Kanauj held the fort of Chanderi in 862 A. D.,# and that that
position was consequently not in possession of Vakpati.
(III.) Yijaya. (Probable date 870-890.)
Mentioned only in the same inscriptions as Vakpati, and nothing
definite is known about him ; he is called a “ great conqueror” in the Lalaji
inscription.
(IV.) Pdhila. (p robable date 890-910.)
Bahila, like Vijaya and Vakpati, is mentioned in the Lalaji and Chatur¬
bhuj inscriptions only, among the longer extant documents, but his name is
found graven on several of the stones of one of the temples at Ajaigarh,
and he is the reputed builder of some of the tanks and temples at that
fortress. +
We may therefore infer that in his time the Chan del dominions in¬
cluded Ajaigarh, and there can be little doubt that from the first they
included the neighbouring stronghold of Kalinjar, which is associated by
tradition with the beginnings of Chandel greatness.
Up to the time of Parma? s defeat in 1182 A. D. the Chandel kingdom
seems to have always included Mahoba, Kalinjar and Khajuraho. It
cannot be far from the truth to assert that Kalinjar, with its celebrated
fortress, was the military capital ; Khajuraho, with its multitude of tem¬
ples, the religious, and Mahoba, with the Baja’s residence, the civil capital
of the Chandel State.
In the inscriptions, so far as I am aware, the Bajas always take the
title of “ lord of Kalinjar.”
Chand describes Bahila as a great conqueror, whose victorious arms
penetrated to Ceylon, but this is of course an absurd exaggeration.
The poet also ascribes to him the foundation of Basan in Pargana
Badausa, distant about 20 miles N. E. from Kalinjar, and on this point the
poet may be right, for Basan is undoubtedly ancient. As the place has
not been described at length, I may take this opportunity of inserting some
notes about the antiquities there, kindly communicated to me by Mr.
A. Cadell, who writes : “ It had evidently been at one time a place of im-
* Arch. Report, IX. p. 102.
f Ibid. VII, 41.
1881.]
V. A. Smith — History of Bimdelfchand.
9
portance. The hill was fortified, and on the top there is a Chandel temple,
of the usual shape, very plain, with no figures carved on the stone as at
Gulrampur.# The temple and colonnade are very little injured, but the
only inscriptions are on stones at the entrance, and are no doubt of later
date. To the east of the temple is a baithalc built of unusually large stones,
roughly but well fitted ; the surface of many of the stones is about three
feet square.
“ Oldest Rasan was on the slope of the hill ; there are still remains
of houses, and towards the plain there is a gateway made of stone taken
from old buildings.”
These notes, I think, indicate that the buildings at Itasan are older than
the highly decorated edifices at Khajuraho of the 10th and lltli cen¬
turies, and so far confirm the statement that the city was founded by
Rahila.
The Rahilya Sagar and the fine, but much injured, cruciform granite
temple on its embankment near Mahoba are undoubtedly the work of
Rahila, and their existence proves that he held Mahoba as well as Ajaigarh
and Kalin jar.
Kokalla I the Kulaehuri king of Chedi ( i . e., the country round Jabal¬
pur) married a Chandel princess named Nanda Devi,f who was probably
the daughter either of Rahila or of his predecessor Yijaya.
I may take this opportunity of noting that the dynasty generally
known as Chandel (Chandella) is in some inscriptions, e. g., the Lalaji in¬
scription at Khajuraho, called Chandratreya, a name which might also be
applied to the Kulaehuri kings, for they too pretended to trace their de¬
scent back to the moon through the mythical Atri.J
(Y.) Harsha. ( Probable date 910-930.)
This prince is mentioned in the Lalaji, Chaturbhuj and Nunaura
No. II inscriptions.
The Lalaji inscription informs us that he was a great conqueror, and
that he married Kankuta of the race of Ganga, but we know nothing
more.
(VI.) Ydso Varmma. ( Probable date 930-950.)
This prince was the son of Harsha, and is mentioned in the same in¬
scriptions.
His consort was Narma Devi.
* Gulrampur also is in Pargana Badausa. The antiquities there have not been
described.
f Arch. Raport, IX, 83*
J Ibid. p. 101.
B
10
[No. 1,
V. A. Smith — History of Bundelkhctnd.
General Cunningham informs me that he possesses “ inscriptions of
Yaso Yarmma’s grandchildren,” but nothing lias been published concerning
these documents.
(VII.) JDhanga. ( Date circa 950-999.)
The earliest dated inscriptions of the Chandel dynasty, as yet discover¬
ed, belong to the reign of Dhanga.*
Three undoubted dated inscriptions of this prince are known, viz., —
(1.) The Ckaturbhuj inscription at Khajuraho, dated S. 1011 = 954
A. D.
(2.) The Nunaura No. II inscription, dated S. 1055 = 998 A. D.
(3.) The Lalaji inscription at Khajuraho, dated S. 1056 = 999 A. D.
which records Dhanga’s death in that year.
The short inscription, dated S. 1011, on the doorpost of the Jinanath
temple at Khajuraho appears to contain Dhanga’s name, but the reading is
doubtful.
An inscription, now apparently lost, which General Cunningham found
at Mahoba, gave the Chandel genealogy from Dhanga to Kirtti Varmma,
that is, 1 presume, to Kirtti Varmma I.
The Mau-Chhatarpur inscription without date may have contained
Dhanga’s name at the beginning where the stone is imperfect, and his
name is expressly mentioned in verse 21, which tells us that his minister
was named Prabhasa.
*
In 999 A. D., according to the Lalaji inscription, his minister was
Yasondhara.
The Raja of Kalinjar, who, in common with the Rajas of Dehli, Ajmir
and Kanauj, assisted Raja Jaipal of Lahore in his unsuccessful invasion
of Ghazni, and at the battle of Lamghan in the Peshawar valley in 978
A. D., must necessarily have been Dhanga.
The beginning of the Mau-Chhatarpur inscription states that the king
eulogized, “having overcome the king of Kanyakubja (Kanauj), chief
“ amongst all in battle, obtained sovereignty” ; but here the name is lost,
and it is uncertain whether the reference is to Dhanga, or to his successor
Ganda, who certainly did conquer Kanauj.
The Lalaji inscription asserts that Dhanga kept prisoners the consorts
of the Rajas of Kasi (Benares), Andhra (Telingana ?) Anga (West Bengal)
and Radha ( ? ), and that he had in attendance the kings of Kosala
(North Audh ?), Kuntala (Ballari ?), Kratha (Berar ?), and Sinhala
(Ceylon).
These boasts are plainly exaggerations, but it is evident that Dhanga
was the most powerful of the early Chandel kings.
* For list of Chandel inscriptions with full references vide post.
1881.]
11
V. A. Smith — History of Bundelkhnnd.
In all probability the existing Lalaji temple at Khajuraho was the
shrine of the great “ emerald lingam” referred to in the inscription.
The erection of this costly and elaborate temple is another proof of
Dhanga’s wealth and power.
Dhanga cannot have been a sectarian bigot, for his Chaturbhuj inscrip¬
tion is Vaishnava, and his Lalaji inscription is Saiva.
This prince died at the sacred confluence of the Ganges and Jumna at
Prayag (Allahabad) aged “ upwards of one hundred autumns” in the year
999 A. D.
Dr. Rajendralal Mitra has pointed out that the common interpreta¬
tion of the passage in the Lalaji inscription describing Dhanga’s death,
which assumes that he committed suicide, is incorrect, and that “ the ordi¬
nary civil way of announcing a death is to say, so-and-so has surrendered
his life to the holy river so-and-so, or the sacred pool ( Jcshetra ) so-and-so,
and the inscription has probably adopted the same mode of expression.”*
It is to be observed that the grant recorded in the Nunaura No. II
inscription was made at Kasi by Dhanga in the autumn of 999 A. D., but
it is of course possible that he may merely have gone there on a pilgrimage,
and that Benares was never included in his dominions.
The inscriptions show that Dhanga must have succeeded his father
Yaso Varnima in or about the year 950 A. D.
(VIII.) Ganda. (Date 999 A. D. to circa 1025.)
This prince is not mentioned in any extant inscription except the Mail-
Clihatarpur one, but must have been named in the missing Mahoba inscrip¬
tion before referred to.
If he was Dhanga’s son he must have been well advanced in years
on his succession in 999.
Ganda must have been the Baja of Kalinjar who assisted Baja Jaipal
of Lahore against Mahmud of Ghazni in 1008 A. D. and he must likewise
be identified with the Nanda Bai, Baja of Kalinjar, who according to
Farishta, conquered Kanauj and killed its ruler in 1021 A. D. and who was,
in punishment for his audacity, attacked by Mahmud, to whom lie surren¬
dered Kalinjar with 14 other forts in 1023 A. D.
It is unfortunate that the names of these forts have not been preserv¬
ed, for the extent of the Chandel dominions at any given time is very
imperfectly known.
The dates given above limit closely the possible duration of Ganda’s
reign, for we know that it began in 999 A. D. and that two reigns inter¬
vened between its close and the accession of Deva Varmma Deva ( alias
Kirtti Varmma I) who was reigning in 1050 A. D.
* J. A. S. Bengal Vol. XLVII, Part I, page 7 4.
12
[No. 1,
V. A. Smith — History of PiindelJchand.
The fact that an inscription dated S. 1058 = 1011 A. D. containing
the name of Raja Kokalla, is in the Lalaji temple at Khajuralio, has sug¬
gested the conjecture that Kokalla II of Chedi may have attacked the
Chandel dominions early in Gan da’s reign,* but this inscription has not
been published nor translated, and there is no other evidence of such an
attack.
It is, however, certain that at one time, which must have been prior
to the reign of Kirtti Varmma (1049-1100) the conqueror of Chedi, the
kings of Chedi did exercise authority over Kalinjar, for in their inscrip¬
tions some of them assume the title of “ lord of Kalanjjarapura.”f
The Mau-Chhatarpur inscription informs us that Dhanga’s minister
Prabhasa continued to serve under Ganda.
(IX.) Vidhyadhara Deva. (Probable date 1025-1085.)
This prince is mentioned only in the Mau-Chhatarpur and Nunaura
No. I, inscriptions, and, except that there is no doubt as to his place in the
genealogy, and that we are told that his minister was named Sivanama, we
know nothing positive of his reign.
He was contemporary with Gangaya Deva king of Dahal or Chedi,
who in 1030-31 A. H., as we learn from Abu Bihan, had his capital at
Tripuri near Jabalpur. J
It is to be observed that the geographer includes both Gwaliar and
Kalinjar in the country of Jajhoti, which was distinct from the country of
Dahal. At that time Gwaliar was under the immediate rule of local
Kachhwaba chieftains, but it is possible that they may have acknowledged
the suzerainty of the greater Chandel kings.
(X.) Vijaya Pdla Deva. (Probable date 1035-1049.)
This Baja is mentioned in the same inscriptions as his predecessor is.
His minister was Mahipala, and we learn from tho* Nunaura No. I inscrip¬
tion, that he had a queen named Bhuvana Devi, who was the mother of his
successor, who is in that inscription named Deva Varmma Deva ; but with
these two facts our information ceases.
(XI.) Kirtti Varmma Deva I, alias Deva Varmma Deva , alias Dhumipala.
(Probable date 1049-1100.)
With this prince the difficulty in reconciling the inscriptions begins.
The Mau-Chhatarpur inscription declares (verse 7) that the successor
of Vijapapala was Kirtti Varmma Deva “ famed unto the sea-shore,” and
informs us that his minister was Ananta, who is praised at length.
* Arch. Report IX. 86.
f Ibid. 77.
1 Ibid. 106.
1880.]
Y. A. Smith — History of Bund elJchand.
13
The Nunaura No. I inscription states that Vijaya Pala was succeeded
by his son “ the devout follower of Mahesvara, the lord of Kalinjar, Sri
Deva Yarmma Deva,” to whom the usual praise is given.
Maisey’s No. II, Nilkanth inscription from Kalinjar has the following
words in verse 7, (the preceding lines being illegible). “ Was born Bijaya-
pala, from him sprang Bhumipala, who with his sharp sword destroyed
many kings.”
It is therefore evident that Kirtti Yarmma I, Deva Yarmma Deva,
and Bhumipala, who are all recorded as having succeeded Yijaya Pala, were
one and the same person.
It is difficult to fix the length of the reign of this many-named prince ;
for, as will presently be demonstrated, there was a second Kirtti Yarmma,
who may possibly be the Kirat Brahm of traditional fame.
One date in the reign under discussion is certain, namely, that of the
Nunaura No. I inscription, S. 1107 = 1050-1 A. D., and this date must be
very near the beginning of the reign, for Ganda Deva was alive in 1023
A. D., and two reigns intervene between Ganda and Deva Yarmma alias
Kirtti Yarmma. We may therefore assume that the reign of the latter
began in 1149 A. D., a date which must be very nearly quite correct.
I believe his reign to have been, like that of Dhanga, exceptionally
long ; for, after careful consideration of all the available evidence, I have
come to the conclusion that Kirtti Yarmma I, and not Kirtti Varmma II,
is the prince mentioned in the prologue to the Prabodha Chandrodaya as
the conqueror of Chedi, and further that he is the Kirat Brahm of tradi¬
tion, and that the unpublished inscription cut on the rock at Deogarh in
1097 A. D. is his work.*
The defeat of Kama king of Chedi by Kirtti Yarmma Chandel is
attested by two independent documents, the prologue to the Prabodha
Chandrodaya, and. Maisey’s No. II Kalinjar inscription.
Kama of Chedi was reigning (as the Benares copper-plate inscription
shows) in 793 of the Chedi Samvat, equivalent to 1042 A. D.f and his
reign seems to have extended till about 1075 A. D., or perhaps a few years
later.
The prologue to the Prabodha Chandrodaya distinctly ascribes the
subjection of Kama to Kirtti Yarmma, but Maisey’s No. II inscription
ascribes the defeat of “ the immense army of Kama” not, as might be
expected to Bhumipala, the alias of Kirtti Varmma, but to Bhumipala’s
son, whose name is missing from the inscription.
The words are contained in verse 8, which follows verse 7 already
quoted, apparently without any break. His (sc il. Bhumipala’s) “ son
* Arch. Report, IX, 108.
t Ibid. p. 82.
14
Y. A. Smith — History of JBundelJcJiand.
[No. 1,
“ made low the kings, as Agastja made low the mountain ( i . e., the Vin-
“ dhya mountains). Having conquered the southern country, speedily
“ defeated the immense army of Kama [a break] verse 9. # * which was
“ watered hy the flood of tears of the gazelle-eyed females of Malwa
[a break] # # verse 10. His son Jay a Varmma Deva etc.”
From the Mau-Chhatarpur inscription we infer, with I think certain-
ty, that the name of the son of Bhumipala, alias Kirtti Varmma I, and the
father of Kirtti Varmma II, alias Jayapala, was Sallakshana. I conclude
therefore that the actual conqueror of Chedi was Sallakshana, while heir-
apparent and acting under the orders of his father Kirtti Varmma I.
The Kalinjar inscription just quoted shows clearly that Kirtti Varm¬
ma II, alias Jaya Varmma, cannot have been the conqueror of Chedi, for
that prince was the grandson of Bhumipala.
The fort of Deogarh, now in the Lalitpur district, lies so far to the
south-west towards Malwa, that it probably was in general held by the
kings of Chedi. I infer in consequence that the inscription of Kirtti at
Deogarh, dated 1097 A. D., is the work of Kirtti Varmma I, the conqueror
of Chedi, to whom also should be ascribed the formation of the lake known
as the Kirat Sagar near the fort of Chanderi, which is only a few miles
distant from Deogarh.
The embankment of the lake bearing the same name at Mahoba is also
probably the work of the same king.
“ The people are unanimous” in referring the foundation of the town
of Old Chanderi, 9 miles from the fort and more modern town, to the Chan-
dels of Mahoba. General Cunningham was (though for no convincing
reason) inclined to throw doubt on this tradition,* but I see no reason
why it should be discredited, confirmed as it is by the names of the town
and of the Kirat Sagar, and by the existence of the inscription at Deogarh.
For the reasons given above I am convinced that Kirtti Varmma I,
under whose orders the conquest of Chedi was effected, is the Kirat Brahin
of Bundelkhand tradition.
He is credited with having repaired the fortifications of Kalinjar, and
with having constructed some of the buildings at Ajaigarh.f
To this king also should be assigned the coins bearing the name of Kirtti
Varmma, because coins are known of his grandson Kirtti Varmma II, alias
Jaya Varmma, stamped with the name of Jaya Varmma.
No coin of any kind is known to exist which can be assigned to any
of the predecessors of Kirtti Varmma I, who appears to have been the first
of the Chandels who coined money.
The coins of him and his successors are extremely rare, and are imita-
* Arch. Report, II, 402 and 405.
f Ibid. VII, 47.
15
1881.] V. A. Smith — History of Bundellchand.
tions of the coinage of the Kulachuri kings of Chech, which appears to
have been first issued by liaja Gangaya Deva, who was reigning in 1030-1
A. D.#
It seems evident that Kirtti Varmma after his conquest of Chedi
adopted the system of coinage there practised.
With reference to the date of the Deogarh inscription and of Kama
Kulachuri’ s reign I would provisionally date the conquest of Chedi and the
first issue of Chandel coins in 1070 to 1080 A. D., some twenty years or
more before the close of the reign of Kirtti Varmma I.
It is possible that the fort of Deogarh may have been built or rebuilt
by this king, and called after him under his name of Deva Varmma Deva.
(XII.) $ allaJcshana Varmma Deva. ( Probable date 1100-1110.)
Unluckily, both in the Mau-Chhatarpur inscription and in Maisey’s
No II, there is a lacuna in the genealogy where the name of the successor
of Kirtti Varmma I, alias Bhiimipala, should come in ; but, as General
Cunningham has satisfactorily shown by an examination of the later verses
of the Mau-Chhatarpur inscription, the missing name must have been
Sallakshana.
I may add as further proof the argument that coins of Sallakshana
(Hallakshana) are extant, and that verse 37 of the Mau-Chhatarpur inscrip¬
tion speaks of Sallakshana as “ the sovereign ruler,” and, that the rest of
the Chandel genealogy being known with certainty, there is no other gap
but this to be filled up by the name of a Baja Sallakshana exercising the
regal privilege of coining money.
The Mau-Chhatarpur inscription, which is here much injured, appears
to state that Vatsu, Vamana and Pradyumna, sons of Kirtti Varmma’s
minister Ananta, all served under Sallakshana.
The reign of Sallakshana was certainly short, for his predecessor was
reigning in 1097 A. D. and his successor in 1116 A. D.
(XIII.) Jaya Varmma Deva alias Kirtti Varmma II.
{Probable date 1110-1120.)
This prince is mentioned under the name of Jaya Varmma in the
Lalaji inscription, the supplement to which was inscribed in his reign, in
the year 1173 = 1116 A. D.
* Arch. Report, IX, 106 and II, 458. In 1871 only 36 specimens of the Chandel
coinage were known to have been ever discovered, and of these 13 had been lost in the
mutiny. I have not heard of any being found of late years. Of the 23 remaining, I
possess two, for which I am indebted to the generosity of General Cunningham. In
the course of six years residence in Eundelkhand I have not succeeded in discovering
a single specimen.
16
V. A. Smith — History of Bundellcliand.
[No. 1,
A few coins too are known bearing the name of Jaya Varmma Deva.
In the Mau-Chhatarpur inscription he is described under the same
name as the son of [Sallakshana] Varmma, and is praised in the usual
fashion.
This inscription further informs us that his younger uterine brother
was named Sallakshana Varmma. The words are “ ( verse 11) Jaya Varm¬
ma Deva etc., ( verse 12). The fortunate Sallakshana Varmma was the
uterine and younger brother of this lord of the earth ; afterwards the prince
Prithvi Varmma, equal to the task, sustained the burden of the hereditary
government.”
Verse 13 praises Prithvi Varmma for his piety, and verse 11 tells us
that ‘‘from him was born Madana Varmma, the protector of the earth,”
whose praises are then detailed.
The inscription seems to have been erected in the reign of Madana
Varmma.
The above words indicate that Sallakshana Varmma the younger was
not a ruling prince ; and indeed he cannot have been, for there is no room
for two Sallakshanas in the roll of sovereigns. The younger Sallakshana
is mentioned very much in the same way as Pratapa Varmma, the younger
brother of Madana Varmma Deva, is mentioned in Maisey’s No. II in¬
scription.
That document in verse 10 describes Jaya Varmma as “ devoted to the
worship of Narayana,” and in verse 11 it is recorded that “ being wearied
“ of government, the king made it over to # # # Varmma* and proceeded
“ to wash away his sins in the divine river # # ( verse 12). They departed
“ their lives, and obtained all their desires in the next world ( verse 13).
“ After him Madana Varmma etc.”
In the Augasi copper-plate, dated S. 1190 = 1133 A. D., the order of
succession is given as Kirtti Varmma, Prithvi Varmma, Madana Varmma.
As both this document and the Mau-Chhatarpur inscription agree in inter¬
posing only the name of Prithvi Varmma between Madana Varmma and in
the one case Jaya Varmma, and in the other case Kirtti Varmma, it neces¬
sarily follows that the name missing in Maisey’s No. II, is that of Prithvi
Varmma, and that Jaya Varmma and Kirtti Varmma II were one and the
same person, the grandson of Kirtti Varmma I.*
/This argument shows that Dr. Kajendralala Mitra cannot be right in
identifying the Kirtti Varmma of the Augasi plate with Sallakshana.
Jaya Varmma’s and Prithvi Varmma’s reigns must both have been
short, because Kirtti Varmma I was reigning in 1097, and Madana Varm¬
ma in 1131 A. D.
* “ The numerous instances in which the grandson takes his grandfather’s name,
“ and which is an interminable source of confusion in Indian chronological enquiries.’’
Fergusson’s Indian Architecture, p. 715.
1881.]
V. A. Smith — History of PundelTchand.
17
(XIV.) Pritlivi Varmma Deva. (Probable date 1120-1130.)
The inscriptions which mention this Raja have already been discuss¬
ed. A few coins of his are extant, but we know nothing definite about
him, except that he was the father of Madana Varmma Deva, and that he
is praised for his piety in the Mau-Chhatarpur inscription. The passage in
that document relating to his ministers scarcely yields sense.
(XV-) Madana Varmma Deva. (Probable date 1130-1165.)
The dated inscriptions of this prince are unusually numerous, and
when considered along with those of his successor, fix the limits of his reign
very closely.
They are as follows : —
The earliest inscription of his successor Paramardi Deva is dated
1167 A. D.
Madana Varmma’s name is preserved in the designation of the Madan
Sagar lake at Mahoba, and in that of a small mound of ruins at Mahilpur
or Mahinpur about three miles east of the town, and known as Madan
Khera.
The bardic lists all insert Kirtti Varmma between Madana Varmma
and Paramardi Deva, but these lists are worthless as evidence of the order
of succession, and we have already seen that there were really two Kirtti
Varmmas, at an earlier date.
In the Dahi copper-plate, which will be discussed in Part III, of this
essay, the name of Paramardi’s predecessor was read from an imperfect
copy as Yadava, an obvious mistake for Madana.
A few gold and copper coins of Madana Varmma Deva are extant.
The numerous Jain images bearing dates, which fall within the limits
of Madana Varmma’s reign, and four of which are expressly stated to
have been set up in his time, prove that under his rule the Jain religion
flourished.
In the Augasi copper-plate Madana Varmma calls himself the devout
worshipper of Siva, but whatever his own belief may have been, it is evi¬
dent that he freely tolerated a rival creed.
The poet Chand and the inscriptions concur in testifying that Madana
Varmma was a great and successful warrior who widely extended the rule
of his house,
c
18
V. A. Smith — History of Bund el Jchand.
[No. 1,
If the words of verse 14 of the Kalinjar No II inscription are to be
literally taken, Madana Varmma pushed his victories as far west as Guze-
rat, and Chand confirms the statement, but it is perhaps safer to believe
that the conquest of Chedi which Madana Varmma really effected may
have been exaggerated. The words of the Kalinjar inscription are “ He
in an instant defeated the king of Gurjjara, as Krishna in former
times defeated Kansa. He undertook an expedition to conquer the
world. * *
The undated Mau-Chhatarpur inscription records the conquest of
Chedi by Madana Varmma.
It will be remembered that Kirtti Varmma I had conquered Chedi in
the reign of Kama Kulachuri, prior apparently to the year 1097 A. D.
The Kulachuri power must have recovered in the early part of the twelfth
century to render necessary the second conquest by Madana Varmma.
The latest known inscription of the Kulachuris of Chedi is one of
Vijaya Deva dated in 932 of the Chedi era- = 1181 A. D. General Cunning¬
ham (Arch. Rep. IX, 113) conjectures that the Chedi dynasty was over¬
thrown by the growing power of the Baghels of Rewa, but produces no
evidence in support of his conjecture.
It seems to be more reasonable to suppose that the decline of the
Kulachuri dynasty of Chedi was due rather to the effects of the victories
of the neighbouring Chandel king than to the rise of the Bagliel power to
the east of t,he Chandel territory. The existence of a Kulachuri inscrip¬
tion, dated 1181 A. B., shows that the dynasty, though weakened, survived
the Chandel attack.
With reference to the conquest of Chedi by Madana Varmma a pas¬
sage in Colonel Sleeman’s writings is interesting. He writes about Singol-
garh, “ This fortress is of immense extent, and was built by Raja Belo,
a prince of the Chundele Rajput tribe, who reigned over that country
before it was added to the Gurha Mundala dominions,” and in a note he
adds : “ The Mahoba family were Chundele Rajputs, and their dominion
had extended over Singolegurh, as above stated, and also over Belehri,
or the district of Kanoja in which it is comprised. The capital of Belehri
was Kondulpore, three miles west from the town of Belehri. There is a
stone inscribed by Raja Mulun Deo on the dedication of a temple at
Kondulpore dated Samvat 815, A. D. 758. He was one of the Chundele
Rajas.”
General Cunningham in his account of Bilhari and the surrounding
country makes no mention even of the existence of such a place as Kondal-
pur, nor does he seem to have looked for the inscription said by Col.
Sleeman to exist there.
He throws doubt on the facts recorded on the authority of tradition
1881.]
19
Y. A. Smith — History of JBundelkhand.
by Col. Sleeman in the following remarks : “ According to Sir William
Sleeman, the fort of Singorgarh was built by Raja Belo, one of the Chandel
Rajas of Mahoba. But none of my informants had ever heard of Raja
Belo Chandel ; and I have very grave doubts as to the Chandel rule having
ever extended so far to the south.”
“ The whole of this part of the country would appear to have belonged
to the Parihars or Pratihars, as we find was actually the case in A. D. 1307,
when these monoliths were erected. But the Pratihars were tributary to
the great kings of Chedi, whose rule certainly extended as far north as
Bharhut and Kalin jar. The latter place was recovered by the Chandels
in the 11th century ; but the Kulachuris still held the country about
Bharhut in the 12th century.”
Sir William Sleeman, however, was an accurate and careful inquirer,
and traditions recorded by him demand careful consideration, and although
General Cunningham’s informants knew nothing of Raja Belo, there is
some evidence of his existence, and also of the fact that Bilhari was at
one time part of the Chandel dominions.
It is true that the genealogies of the regnant Chandel princes given
in the inscriptions do not include the name of Raja Belo or Bela, but it
is also true that the name is included in all the bardie lists, and that it is
traditionally remembered.
The lake at Jaitpur, called the Bela Tal is supposed to be named
after Raja Bel Brihm, and is said to have been constructed in the year
1200 Sam vat = 1143 A. I). This date, which was that given to both
Mr. Wigram and myself, is probably only a round number. Mr. Carne)
formerly Assistant Collector in charge of Mahoba and Jaitpur, was told
that the exact date was 1268 S. =1211 A. D., but that date is certainly
too late, the Chandels having lost Mahoba in 1182 A. D.
A Bel Jclierci exists at Bijanagar near Mahoba, and at Ajnar there is
an ancient well named Bela, and ascribed to the Chandels.
Several instances are known of works ascribed by tradition to Chandel
chiefs who find no place in the authentic lists of regnant monarchs ; for
example, the Ratan Sagar, with a fine temple on the embankment, at
Urwara in Pargana Mahoba, and the Bars! Talao, with temples, near Pahra
in the same pargana, are ascribed respectively to Ratan Brahm and Bar
or Bal Brahm Chandels, and are evidently of Chandel origin.
Bar Brahm (Bala Yarmma) is also believed to have built the fort of
Barigarh, now in native territory, some ten miles distant from Mahoba.
Bar Brahm and Ratan Brahm, like Bel Brahm, are included in the
bardic lists. All three were probably, like Pratapa Yarmma and Sallak-
shana Yarmma of the inscriptions, younger scions of the royal house, and
really executed the works which bear their names.
20 Y. A. Smith — History of Bundellcliand. [No. 1,
There is no reason I think to doubt Sir Wm. Sleeman’s assertion that
in his time an inscription existed at Kondalpur, in which the name of
the Chandel Raja was read as ‘ Mulun Deo’ and the date as Samvat 815.
There was no Raja named Malan Deo, and it is an obvious correction
to read Madana Deva, and it is equally obvious that the date 815, if
correctly read, should not be referred to the Vikrama era, for there were
no Chandel Rajas in 758 A. D.
Dates have often been misread, and I think it most likely that in
this case the first figure was wrongly read, and that the real date was 915
of the Chedi Samvat = A. D. 1164, which year would fall within, but at the
close, of Madana Varmma’s reign.
Sir Wm. Sleeman’s statement that Bilhari was included in the Chandel
dominions is fully borne out by the following statement, which appears to
be based on independently obtained information : —
£< A local governor appointed by the Chandels of Mahoba was station¬
ed at Bilhari in Jabalpur, to whom the territory, now comprised in the
Sagor and Damoh districts was subordinate.
The fact of a temporary Chandel occupation of Bilhari is not in¬
consistent with the existence of a Kulachuri inscription, dated 909 K. S. =
1158 A. D., at Bharhut far north of Jabalpur, f for I think it probable
that the Chandel attack did not take place till about 1160, the Kondalpur
inscription having been set up by Madana Varmma, according to my theory,
in 1164.
But even if the Chandel success was gained at an earlier date, the
Kulachuri chief at Bharhut may well have retained local power in subor¬
dination to the conqueror.
The conquest of one native state by another does not necessarily imply
the extinction of the dynasty of the defeated chieftain.
On a review of all the evidence I believe that late in the reign of
Madana Varmma the Chandel dominions included Bilhari, which was
administered by a local governor, who was most probably a scion of the
Chandel house, known as Raja Bela or Belo.
(XVL) Daramardi Deva ( Parmal or Darmar).
Date circa 1165 to 1202 A. D.
This prince is commonly, though inaccurately, spoken of as the last
of his dynasty ; his defeat by Raja Pirthiraj of Delhi having impressed
itself on the popular memory.
He appears to have been the son of Madana Varmma, and was cer¬
tainly his immediate successor, but it is curious that none of the published
* Central Provinces Gazetteer, 2nd edition, p. 176.
t Arch. Report, IX, 94.
1881.]
21
Y. A. Smith — History of Bundlelchand.
inscriptions give the genealogy of Paramardi Deva ; nor is any coin of
his known, and there is only known one inscription of his of which we
can say that we are certain of the date.
General Cunningham indeed (Arch. Rep. II, 447) affirms that “ of
Parmal or Paramardi Deva there are three dated inscriptions ranging
from S. 1224 to S. 1240, or A. D. 1167 to 1183.”
But on consulting his list of inscriptions on the next page we find
that one of them is the Malioba inscription dated 1240, and another
Maisey’s No. I inscription, which is cited as being dated 1228 S.
Now, the Mahoba inscription dated 1240 S. is that at present built
into the wall of the Engineer’s bungalow near Mahoba, from which the
Raja’s name is lost, and the date of Maisey’s No. I inscription is extremely
doubtful.
As published and translated that inscription bears the date of S. 1298
and not 1228. # Other readings are S. 1209 and S. 1198. §
The inscription undoubtedly commemorates a king named Paramardi
Deva, but until the date is definitely settled, we are not entitled even to
assume that the person commemorated was Paramardi Deva Chandel,
who died in 1202 A. D. or S. 1259.
Of the proposed readings of the date the only one which falls within
the limits of Parmal’s reign is that of S. 1228 = A. D. 1171, proposed
by General Cunningham, but unfortunately he assigns no reason for so
reading the date, and it is therefore impossible to accept with confidence
his reading.
The “ three dated inscriptions” of Parmal thus dwindle down to one,
that, namely, dated S. 1224 at Mahoba, and even this document is not now
to be found, and General Cunningham gives no hint as to the nature of
the inscription, or the precise locality where he found it.
Raja Parmal is the only prince of the Chandel race whose name is
widely known, but were it not, (as we shall see in Part III of this paper)
that he is mentioned by the Muhammadan historians, we should know
almost nothing of his reign.
The detailed particulars respecting it given by Chand and popular
tradition are in part obviously mythical, and in part, ( e . y., as to the
alleged retirement to Gya) can be proved untrue.
There is not even any building or tank of which Parmal can be said
with certainty to have been the constructor. Popular tradition ascribes
to him in a vague way a great part of the antiquities in the country.
* J. A. S. B. XVII, (1) pp. 313-317.
$ Gazetteer, N. W. P. Yol. I, 15, note. The same note refers to inscriptions of
Parmal’s dated 1177 and 1178 A. D. apparently on the authority of Pogson’s History
of the Boondelas, but I have been unable to verify the reference.
22
V. A. Smith — History of Bundelkhand.
[No. 1,
Parmal was certainly defeated and expelled from Mahoba by Raja
Pirthiraj of Delhi in 1182 A. D., and the tale of the conflict as told by
Chand has captivated the popular imagination and has become the theme
of innumerable songs and legends throughout Upper India.
Chand would have us believe that the defeat was so crushing and
overwhelming, that only 200 of Parmal’ s followers escaped destruction,
but his story is manifestly a gross exaggeration, for twenty years later
Parmal was able to make a “desperate resistance” against Kutb-ud-din, and
was the master of great wealth, which became the spoil of his Musalman
conqueror.
The heroes of Chand’s Mahoba Khand are the miraculously endowed
brother heroes, Alha and Udal, and the poet, in order to enhance their
glory, depicts Parmal as a weak coward, swayed by the treacherous counsels
of Mahil Parihar. All this is probably pure myth, for if Parmal could
make a “ desperate resistance in the field” in 1202, it is not likely that he
would have sought personal safety in craven flight in 1182.
It is not known whether or not Parmal succeeded in retaining during
any part of his reign the territories near the Narbada, which had been
conquered by his predecessor Madana Varmma Deva, but he certainly
cannot have retained them after the loss of Mahoba in 1182.
The victory of Pirthiraj may not have been so overwhelming as it is
represented by legend to have been, but it certainly marks an epoch in
Bundelkhand history, and after 1182 the Chandels seem to have sunk to
the position of small local Rajas, their degradation being consummated by
Kutb-ud-din’s raid in 1202.
I therefore consider 1182 as the date of the close of the Chandel
period, that is to say, of the period during which the Chandels were the
leading power in Bundelkhand, and during which they wrought works
deserving to be held in remembrance.
The few and indistinct existing notices of Parmal’s obscure successors
will be discussed in Part III of this paper.
1881.]
Y. A. Smith — History of BundelJchand.
28
No.
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
Chronological Table of the Gliandel Dynasty 831 — 1182 A. D.
24
Y. A. Smith — History of BundeVchand.
[No. 1,
1881.]
Y. A. Smith — History of Bundellchand.
Inscriptions of the Chandel Dynasty of Bundelkhand.
25
No.
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
D
26
V. A. Smith — History of BundelJcliand.
[No. 1,
Reference.
Jain Statue at Mahoba. Noticed by
General Cunning-ham in Arch. Re¬
port, II, 448. The position of the
statue is not known.
Jain statue at Khajuraho. Translated
in Arch. Report, II, 435 and noticed
ibid. p. 448. Position of statue now
is not known.
Jain statue lying in water under em¬
bankment of Kirat Sag-ar at Mahoba.
Facsmile of part of inscription in J.
A. S. B. Yol. XLYIII, Part I, Plate
XY.
Jain statue at Mahoba, position not now
known. Noticed in Arch. Report, II,
448.
Translated by Lieut. Price in Asiatic
Researches, XII, 351.
Mentioned as existing at a temple in
Kondalpur, Central Provinces, and
said to be dated 815 Samvat by Sir
Wm. Sleeman in J. A. S. B. for i 837-
Yol. YI, (2), p. 627 note. Vide supra
discussion of reign of Madana Yarmma.
Inscription at Mahoba, mentioned in list
Arch. Report, II, 448, but nature of
inscription and precise locality not
mentioned. Original not now forth¬
coming.
J. A. S. B. XYII, (1) pp. 313-317.
Gazetteer N. W. P. Yol. I, p. 15 note.
Arch. Report, II, 448.
Original atlvalinjar.
Unpublished inscription of Prithiraj, re¬
ferred to by Genl. Cunningham, Arch.
Report, IX, 153, and in private letter.
It records defeat of Parmal by Pirthiraj.
Abstract given in Proc. A. S. B. for
1879, p. 243. Original at Engineer’s
bungalow near Mahoba. Full text
and translation not yet published.
Arch. Report, II, 455. In No. 34 of
table ibid . p. 448, the name of the
Raja is wrongly given as Yfra Yarmma.
Neither original nor copy forthcoming,
nor translation.
J. A. S. B. VI, 881, and Part III of this
essay.
J. A. S. B. XYII, (1) 317-320, trans¬
cript and translation ; original at Ka-
linjar. No date ; but quoted in No. 36
of table Arch. Report II, 448 as being
dated S. 1372 = A. D. 1315.
1881.]
Y. A. Smith — History of Bundelkhand.
27
PART III.
The Post-Ciiandel Period (1182-1352 A. D.)
The period of Bundelkhand history between the capture of Mahoba
by Raja Prithiraj in 1182 A. D.# and the rise of the Bundela power in
the fourteenth century is extremely obscure, and has, for lack of materials,
been passed over almost in silence by writers on the history and antiquities
of Bundelkhand.
I cannot pretend to recover very much of the forgotten history of this
period, but a minute examination of local traditions, and collation of these
with the few available historical authorities remove to some extent the
darkness which has hitherto enveloped the history of Bundelkhand for
about a century and a half.
A curious error has been made by several writersf with regard to the
date of Kutb-ud-din Aibak’s expedition into Bundelkhand, and, inasmuch
as the discussion to follow requires the exact fixation of this date for a
basis, I must first examine this point.
General Cunningham asserts that the Chandel Raja Parmal was twice
attacked and defeated by Kutb-ud-din Aibak.
I propose to show that the assertion in question is based on a miscon¬
ception of the meaning of Farishta, the authority cited, and that in reality
but one attack was made.
General Cunningham’s words are : —
“ After this ( scilicet the Chauhan victory) Parmal reigned at Kalin-
jar, where he was attacked by Kutb-ud-din Aibak, to whom he capitulated
in A. D. 1196.
“ He was again attacked and defeated in 1202, when Aibak, dismount¬
ing his cavalry, laid siege to Kalinjar.”J
Particulars of the siege are then given, with a reference to Briggs’
Farishta, Volume I, pages 180 to 197.
I have been much surprised, on consulting that work, to find that
Farishta really speaks of but one expedition by Kutb-ud-din against Kalin-
jar, that, namely, which took place in A. H. 599 = A. D. 1202.
* This date is equivalent to 1239 Samvat and has been adopted by General Cun¬
ningham on the authority of an unpublished inscription of Prithiraj in his possession.
The date is given sometimes as 1183 or 1181.
f E. y., besides General Cunningham, by Elphinstone (Cowell’s edition, pp. 365-
6) and N. W. P. Gaz. I, 527.
X Arch. Survey Report, II, 456. For a discussion of the correct meaning and
spelling of the word Aibak, and some remarks on the date of the expedition, see Mr.
Blochmann’s paper in J. A. S. B., Yol. XLIY, Part I, pp. 277-279.
28
Y. A. Smith — History of Bundelhhand.
[No. 1,
On page 180 the words of our author are — “ In the year 593 Kutb-ud-
din marched from Dehli, and reduced Nehrwala, in Guzerat, with all its
dependencies. After his return, he took the fort of Kalinjar, Kalpi, and
Budaon.”
Farishta then proceeds with the history of Muhammad Ghori (alias
Shahab-ud-din) and an account of the early life of Kutb-ud-din, and con¬
tinues on p. 197 as follows :
“ In the year 599, he mustered his forces, and marched against Kalin¬
jar, where he was opposed by the Raja of that country, whom he defeated ;
then, dismounting his cavalry, he laid siege to the fort.” The details are
then related as quoted by General Cunningham, and Farishta goes on to
say — “ Kutb-ud-din now marched to Mahoba, the capital of the principality
of Kalpi, which place he also subdued, together with Budaon, lying
between the rivers Jumna and Ganges.”
It is obvious that the passage on page 197 is only an amplification of
that on page 180, and that both passages refer to the same events.
In the earlier passage Farishta, does not say, as he is made to say by
General Cunningham, that Kutb-ud-din reduced Kalinjar in A. H. 593 =
A. D. 1196, but he says that in that year he reduced Nehrwala in Guzerat,
and, ‘ after his return ’ took Kalinjar, Kalpi, and Budaon, all the four places
named being separated from each other by long distances.
Thus if is clearly proved that the supposed conquest of Mahoba, and
Kalinjar by Kutb-ud-din in 1196 A. D. never really occurred. Gwaliar,
the other great fortress of Bundelkhand, was, however, attacked in that
year by Kutb-ud-din, who forced its ruler to pay tribute.**
It may be worth noticing that Dow’s mistakef in calling by the name
of Gola the Raja of Kalinjar attacked by Kutb-ud-din, was evidently due to
his confounding the Raja, who is not named by Farishta, with Gola Rai of
Ajmir,J who is mentioned in pages 179 and 194, 195 of Brigg’s translation.
The contemporary Taj-ul Maasir correctly states the name of the Raja
of Kalinjar as Parmar in a passage which I shall quote at length, as it is
of considerable historical value, and affords further proof, if proof be needed,
that Kutb-ud-din’s only expedition against Kalinjar occurred in 599 H.
Capture of the Fort of Kalinjar.
“ In the year 599 H. (1202 A. D.) Kutb-ud-din proceeded to the
investment of Kalinjar, on which expedition he was accompanied by the
* Dowson’s Elliot, II, 227-8.
t Quoted by General Cunningham loc. cit. and in Gazetteer, I, 16.
% For Gola Rai should be read “the Kola (natural son) of the Rai of Ajmfr.”
(Dowson’s Elliot, II, 214.) [The term Gola has been much misunderstood. It is most
probably identical with the Rajput tribal name Gora or Gama. The Goi-s of Ajmfr are
well known ; the substitution of l for r is not uncommon in Hindi ; the spelling “ kola'*
& an error which has further led to the erroneous interpretation “ natural son.” Ed.]
1881.]
Y. A. Smith — History of BundelJcJiand.
29
Sahib- Kiran, Shams- ud- din Altamsh. Encomiums on both warriors follow
through several pages. 4 The accursed Parmar,’ the Pai of Kalinjar, fled
into the fort after a desperate resistance in the field, and afterwards sur¬
rendered himself, and 4 placed the collar of subjection’ round his neck, and,
on his promise of allegiance, was admitted to the same favours as his
ancestor had experienced from Mahmud Subuktigin, and engaged to make
a payment of tribute and elephants, but he died a natural death before he
could execute any of his engagements. His Diwan, or Mahtea, by name Aj
Deo, was not disposed to surrender so easily as his master, and gave his
enemies much trouble, until he was compelled to capitulate, in consequence
of severe drought having dried up all the reservoirs of water in the forts.
4 On Monday, the 20th of Pajab, the garrison, in an extreme state of weak¬
ness and distraction, came out of the fort, and by compulsion left their
native place empty,’ 4 and the fort of Kalinjar which was celebrated
throughout the world for being as strong as the wall of Alexander’ was
taken.
4 The temples were converted into mosques and abodes of goodness,
and the ejaculations of the bead-counters and the voices of the summoners
to prayer ascended to the highest heaven, and the very name of idolatry
was annihilated.’ 4 Eif ty thousand men came under the collar ©f slavery,
aud the plain became black as pitch with Hindus.’ Elephants and cattle,
and countless arms also, became the spoil of the victors.
4 The reins of victory were then directed towards Mahoba, and the
government of Kalinjar was conferred on Hazahbaru-d-din Hasan Arnal.
When Kutb-d-din was satisfied with all the arrangements made in that
quarter, he went towards Badaiin,* 4 which is one of the mothers of cities,
and one of the chiefest of the country of Hind.’ ”
Chand’s story that Parmal (Parmar or Paramardi) after his defeat by
Raja Prithiraj, retired to Gaya, and died there, is refuted by the sober and
authoritative statement of the Muhammadan historian.
This is but one of many proofs, which might be cited, to show that
the Cliand Paesa, as we now have it, is misleading, and all but worthless
for the purposes of the historian. f
According to Cliand the lieutenant named Pajun, who was left behind
by Paja Prithiraj, was driven from Mahoba by Samarjit, a son of Paja
Parmal, with the help of Narsmgh, an officer of Paja Jaichand of Kanauj.
* “Hammer (Gemald, IY, 185) following Briggs (Farishta, I, 198) places Budaon
between the Ganges and the J umna, for which there is no authority in the original.
It is in Rohilkhand, to the east of the Ganges.”
t [The great Epic of Chand is hardly sufficiently known as yet, to warrant such
a sweeping statement. Ed.]
30
V. A. Smith — History of Bundelhhand .
[No. 1,
Samarjit, according to the same authority, then became Raja between
Kalinjar and Gaya, and was ultimately killed by one Binae-ud-dm, a Musal-
man.
It is very doubtful whether there is any foundation of fact for this
circumstantial narrative, because we know for certain that Raja Parmal
continued to reign at Kalinjar till 1202 A. D. when he died and was suc¬
ceeded, as we shall see further on, by Trailokya Varmma. It is, however,
possible that his son Samarjit may have temporarily occupied Mahoba, and
that he may have been killed by a follower of Kutb-ud-dm.
Passing over for the moment all further consideration of the names
and order of succession of the Chandel descendants of Parmal, I shall pro¬
ceed to discuss the history of Bundelkhand in the period succeeding his
death, so far as the scanty materials available will permit.
The Kanungo family at Mahoba has preserved in writing certain tra¬
ditions, which I shall now set forth as a basis for the discussion of the
historical data procurable.
According to these traditions, Parmal was succeeded in the govern¬
ment of Mahoba by his son Samarjit.
In Samvat 1220 Shahab-ud-din attacked Delhi, and conquered Hindu¬
stan and wrested Mahoba from Samarjit, and granted it to Taur Suba, who
ruled for fifty years. His government not being successful, the emperor
granted Mahoba to his allies the Mewatis, who held the place for 40 years.
Then the Gonds from Mandla attacked and plundered Mahoba and ruled
there for 14 years. After this Manmath Gaharwar of Benares, a descen¬
dant of the family who ruled Mahoba, prior to the Chandels, recovered
possession, and Gaharwars ruled for 100 years.
Then Ajaipal, and Bhar and others, who were Jogis, and great magi¬
cians, one greater than the other, and were Rajas in Ujain,# advanced
from that country. Ajaipal conquered Ajmir, and Raja Bhar captured
Mahoba, and ultimately both chiefs conquered all Hindustan. They hated
the Musalmans and oppressed them and drove them out of the cities, dis¬
pleasing God thereby, f whereupon the Musalmans laid their complaints
before the king of Arabia, from which country Malik Hasn Shah came with
an army and in a great battle defeated Raja Bhar, whose sovereignty de¬
volved on the king of Arabia. Raja Bhar’s fourteen sons were slain, and
their wives, wrapping themselves in their garments, were consumed with¬
out the aid of earthly fire. Malik Hasn Shah was wounded in the battle
and died at Mahoba, and his shrine exists to this day in the adjoining
township of Fatehpur.
* In J. A. S. B., Part I, for 1877 p. 5, I unfortunately misread the MS. and
printed “Jains and Jogis” instead of “Jogis from Ujain.”
t This phrase shows that the tradition has passed through a Musalman channel.
31
1881.] Y. A. Smith — History of BundeUcJiand.
Then the emperor of Delhi became sovereign of the country, and made
over Mahoba to the rule of the Khangars of Garh Kurar.# Arjun Pal
Gahanvar, who had been encouraged by the goddess Devi with a promise
that he should found the Bundela Raj, entered the service of the Khangar
chief, who appointed him Bakshi of his army. On an occasion when the
Khangars had gone towards Banda to attend a wedding, Arjun Pal lay in
wait for them, and, attacking, slew them all. From his time, that is to say,
from the year 1400 Sam vat, is dated the rise of the Bundela Raj.
No argument is needed to show that much of this legend is pure
myth, but it can be forced to yield some grains of fact.
The tradition states wrongly the date of Shahab-ud-din’s expedition.
The attack on Mahoba and Kalinjar Kutb-ud-dm Aibak, the viceroy of
Shahab-ud-din, really took place, as has been shown above, in A. H. 599 =
1202 A. D. = 1259 Samvat. Assuming then for a moment that the tra¬
dition, though wrong in dates, rightly gives the order of events, the time
for these events is cut short at the beginning by 39 years.
I cannot find any mention elsewhere of Taur Suba, but there is no
special reason to suppose that the name is an invention. The period of 50
years, assigned to his rule, is, however, undoubtedly excessive. His suc¬
cessors are said to have been Mewatis, and I should be inclined to date their
arrival at some time in the first half of the 13th century, for during that
period they are frequently mentioned as engaged in conflicts with the kings
of Dehli, and they may well have succeeded in obtaining for a short time
the governorship of Mahoba.
Nasir-ud-din temporarily reduced the Mewatis in the years 1247-50
A. D.
The mosque known as the Mughal mosque, which stands on the east
end of the fort hill at Mahoba, and is built of the materials of a richly
adorned Jain temple, was erected, it is said, by the Mewatis.
That the Gonds did really attack Mahoba at some time after the defeat
of the Chan dels is rendered probable by the existence of a few village tradi¬
tions which refer to a post-Chandel occupation by Gonds.
The story that the Gonds were succeeded by Manmath of the Gahanvar
dynasty is not corroborated from any other source, and the period of a
hundred years assigned by the legend to this Gahanvar dynasty is of course
impossible. I therefore reject altogether this part of the legend.
* Garh Kurar is in the Orchha State some 17 miles from Jhansi. The origin of
the Khangars is not known. They were probably a branch of one of the wild tribes
such as Gonds, Kols, or Bhils. A friend suggests to me that the word Khangar may
simply mean ‘swordsman,’ and he derived from Sanskrit a sword.
32
V. A. Smith — History of BundeVkliand.
[No. 1,
The legend about Ajaipal and Bhar is very curious, and has some solid
foundation, for there is sufficient independent evidence (as will presently
be shown) to prove beyond doubt that a Bhar Raj did at one time exist at
Mahoba.
The statement that Ajaipal and Bhar conquered all Hindustan must
of course be regarded as a gross exaggeration, but even this statement is
not altogether baseless.
I shall now proceed to examine in some detail the evidence which
proves the former existence of Bhar chiefs at Mahoba and in the neighbour¬
hood of, or at, Kalinjar.
The Kanungo family of Mahoba possess a copy of a sanad , which copy
is attested by the signature of the Assistant Superintendent of Jalaun
under date 17th December 1850.
The document from which the copy was taken, was, it is said, on paper
and was lodged in court soon after the annexation of the Mahoba pargana
in 1840, and was no doubt, along with the rest of the records, destroyed in
the mutiny.
The language of the existing copy is modern Hindi, and for this rea¬
son, and also because the document destroyed in the mutiny was written
on paper, it is certain that that document was not in itself an original, for
a sanad dated 1337 Samvat would have been written on copper, and would
almost certainly have been in the Sanskrit language. I see, however, no
reason to suppose that the existing copy represents a forgery ; I believe
that it is a copy of a translation of a genuine grant, the original of which
was lost long ago.
The document is to the following effect ; — “ On behalf of Sri Maharaj
Adhiraj, Sri Maharaja Sri Raja Kirat Singh Ju Bhar the grant is made
for subsistence to Sri Kanungo Chaudhri Madho Ram, Mansabdar, Fauj-
dar who exercises the functions ; he is granted the villages Tika Mau and
Bijanagar and Kaproera,# and 2 per cent, and a present of Rs. 2 for each
village, and 9 dams for each village at the chabutra , and in the city the
customary dues, and in the town 350 bighas ; let no one interfere, and let
them be loyal.
Monday 9 Magh Sudi,
Samvat 1337,
At Kalpi.”
* These villages are all within a few miles of Mahoba, but the third is now in
Native Territory.
1881 ]
33
Y. A. Smith — History of Bundelkhand.
In the absence of the original it is impossible to pronounce with cer¬
tainty on the authenticity of this grant, but there is at least no doubt as
to the genuineness of the copy now in the Kanungo’s possession, and the
family still hold revenue free part of the * 350 bighas in the town,’ and
they say that under the various native rulers they enjoyed the transit and
other dues referred to in the grant.
The note ‘ at Kalpi’ is explained by the consideration that Kalpi and
Mohaba were generally included in a single district. In Kutb-ud-din’s time
Mahoba was “ the capital of the principality of Kalpi.”
If then this Kanungo’s sanad be authentic, one date (viz., 1337 S. =
1280 A. D.) in the period of the Bhar rule at Mahoba is fixed decisively,
and we also learn that the Bhar dominions included Kalpi.
These dominions, as we shall see, also included Kalinjar, and I am
disposed to identify the Kirat Ju Bhar of the Kanungo’s sanad with the
Raja Kirat Pal of Kalinjar who is mentioned in a Mahoba tradition obtain¬
ed from a different source.
This tradition is recorded in a long undated Persian manuscript be¬
longing to the guardian of the shrine of Pir Mobarik Shah at Mahoba,
which gives an account of the foundation of that shrine in the year 1309
Samvat, in which year it is related that Raja Kirat Pal of Kalinjar visited
the shrine and endowed it with 700 bighas of land revenue free. This
land is still held revenue free by the guardian of the shrine. #
The historical value of this tradition is much impaired by the fact that
the manuscript gives four inconsistent notes of time.
It records that (a) the shrine was founded by Pir Mobarik Shah, a
disciple -of Raju who was a disciple of Jahana Jahangasht ; (/?) in the
Samvat year 1309 ; (y) during the reign of Sultan Ibrahim Shark! ; and,
further, (3) that, after the time of Raja Kirat Pal of Kalinjar, the shrine
was visited by Tughlak Shah and Prince Darya Khan and others.
Now, (a) Raju son of Sayyad Jalal Makhduin Jahaniya, erected his
father’s tomb at Kanauj in A. H. 881 = A. D. 1476f ; (/ 3 ) Samvat 1309
= A. D. 1252 ; (y) Sultan Ibrahim Shaki reigned 1401-1440 A. D. and
(3) the date of Ghiyas-ud-din Tughlak’s mosque at Mahoba is A. D. 1322,
and Darya Khan was killed in A. D. 1387.
Supposing there to be any truth in the narrative at all, I accept the
date 1252 A. D. as being in itself much more probable than any one of the
other inconsistent dates which might be assumed by calculation from the
data given above.
* The exact area as recently surveyed is 637 bighas, 14 biswas. Fuller details of
the Mobarik Shah legend will be found in the Hamirpur Settlement Report, Allahabad,
1880, p. 29.
f Cunningham, Arch. Report, I, 289.
E
31
Y. A. Smith — History of BundeBchand.
[No. 1,
We may be quite certain that the massive temple, on the site and
with the materials of which the shrine of Pir Mobarik Shah is construct¬
ed, was not allowed to remain until the middle or end of the 15th century
A. D.
Assumiug then that the date 1309 S. = 1252 A. D. is correct, it is
difficult to avoid identifying this Raja Kirat Pal with the Raja Kirat
Singh of the sanad. The one reign may easily have embraced the dates
1252 and 1280 A. D. As we shall see presently, Kirat Pal of Kalinjar,
if he really flourished in the year 1280 A. D. cannot have been a Chandel
prince, for the Chandel Raja in that year was Sandhira Varmma.
In another paper I have already mentioned* that the local tradition
of Mauza Bharwara, (which village is situated about 21 miles W. N. W. of
Mahoha), ascribes the foundation of that village to Lodhis in the year 1300
S. = 1243 A. D. during the reign of Raja Bhar of Mahoba.
The neighbouring village of Bijaipur is likewise believed to have been
founded by Lodhis during the time of the Bhar Raj. It was then seized
for a time by the Chhindi or Chheri Bheri Thakurs (who are remembered
in many villages in the neighbourhood, and are by some identified with the
Bhars), and was recovered by the Lodhis under the leadership of Aman
Bali in 1400 S. = 1343 A. D.
The people of Bhateora Kalan, in the same part of the country, have
a tradition that the original Lodhi inhabitants of their village were de¬
stroyed by the Chheri Bheri Thakurs, with the exception of one woman with
child, who escaped. Her son Aman Bali on reaching man’s estate slew
the Chheri Bheri Thakurs, while they were intoxicated at a festival, and
cast their bodies into a well.f His son founded twelve and a half villages,
including Bharwara and Bijaipur. The dates given in these traditions are
evidently round numbers, and there can be no doubt that in reality the
colonization of the twelve and a half villages must have occupied a consi¬
derable time. Tradition always foreshortens, so to speak, the picture of the
past. The above quoted traditions may I think be regarded as harmoniz¬
ing with each other as closely as it is reasonable to expect.
The Muhammadan historians afford another clue to the date of the
Bhar chiefs of Kalinjar and Mahoba.
Farishta (Briggs, 1,237) relates that: “ In the month of Shaban 645,
Nasir-ud-din Mahmud proceeded with his troops through the country
which lies between the rivers Ganges and Jumna, and after an obstinate
siege, the fort of BitundaJ yielded to his arms. He then continued his
* J. A. S. B., Part I, for 1877, page 5.
f Similar traditions as to the destruction of Ahirs, Khangars and other tribes by
Lodhi or Thakur invaders are not uncommon in Bundelkhand.
J The reading of this name is doubtful.
35
1881.] Y. A Smith — History of BundelJcJiand.
march towards Kurra, Ghias-ud-din Balban commanding the vanguard.
He was met at Karra by the Rajas Dalaki and Malaki, whom he defeated
and plundered, taking many of their families prisoners. These two Rajas
had seized all the country to the south of the Jumna, and had destroyed
the king’s garrisons from Malwa to Karra. They resided at Kalinjar.
After these exploits Nasir-ud-din returned to Delhi.”
Shaban A. D. 645 = Dec. 1247 A. D. the attack on “Dalaki and Malaki,”
therefore took place in 1248 A. D.
Col. Briggs was of opinion (note) that “ the Muhammadan author from
whom Farishta copies, has, probably, made some mistake in the names,” but
the names can now be shown to be substantially correct.
It is related by Minhaj-us-Siraj in the Tabakat-i-Nasin, that in 645
H. (i. e., early in 1248 A. D.) the imperial army under Ulugh Khan,
marched to Karra, and “ there was in this neighbourhood a Rana (W &b)
who was called Dalaki-wa-Malaki. He had many dependants, countless
fighting men, great dominions and wealth, fortified places, and hills and
defiles extremely difficult of access. All these he (Ulugh Khan) ravaged.
“ He took prisoners the sons, wives, and dependants of the accursed
one, and secured great booty. He secured 1,500 horses of a peculiar breed,
which he brought in for the use of the army. His other booty may be
inferred from this.”#
Minhaj-us-Siraj gives another account further on in his book of the
expedition against Dalaki-wa-Malaki, which is worth quoting, because it
contains some interesting details not given in the earlier passage of the
Tabakat-i-Nasiri, nor by Farishta.
“ Ulugh Khan was sent with some other generals and a Muhammadan
force to oppose Dalaki-wa-Malaki.
“This was a Rana in the vicinity of the Jumna, between Kalinjar and
Karra, over whom the Rais of Kalinjar and Malwa had no authority. He
had numerous followers and ample wealth ; he ruled wisely ; his fortresses
were strong and secure ; in his territories the defiles were arduous, the
mountains rugged, and the jungles many. No Muhammadan army had
ever penetrated to his dwelling place.
“ When Ulugh Khan reached his abode, the Rana took such care for
the safety of himself and his family, that he kept quiet from the dawn till
the time of evening prayer, and when it grew dark he fled to some more
secure place.
“ At daybreak, the Muhammadan army entered his abode and then
pursued him, but the accursed infidel had escaped into the lofty mountains,
to an inaccessible spot, impossible to reach except by stratagem and the
use of ropes and ladders. Ulugh Khan incited his soldiers to the attempt,
* Dowson’s Elliot, II, 348,
36
V. A. Smith. — History of BundelJchcmd.
[No. 1,
and under his able direction, they succeeded in taking the place. All the
infidel’s wives, dependants and children fell into the hands of the victors
with much cattle, many horses and slaves. Indeed the spoil that was
secured exceeded all computation.
At the beginning of Shawwal 645 H. (Feb. 1248), the force returned
to the royal camp with their booty.” #
It would appear from this passage that Farishta is in error when he
asserts that Dalaki-wa-Malaki resided at Kalinjar. His abode was between
Kalinjar and Karra, and no Muhammadan army had ever penetrated to it,
a description which by no means applied to Kalinjar, which had been visited
both by Mahmud and Kutb-ud-din. The contemporary author further is
careful to point out that the Eana Dalaki-wa-Malaki was distinct from the
Eai of Kalinjar, who had no authority over him.
At first sight no connection is perceptible between the Raja Dalaki-
wa-Malaki and the Bhar chiefs of Kalinjar and Mahoba, but the argument
developed in the following extract raises at the least a strong probability
that they are identical.
“ The Bhars up to a late period, occupied and owned considerable por¬
tions of Eta, Cawnpore, Fatehpur, and Allahabad . tradition points
them out as the rulers of the middle and lower Doab at an early period.
Mr. Benett in a notef on the Bhar kings of Eastern Oudh, quotes the
local traditions regarding Bal and Dal, the great Bhar heroes of that
province, whose names appear in the legends of 1000 to 1400 A. D.
“Again the ancestors of the great Kanhpuriya clan of Rajputs, Sahas
and Rahas, are said to have completed the conquest of the western half of
the Partabgarh district in Oudh, by inflicting a decisive defeat on the
Bhars, whose leaders Biloki and Tiloki were left dead on the battle field.
“ The Bais also have a tradition that the founder of the house of Dun-
dia Khera defeated the Bhar leaders Dal and Bal,J on the banks of the
Ganges in the Rai Bareli district ; and another tradition has it that the
Bhars were destroyed by Ibrahim Shah Shark! [who reigned 1401-1440
A. D.] at Dalamau on the Ganges, a place where Ahirs yearly congregate
and offer up milk to the manes of Dal and Bal at their reputed tomb.
“ Mr. Benett has elsewhere shown that the Kanhpuriya leaders, Sahas
* Dowson’s Elliot, II, 366-7.
In Nov. 1251 A. D. Ulugh Khan again marched “towards Malwa and Kalinjar.”
Ibid. p. 368.
f Indian Ant. I, 265. See also the same writer’s Report on the Chief Clans of
Roy Bareilly, pp. 5, 17, 18.
f The names are given as Tiloki and Biloki by Mr. Benett (Clans of Roy Bareilly,
17) who says that the Bhar chiefs were left dead on the battle field, and that their
names are preserved in the neighbouring villages of Tiloi and Biloi.
37
1881.] Y. A. Smith — History of BundelkJiand.
and Rahas, were contemporaries of Abhaichand, and lived in the thirteenth
century.”
The compiler of the Gazetteer then quotes the passage from Farishta,
and the first extract from Minhaj-us-Siraj, which I have given above, and
proceeds with his argument as follows :
“ From the similarity of names there can be no doubt but that the
Dalaki-wa-Malaki of the Musalman historians, the Tiloki and Biloki of the
Kanhpuriyas, and the Dal and Bal of the Bais, refer to the Bhar princes
of the Duab, and west bank of the Jumna, who flourished about the middle
of the thirteenth century.”
After full consideration of the evidence I think that this identifica¬
tion must be accepted. The actual date of the great chief Dalaki-wa-
Malaki ( alias Dal and Bal, alias Tiloki and Biloki) is fixed by the Muham¬
madan historian, and the mention of the name in traditions referring to
events of earlier or later date is easily explained when we remember the
facility with which tradition in all countries associates the most diverse
events with the names of popular idols.
It is not certain whether the name Dalaki-wa-Malaki and its equiva¬
lents are singular or plural. The Muhammadan historians use it as
singular, # but the Rajput traditions affix the names to two brothers. I
incline to accept the authority of the historian, and would suggest that the
belief in the existence of the brothers has been caused by the circumstance
that the name of the Raja (whatever may have been its correct form) could
be readily split up into two parts.
In a passage which just precedes my second extract from the Tabakat-
i-Nasin the author notices that Ulugh Khan, not only captured, but killed
Dalaki-wa-Malaki
The reader will perceive that the date thus obtained for the Bhar
prince killed in 1248 A. D. in no wise interferes with our accej)tance of
the Mahoba dates 1252 and 1280 A. D. for Kirat Singh or Kirat Pal, who
would appear to have been his immediate successor.
The detailed information given by the historians regarding Dalaki-wa-
Malaki further prevents us from condemning as altogether incredible some
of the traditional statements about Raja Bhar of Mahoba. A chief, who
in sober fact, had seized all the country to the south of the Jumna, and
had destroyed the king’s garrisons from Malwa to Karra, who ruled wisely,
and who possessed the vast and peculiar wealth described by the historians,
may well have been credited with having won the dominion of all Hindu¬
stan by magic arts. It is not even impossible that he may have come from
Ujain in Malwa, as the legend affirms that he dM The movement of the
* Professor Dowson (II. 348 note) shows that in Farishta the name is singular,
Briggs’ translation being incorrect.
38 Y. A. Smith — History of Bundelkhand. [No. 1,
Bhars, so far as traced, has certainly been from west to east, and it may
well be that the unknown origin of the tribe is to be sought in the hills
and forests of Central India.
The Bhar chief having attained so great a power in 1247-48 A. I)., it
is evident that such power cannot have been gained in a day, and we may
safely say that 1240 A. D. is the latest date that can be assigned for the
rise of the Bhar rule in Bundelkhand. The Chandel power was shattered,
first by Prithiraj in 1182 A. D. and again, and more completely, twenty
years later by Kutb-ud-din in 1202 F. ; the dynasty that had so long ruled
over Chedi or Dahal along the banks of the Narbada seems to have died
out in the latter part of the twelfth century, and the Parihar kingdom of
Gwaliar was overthrown by Altamsh in 1282 A. D. The country therefore
was open to an attack, and I would place the incursion of the Bhars at a
date not earlier than 1230 nor later than 1240.
The actual attack on Bundelkhand may have been, and probably was,
directed from stations in the Doab or Oudh, but, even admitting this, it
may still be true that the Bhars came originally from Central India, and
even that their great chief Dalaki-wa-Malaki came from that direction.
However, I am not aware of any mention of the existence of Bhars to the
south of the present Hamirpur District and of the line of the Kaimur hills
further to the east.
To return to our Mahoba Kanungo’s tradition. Supposing that it
correctly recites the order of events (excepting the episode of Manmath
Gaharwar), then the rule of Taur Suba, that of the Mewatis, and that of
the Gonds, must all be comprised between the years 1202 A. D., the date
of Kutb-ud-din’s attack, and the year 1240, the latest possible date for the
Bhar inroad.
The compiler of the Gazetteer ( loo . cit.) attempts another identifica¬
tion of Dalaki-wa-Malaki which requires some discussion.
A long inscription dated 1345 Samvat = 1288 A. D. and relating to
a statue of Hari set up by one Nana in a place called Jayadurga is pre¬
served in the museum of the Asiatic Society in Calcutta.
This inscription, in the North-West Provinces Gazetteer (I, pp. 16 and
453,) is said to have been ‘ found in the fort of Ajaigarh,’ but it is nob really
certain where it was found. Jas. Prinsep “ conjectures that it is one of
those presented by General Stewart from Ajaigarh . or Kalin jar,”*
and it is as likely to have come from one place as the other, if it came from
either, for the two fortresses are only about 16 miles apart.
* J. A. S. B. VI. 881. In the translation the name of the town is given as
Jayanagore, hut in the Sanskrit transcript it is Jayadurga, I shall call it the ‘Jaya¬
durga inscription.’
1881.]
Y. A.. Smith — History of Bundellch and.
39
Nana is described as belonging to the Kayath caste, and bis descent is
traced for seven generations back, bis family being derived ultimately from
the great Rishi Kasyapa. The residence of this family was at the famous
city of Kausambi or Kosim on the Jumna, not many miles above Allahabad.
Nana is praised in the following terms (vv. 24, 25). “ His fame had
reached the ears of the women on all sides ; he was minister of the Chan-
dratraya kings He was known by the name of Nana, teacher
of the religious laws and wisdom to the above dynasties, he was learned
and agreeable, requiring not the advice of allies when he sent his horse to
the Raja Bhoja Varmma.” The genealogy of Nana is as follows
Janha or Haruka
i
Jalhan
j
Gangadhara
i
Kamala
i.
Malika
Padam Sinha Ratna Sinha Yoga Sinha Samara Sihha
j,
Nana.
The compiler of the Gazetteer without hesitation identifies the Malki
of Farishta with the Malika of the inscription, and goes on to say — “ On
attaining the royal power, the Bhars were advanced to the dignity of
Kayaths, and this fact is curiously borne out by inscriptions preserved in
the old fort of Garhwa near Shiurajpur in the Allahabad District. #
“ In addition to inscriptions of the Gupta princes of the second cen¬
tury, there are several others bearing date 1199 Sam vat (1142 A. D.)
recording gifts made by the Kayath Thakurs of the neighbouring villages,
and several statues, three of which are dedicated to the Hindu triad.
Along with these is one of the well known bearded Bhar figures, which in
appearance and workmanship is of older date than the statues of Vishnu,
Shiva and Brahma, and is connected with a local Bhar dynasty by tradi¬
tion.
“ Both the fort of Garhwa and the other old forts in the neighbour¬
hood well fulfil the description of the Musalman historian \_scilicet of
Dalald-wa-Malaki’s fortress] , hidden as they are among the outlying spurs
of the Kaimor range, and it is worthy of remark that the principal village
near Garhwa still bears the name of Bhargarh.”
* Garhwa is 25 miles S. W. of Allahabad,
40
[No. 1,
V. A. Smith — History of Bundelhliand.
The argument here stated is to me quite unintelligible, and I am un¬
able to trace any connection between the conclusion and the premises.
What proof is there of the startling assertion that the Bhars, on attaining
royal power, were advanced to the dignity of Kayaths, and how is this
fact, if fact it be, curiously borne out by inscriptions preserved in the old
fort of Garhwa ?
The only answer given in the Gazetteer to these questions is the state¬
ment that there are at Garhwa statues dedicated by Kayath Thakurs in
1142 A. D,, and that there is at the same place a Bhar statue, apparently
older, and connected with traditions of a local Bhar dynasty.
But it was already well known that a Bhar dynasty once ruled over
the eastern Doab, and the mere fact that a Bhar statue was found among
ruins along with statues of a different date dedicated by Kayaths is no
evidence of the identity of Kayaths and Bhars.
Unless then there exists other evidence of their identity at Garhwa
or elsewhere, it is plain that the Garhwa inscriptions and sculptures give
no reason for believing in such identity.
The identification of the Kayath Malika of the Jayadurga inscription
with the Bhar chief Dalaki-wa-Malaki is moreover inconsistent with the
evidence of the other documents discussed in this paper, as well as with
the testimony of the inscription in question, which records that Nana
Kayath, grandson of Malika, was a servant of the Chandel prince. We
have learned from the Tabakat-i-Nasiri that Dalaki-wa-Mal^ki, so far from
being a servant of the Chandels, lived in an inaccessible fortress, and that
the Rai of Kalinjar had no authority over him. By the “ Rai of Kalinjar”
no other can be meant than the reigning chief of the Chandel house.
A brief discussion of the few known facts concerning the successors
of Parmal on the Chandel throne will facilitate the comprehension of the
mediaeval history of Bundelkhand.
It has been shown above that the Mahoba tradition concerning the
retirement and death of Parmal is absolutely untrue, and that the state¬
ment of the same tradition that he was succeeded in Mahoba by his son
Samarjit is probably erroneous.
The only substantial evidence regarding the names and regnal order
of Parmal’s immediate successors is that of the Dahi inscribed copper-plate,
formerly in the possession of Colonel Ellis, who was at one time Political
Agent at Nagod.
Unluckily this inscription is not now forthcoming, and no good copy
of it seems to exist. The original was probably destroyed in the mutiny
with the rest of Col. Ellis’ property. The inscription is known only from
General Cunningham’s imperfect account of it, which is as follows :
1881.]
Y. A. Smith — History of JBundellchand.
41
“ In a copper-plate inscription obtained by Col. Ellis, which is dated
in S. 1337 or 1280, the genealogy was read by his Pandit as follows: —
1. Kundo Barm Deo.
2. Parmara Dea.
3. Trilok Barm Deo.
4. Sandin Barm Deo.
From an imperfect impression, which 1 saw in 1848, I read these
names as —
1. Yadava Varrnma Deva.
2. Paramarddi Deva.
3. Sri Trailokya Varrnma Deva.
4. Sri Sandhira Varrnma Deva.*
I am now, however, inclined to think that the first name must be
Rladanci Varrnma Deva , but as I cannot refer to the original, I must leave
this point doubtful. ”f
It is I think quite impossible to doubt that the first name really was
Madana Varrnma Deva, but we are at present concerned with the third
and fourth names, the readings of which by General Cunningham and the
Pandit substantially agree ; there being no doubt that the second name was
that of Paramardi, popularly known as Parmal or Parmar.
The inscription then proves that Parmal was succeeded by Trailokya
Varrnma Deva, and, as we know that Parmal died at Kalinjar in 1202 A. D.,
Trailokya, who was probably his son, must have come to the throne in that
year. Trailokya’s successor Sandhira Varrnma Deva was reigning in 1280
A. D., seyenty-eight years after the accession of his immediate predecessor.
It is very unusual to find so long a period covered by two reigns. It is
probable that the long interval was distributed pretty evenly between
the two reigns, and we may assume that the inscription is dated towards
the close of Sandhira Varmma’s reign, the termination of which may
provisionally be dated in the year of the inscription 1280. The date of
Blioja Varrnma 1288 A. D. in the Jayadurga inscription shows that
Sandhira Varmma’s reign cannot have extended much beyond 1280 A. D.
General Cunningham was inclined to prolong Trailokya Varmma’s
reign till 1248 A. D., and to identify him with Dalaki-wa-Malaki, but it is
needless to discuss that theory which is amply refuted by the previous
discussions in this paper.
I am disposed to assign the larger part of the interval between 1202
and 1280 to the reign of Sandhira Varrnma, on the ground that Parmal
* In the chronologicel table in Arch. Report, IT, 448 the name Yira Varrnma
is by mistake printed, in lieu of Sandhira, as resting- on the authority of the Dahi
plate.
f Arch. Report, IT, 455.
F
4 2
V. A. Smith — History of Bund eUchand.
[Xo. 1,
had a long reign (from about 1165 to 1202) and that it is probable that
his son, when succeeding to the throne, must have been tolerably far ad¬
vanced in years.
The supposition is allowable that the reign of Trailokya Yarmma
I)eva ended in 1234 A. I)., when Malik Nusratu-dm-Tabasi marched
“against Kalinjar and Jamu.” It is related that “ the army marched on
fifty days from Gwaliar, and great booty fell into its hands, so much that
the imperial fifth amounted to nearly twenty-two lacs. When they returned
from Kalinjar, they were encountered by this Raja of Ijari, who seized
upon the defiles on the river Sindi in the road of the returning army.”*
On this supposition Sandhira Yarmma would have reigned from L234
to about 1280 A. D., and he would have occupied the throne at Kalinjar,
when Dalaki-wa-Malaki was defeated by Ulugh Khan in 1248 A. D. Kalin¬
jar does not seem to have been attacked by Ulugh Khan in that year, nor
in 125 1, when it is only recorded that Ulugh Khan marched “ towards
Kalinjar,” and defeated Jahir of Ijari ( i . e. Chahada Deva of X ar war) .
It will be observed that the date 1337 S. = 1280 A. D. of the inscrip¬
tion of Sandhira Yarmma Chandel is exactly the same as the date of the
Kanungo’s sanad which purports to be granted by Raja Kirat Singh Ju
Bhar. If the latter document be authentic, the Bhar was then in possession
of Kalpi and Mahoba, and the Chandel prince’s dominions cannot have ex¬
tended far from the walls of Kalinjar.
If the legend which places Kirat Pal Raja of Kalinjar in 1252 be
correct, then Sandhira Yarmma would appear to have been for a while
expelled even from Kalinjar.
The power of the Chandel house must have been greatly weakened by
the severe defeats in 1182 and 1202, but the ancient dynasty seems to have
in general kept hold of Kalinjar and to have at times recovered Mahoba.
The famous princess Diirgavati, who married Raja Dalpat Sa of Garha
Mandla in about the year 1545 A. D. and was killed in battle in 1564, is
recorded to have been the daughter of the Chandel Raja of Mahoba. This
Raja is probably to be identified with Kirat Rai the Raja of Kalinjar who
was killed when Sher Shah besieged his fort in 1545.
The victories of the Musalman emperors and of their generals in no
wise interfered with the succession of the local Rajas, who were simply
forced from time to time to pay tribute and acknowledge the suzerainty of
the Delhi crown.
# Tabakat-i-Nasiri in Dowson’s Elliot, II, 368. The mention of Jamu in this
account is puzzling and would suggest that the Kalinjar meant is the fort on the
borders of Kashmir; but, as the Raja of Ijari is identified with Chahada Deva of
Karwar, and the Sindi river is described as being on the road of the returning army,
the Bundelkhand fort must apparently be meant; Jamu I do not understand.
1881.] V. A. Smith — History of Bundelkhand. 43
Sandhira Varmma was probably immediately succeeded by Bhoja
Varmma, but we know nothing of the names of the Chandel Rajas of
Kalinjar between the time of Bhoja Varmma 1288 A. I). and that of Kirat
Bai 1545 A. D., except that a person named Vira Varmma is mentioned in
verse 22 of the much injured Kalinjar No. 2 inscription published by
Maisayty and be may have been a Chandel Raja. This inscription appears
to be undated, and I do not know why General Cunningham (Arch. Rep. II
448, Table) gives 1372 Samvat = 1315 A. D as its date.
Let us now return to the examination of the Maboba tradition.
The Bhar Raja, according to the tradition, was destroyed by a Musal-
man attack, led by a saint named Malik Hasn Shah, who bad been sent by
the king of Arabia. The story about the appeal of the oppressed Muham¬
madans to the Arabian prince may of course be dismissed as pure myth,
but the saint appears to have been a solid fact, for bis tomb and shrine
exist to this day, and the guardians of the buildings say that they once
possessed a quantity of ancient documents relating to the shrine and to
Raja Bhar, which have now unfortunately all disappeared.
I see no reason to doubt that the Bhar Raj at Maboba was actually
destroyed by a Muhammadan attack, in which the holy saint Malik Hasn
Shah was the leading spirit.
The date of the Bhar chief’s rise to power in Bundelkhand has been
fixed approximately in the year 1240 A. D., and, although the Bhars
suffered a severe defeat near Karra in 1218, they do not seem to hare been
finally crushed, and they probably retained a hold on Bundelkhand for
many years.
I am disposed to think that Malik Hasn Shah’s raid was connected
with Ala-ud-din’s invasion of Malwa in the year 1293 A. D., respecting
which Ferishta writes — “ In the year 692, the king [Jalal-ud-din] marched
against the Hindus in the neighbourhood of Mando and, having devas¬
tated the country in that vicinity, returned to Dehli. In the meantime,
Malik Ala-ud-din, the king’s nephew, governor of Karra, requested per¬
mission to attack the Hindus of Bhilsa, who infested his province.
Having obtained leave, he marched in the same year to that place, which
he subdued and, having pillaged the country, returned with much spoil,
part of which was sent to the king.”f
The direct road from Karra to Bhilsa, if it did not pass through
Maboba, must certainty have passed near that place, and it is probable that
Maboba was then included in the “ infested” province of Karra, as it
certainty was during the reign of Firuz H'ughlak in the middle of the
following century.
* J. A. S. B. Vol. XVII, Part I, p. 319.
f Cf. C. Briggs’ Ferishta, I, 303.
44 V. A. Smith — History of Bundellchand. [No. 1,
It is just possible that the Muhammadan attack on Mahoba may have
taken place in 1295, the year that Ala-ud-din returned to Karra from his
daring expedition to the Dakhin, conducting his retreat “ through extensive
and powerful kingdoms; viz ., Malwa, Gondwara, and Kandeish but
travelling thus, it is not likely that any part of his force would have come
so far east as Mahoba.
The possible dates for the successful Musalman attack on the Bhar
leader are narrowly limited, on the one hand, by the date 1230 A. D. for
Kirat Singh Bhar, and, on the other, by the date 1322 A. D. of Ghias-ud-
din Tughlak’s mosque at Mahoba, which is constructed of the materials of
a Hindu or Jain temple and could not have been erected during the reign
of a ruler hostile to Islam, as tradition affirms the Bhar chieftain to have
been.
On the whole, the assumption of the date 1293 A. D. as that of the
extinction of the Bhar 41 a j at Mahoba, best accords with all the known
facts. I therefore believe that the rule of the Bhars at Mahoba lasted
from about 1240 A. D. till 1293 A. D.
Then, says the Mahoba tradition, the emperor of Dehli became sover¬
eign of the country, and made over Mahoba to the Khangar rulers of Garh
Ivurar.
The emperor referred to I believe to be Ala-ud-din, who ascended the
throne in 1295, and whose general Ain-ul-Mulk Multan! reduced Malwa
in 1304. # Ala-ud-din, when holding Karra and Malwa, must have had
control over the intervening territories of Mahoba and Garb Kurar.
I therefore conjecture that the Khangars assumed charge of Mahoba
not later than the year 1305 A. D., but they may have assumed charge
in 1293 or 1295. The exact duration of their rule is not certainly known,
but the Mahoba tradition affirms that it was ended by the treachery of
Arjun Pal Gaharwar in the year 1400 S. = 1343 A. D.
This date has probably been remembered as a round number only, and
may not be quite accurate, but I believe it to be approximately correct.
All accounts agree in tracing the Bundela genealogy back to a Gahar¬
war ancestor, although different traditions vary much as to the name of
that ancestor and in other particulars.
By reckoning back the Bundela generations from a known date we
can obtain an approximate date for the expulsion of the Khangars by
which to test the Mahoba traditional date.
The great Bundela chief, Itaja Chhatarsal, died in the winter of 1731
A. D.,t and he was (including Jfcudra Partap) either the sixth or the seventh
* Briggs’ F erishta, I, 3G1.
f Captain Maitland, Political Agent at Ch.arkh.ari, informs me that the exact date
of Chhatarsal’s death was Pus Badi 3 Samvat, 1788.
1881.]
Y. A. Smith — History of Bundellchand.
45
in descent from Rudra Partap of Orchha,# and, according to two genealogies
eight generations intervened between Sahanpal and Rudra Partap, Sahanpal
being named in some traditions as the destroyer of the Khangars, in lieu
of Arjun Pal.f We thus find either 15 or 16 generations from the death of
Chhatarsal to the accession of Sahanpal, and, if a generation be taken as
averaging either 20 or 25 years, the following limiting dates are obtained : — •
15 x 20 = 300.
15 x 25 = 375.
16 x 20 = 320.
16 x 25 = 400.
A. D.
(1731 — 300) = 1431.
(1731 — 375) = 1356.
(1731 — 320) = 1411.
(1731 — 400) = 1331.
The required date is thus fixed as lying between 1331 and 1431, and
most probably lies between 1330 and 1340, a result which well accords with
the Mahoba tradition.
I therefore conclude that Mahoba was governed, as a dependency, by the
Ivhangars of Garh Kurar, subject to the lordship of the emperor of Delhi,
from about 1300 to about 1340 A. D.
It is not known whether the early Bundela (Gaharwar) successors of
Sahanpal exercised any authority over Mahoba or not, but it is probable
that they did not, for, in or about 1337 A. D., Mahoba, with Karra and
Dalamau, was in charge of Malik-us-Shark Mardan Daulat, who received
the title of Nasir-ul-Mulk.
The process by which Gaharwars became Bundelas is not clearly known,
and in the genealogies the new clan name is accounted for by foolish
myths.
The Bundelas are admitted to be of impure Rajput descent, and I
think it most probable that they are the offspring of a marriage between
the daughter of the Khangar Raja of Garb Kurar and the Gaharwar
adventurer who supplanted him.
The fact of such a marriage seems to be indicated by the story given
in the Hadikatu-l-Akalim, £ and in the variant of that story which I heard
from Munshi Gya Din Tahsildar, a member of a Kamingo family long
settled in Bundelkhand.
* According to the Gazetteer s. v. Orchha, that town was founded hy Rudra
Partap or his son in 1531 A. D. One of my genealogies gives the date as 1511 A. D.,
and the same M. S. dates the expulsion of the Khangars hy Sahanpal in 1313 S. =
1265 A. D., which date is too early. In Chhatarsal s pedigree some genealogies insert
the name of Kulnandan between Bhagwant and Champat Rai, and some omit it.
f One genealogy makes Sahanpal to he the son of Arjun Pal, another states that
they were brothers, the former ruling at Kurar, and the latter at Mahaum.
f Quoted in Beames’ Elliot, I, 45.
46
V. A. Smith — History of Bundellchaud.
[No. 1,
In his version of the story Pancham Singh is the Gaharwar hero, and
becomes servant of the Khangar Raja Kundarra, who takes him into
favour, but ultimately insults him by asking for his own son the hand of
the Rajput’s daughter. Pancham pretends to consent to the union, but
with the help of two Dhundhera Thakurs, named Punya Pal and Dhund-
pal, he concerts a plot to murder the Raja while the latter is intoxicated
at a festival.
The plot is executed, and Sanpal son of Pancham is installed as Raja.
The different versions of the story vary so much that no belief can
be given to the details of any, but the matrimonial alliance between the
Gaharwar and the Khangar is in itself a highly probable incident for those
times, and readily explains the low position among Rajputs occupied by
the Bundelas.
I cannot suggest any rational derivation of the word Bundela, which
is certainly not derived from bandi a slave-girl, as Sir H. Elliot was willing
to believe.
The following: chronological table summarizes the conclusions at which
I have arrived concerning the outlines of the history of Mahoba and some
other parts of Bundelkliand during the period between the defeat of the
Chandels in 1182 A. D. and the rise of the Bundelas.
Chronological Table 1182 — 1352.
1881.]
V. A. Smith — History of Bundelhha-nd.
47
Chronological Table 1182 — 1352 — Continued.
Event.
Occupation of Mahoba by a Bbar chief, . .
Occupation of Mauza Bharwara in Panwari
by Lodbis during reign of Baja Bbar of
Mahoba, .
Occupation of villages on bank of Dasan
river by Parihars from Gwaliar, .
Kirat Pal Baja at Kalin jar, .
Foundation of sbrine of Pir Mobarik Shah
at Maboba, .
Defeat of Dalaki-Malaki between Karra and
Kalinjar by IJlugh Khan, .
Ulugh Khan ‘marches towards’ Kalinjar,. .
Baja Sandbira Yarmma Chandel makes a
grant of land, .
Baja Kirat Singh Bhar makes at Kalpi a
grant of land in Maboba, .
Baja Bhoja Yarmma Chandel, probably at
Kalinjar, .
Nana Kayath bis minister, .
Ala-ud-din’s expedition against the Hindus
of Bbilsa, .
Defeat of the Bbar Baja of Maboba by
Malik Hasn Shab, .
Khangars of Garb Kurar appointed gover¬
nors of Mahoba by Debli court, .
Conquest of Malwa by Ain-ul-Mulk Mul-
tani, .
Erection of mosque at Bbainsa Darwaza,
Maboba, in reign of Ghiyas-ud-din
Tugblak, . . .
Khangars of Garh Kurar and Maboba over¬
thrown by a Gaharwar adventurer, found¬
er of Bundela clan, .
Malik-us-Sbark Nasir-ul-Mulk governor of
Maboba, Karra and Dalamau, .
48
Y. A.. Smith — History of B imdellchand.
[No. 1,
APPENDIX.
The following extracts from the Cawnpore Settlement Report bearing
on the later history of the Chandels, and on their connection with the
Gaharwars of Kanauj came to my notice while these sheets were passing
through the press. 1 am not aware of the existence of any other record
of a Chandel principality with its capital at Kanauj.
1. The most important tribe in this district is that of the Chandels.
I was fortunate enough to obtain two family histories ( Bansawalis ) — one,
in Persian, belonging to the now extinct branch of Shiurajpur, the other,
in Hindi, to the branch that, settling in Sachendi, covered the south of
pargana Jajmau. The former was compiled before the mutiny from do¬
cuments in his possession by order of the last Raja, Sati Parshad, who,
possibly conceiving he owed but little loyalty to a Government that had
stripped him of his large estates, was induced to become a rebel, and though
he escaped execution was thrown into prison, and after release died an
absolute pauper in the house of Chaube Sidhari Lai, a rising landowner,
to whom I am indebted for the loan of the history. The Hindi copy is
the compilation of the family bards, and is full of mythical and exaggerated
details, but is of value as corroborating the more precise record of the
Persian document.
2. It would be foreign to the purpose of this report to relate the
earlier history of the Chandels, which, as far as ascertained from these
records, was printed in the “ Indian Antiquary,” February, 1873. I will
take up the tale from the migration to Kanauj from Mahoba. On this
the Persian manuscript says — “ At the time of the Raja of Kanauj, a
Gahrwar, who till this time was rich and prosperous, first from the blows
received at the hands of Rai Pithaura, and afterwards from the pressure of
Shahab-ud-din Ghori, left his home and established himself in Benares.
Then Sabhajit by advice of his Wazirs settled in Kanauj.” Finding
the reputedly rich and wealthy Kanauj open to them, they probably left
the sterile Bundelkhund for the fertile Duab. The year of the migration
is given by the Persian manuscripts as sarnbat 1223, by the Hindi one as
1180— a trifling discrepancy.
1881.]
V. A. Smith — History of Bundelklumd. 4i)
There were eight Rajas of Kanauj —
Shiuraj Deo founded Shiur&j-
pur, Rdjd. From this
branch descended
the j Rdwat of Onha,
pargana Shiuli.
Sabhajit.
Gyas Deo.
Ghansyam Deo.
Bihr Deo.
Lahr Deo.
Sup Deo.
Bas Deo.
Khakh Deo.
Dham Deo.
Pat Deo founded Pachor,
Rdwat. From this
branch descended
the Rdna of Sakrej,
pargana Shiuli.
Lag Deo founded Sapahi,
Rao. From this branch
descended the Rdwat
of Rawatpur, pargana
Bithur.
3. From thence a migration was made to Radhan, where are the
remains of a large fort, and thence to Shiuraj pur, of which settlement the
Persian manuscript gives the following account: —
“ Shiuraj Deo founded Shiuraj pur and called it after his own name, so
that from Kumaun to Karra (Manikpur) the whole country of Kanauj
was in his possession. Since the rule of the Muhammadans had been es¬
tablished now for some time, all the Rajas and great men of the country
attended the emperor’s court, and amongst them Shiuraj Deo, regarding
whom it was ordered that leaving Kanauj” (where he was probably too
strong) “ he was to reside in Tappa-Radhan and Bilhat, in the pargana
of Bithur, where is ‘ Sita Rasoi.’ Shiuraj accordingly obeying the emperor’s
order left the fort of Kanauj and, first building a fort in Radhan, lived
there; and afterwards founding Shiurajpur, he established his rule there.
While he lived in Kanauj he had soldiers, horse and foot, numerous as the
waves of the sea, so that to enumerate them is impossible. They say that
when the Raja went for a short time to Karra, horsemen carried to him
the betel -leaf prepared for him daily in his home before the hour of
midday meal.”
4. The Gautams ( vide Elliot’s Glossary) are said to have bestowed
on the Chandels the 62 villages which afterwards formed the Raja’s taluka
under our settlements ; but there is no mention of this source of the
Chandel dynasty in either manuscript. It is most probable that like other
tribes they were encouraged by grants of land from the emperor to expel
the turbulent Meos.
5. Of the principal branches of the Chandel clan shown above, the
Pachor branch is extinct, and the Sakrej branch practically so. The Onha
e
50
V. A. Smith — History of JBundelJchand.
[No. 1,
(Nonari Bahadurpur) taluka consisted originally of 34 villages, of which
ten were held nankar (a sanad of Alamgir bestowing title of Chaudhri of
pargana Shiuli confirms this), but the privilege was resumed by Ilmas Ali,
who left only ten villages in the possession of the family ; these have now,
owing to sales for arrears of revenue, dwindled down to six villages, which
have only escaped, says Mr. Buck, on account of their lying in a tract of
which the greater part of the cultivated area consisting of rice land was
not recorded as cultivated in the village papers.
6. The Sapahi taluka consisted originally of 90 villages, of which
48 were separate with the title of Rawat and formed the Rawatpur taluka,
of which Randhir Singh was the last representative ; his estate being now
in the hands of the Court of Wards for the benefit of a boy adopted by
the widow of his son who died a week after his father. From Rawatpur
one descendant separated his share into the Kakadeo estate, consisting of
23 villages. This is as united a family as there is in the district, and their
intelligence has been much sharpened by proximity to the courts. Randhir
Singh over-reached himself by his cunning ( 'v . i.), but the Kakadeo family
have taken stricter precautions to keep the property undivided in the
family, though partitions have commenced to disintegrate the once com¬
pact property. They fasten their coats on the left side (like Muham¬
madans), since they were let off some arrears of revenue by the emperor.
7. Of the villages remaining with the original family of Sapahi,
37 have gradually been taken up by other members of the family, two
have been given “ pun” to Brahmans, three — Sapahi, Gangroli, and Kirat-
pur — are the only ones which remain attached to the gaddi ; and in these
even, under the English Government which gives every one his due, the
ancestral custom, which retained the whole in the name of the representa¬
tive of the family, has had to give way before the claims of all the descend¬
ants of Hira Singh to their shares calculated per stirpes. Hence the
revenues of the original seat of the family Sapahi (and Kiratpur) are en¬
joyed by the cadet branch now represented by Shiudin Singh, those of
Gangroli by the sons of the late Rao Pahlwan Singh, of whom the eldest
is a lunatic.
8. The original branches then possessed themselves of the old par-
ganas Shiurajpur, Shiuli, Sakrej, and Bithur. The branch that settled in
Sachendi and overran all the south of pargana Jajmau may be considered
but a renegade one. Of its origin the Persian manuscript gives curiously
a clearer account than the Hindi manuscript, as follows: — -
“ They say that Harsingh Deo, son of Karkaj Deo, a brother of Kar-
chand, who lived at Bihari (Pyari), on the bank of the Ganges, had a son,
Hindu Singh, very strong and great, but infamous for his oppression of
the rayats. At that time Raja Indarjit hearing of this was grievously
1881.]
V. A. Smith — History of Bimdelkhand.
51
offended. One day that very man, passing through Lachhmanpur Misran,
got up a quarrel with the inhabitants, and began to oppress them greatly.
The Brahmans complained to the Baja, and set forth all the oppression
they had undergone. The Baja becoming very angry wrote to him, order¬
ing him to leave his home and seek another country, and warned him that
to eat and drink in this country was forbidden him : it were better he went
elsewhere. He then, with all his belongings, went and settled in Tappa
Sapahi (v. s.), and became the servant of the Bao of Sapahi. At that
time fortune so favoured Hindu Singh that he rose to great power, and
built forts in Behnor aud Sachendi, and established his rule over a large
tract of country, and engaged thousands of soldiers, horse and foot, and
obtained victories in many battles waged against him. His fame was
noised abroad, and he assumed the title of Baja of Sachendi.” From the
Hindi manuscript, however, of the family history of the Sachendi line, we
obtain the following account of the rise of that family, which overran the
whole of south Jajmau, and eventually got the territory under the old
family temporarily in its grasp : — “ The 35th was Gargaj Deo, who had
two sons, Ivarchan Deo, hy a concubine, and Har Singh Deo, the sister’s
son of the Tilok Chand Bais. When Gargaj Deo died, Karelian Deo and
Har Singh Deo disputed about the succession, hearing which Tilok Chand
came to the Bani and desired she would give the raj to Har Singh Deo.
She refused and set Karchan Deo upon the gaddi. Har Singh Deo left
Shiurajpur, came to Behnor and founded Harsinghpur and a second gaddi.”
The truth appears to be more with the latter account, Hindu Singh being
a descendant, some generations distant of Har Singh Deo, and living in the
reigns of Indarjit and Hindupat (cotemporary of Firoz Shah), to which
Bajas, says the manuscript, “Hindu Singh, in spite of his power, never
failed in respect, nor committed so grave an offence as that of his son
Sambhar Singh.” Hindu Singh’s power indeed became so great, and his
contumacy so determined, that the reigning emperor got the Bhadauria
Baja to attack him and expel him the country ; the great forts of Dinaur,
Sachendi, &c. being given over to the Bhadaurias. Sambhar Singh, how¬
ever, returned eighteen years after and recovered the whole of the lost
territory. This same Sambhar Singh rose to such power that he ousted
the young Bisal Singh (who had to fly the country), and obtained title-
deeds to the greater part of the country, and established a “ thana in
Shiurajpur.” With the aid, however, of Nawab Najaf Khan, Nazim of
Nawab Wazir-ul-Mamalik Asf-ud-Daulah, he (Bisal Singh) re-established
his authority over the whole pargana of Shiurajpur.
9. Sanad of Jalal-ud-din Akbar to Baja Bamchand. “ Since it has
been brought to our notice that from time of old, according to immemorial
custom, Bs. 15,000 for support, and one ‘ tinka’ per cultivated bigha by
52 V. A. Smith — History of Bundellchand. [No. 1,
right of seigniory from the villages of pargana Bithur, sirkar Kanauj, by
title of zemindari, have been received by my good friend Ham chandra
Chandel, and that he is in possession and full enjoyment of that grant
and fees ; he has petitioned our majesty that an order be passed that the
abovementioned grant and fees, by title of zemindari from the villages
abovementioned, according to former custom, be continued in his possession
and enjoyment from rabi, that from year to year, and from harvest to
harvest, he may enjoy and possess them ; and being a true and loyal ser¬
vant, may for ever pray for our greatness and prosperity. Be it ordered,
therefore, that all officers and servants, Jagir-daran and Crorian, now and
for ever, obeying this order, and accepting those rights as free, complete,
and fixed, leave them in his possession, nor change nor alter in any respect,
nor interfere in any way, nor demand a fresh title.”
95 villages .*
Radhan ... 74 villages. Bharbedi ... 6 villages.
Bilhat ... 12 „ Haveli ... 18 „
Phalphandi ... 7 „ Barua ... 8 „
10. Sachendi, properly Chachendi, was founded by Chachak Deo,
twelfth in descent from Har Singh Deo and the first to assume the title of
Baja, though not invested with the tilak. His brother Kinnar Singh
founded Binaur ; a second brother, Garab Deo, settled in Garab (pargana
Bithur); a third, Parasram. in Perajor (pargana Akbarpur). Hindu Singh
was sixth in descent from Chachak Deo ; his brother Jograj settled in
Binaur, and Hirde Singh in Panki — all three taking the title of Baja. The
Bajas of Sachendi and Binaur joined the rebels, and their estates were
confiscated and bestowed on loyal subjects. The Baja of Panki has kept
possession of only half his ancestral estate, and that half is almost hope¬
lessly burthened with debt, but has been put under the charge of the Court
of Wards with the hope of freeing it from the grasp of the money-lender.
11. Thus of the once vast possessions of the Chandels, covering near¬
ly four parganas, Shiurajpur, Shiuli, Bithur, and Jajmau, only 125 villages
remain entire (and some of these have been re-purchased) and shares in
others.
12. I defer till the fiscal history the account of the fate of the
Shiurajpur taluqa.
13. This tribe has its locale in the southern portion of pargana
Bilhaur ; the account given of their immigration in the southern portion of
the pargana is as follows : After the flight of Manik Chand, younger
* Of the above only Radhan and Barua are names of villages ; the remainder are
local definitions of areas now extinct.
1881.] A. F. R. Hoernle — A New Find of Farit/ Muhammadan Coins . 53
brother of Jaichand of Kanauj, Thakur Ralitor (though the family history
calls him Gahrwar),* on the victory of Shahab-ud-din Ghori, and Manik
Chand’s own defeat at Karra Manikpur, his sons made their way to the
Yindhya mountains near Mirzapur, whence one son settled in Orcha, and
the youngest returned to Aurangpur Sambhi, and ousting the XJjena
Thakurs, who were in possession, established a raj at Sengh, to which were
attached 28 villages (seven across the Ganges), and a cadet branch with the
title of Rao at Madara Rai, with 17 other villages. During the oppres¬
sions of the Oudli rule the latter branch became extinct, and only 9 villages
remained in the hands of the Sengh Raja. Owing to the lunacy of the
Raja Bhawani Singh (who was an adopted heir from that branch of the
family which had settled across the Ganges), which threw the estate into
the power of his two widows (profligate women), even these have been in
danger of transfer, but the estate is now in charge of the Court of Wards,
and may be saved for the young occupant of the “ gaddi,” Takht Singh. f
A New Find of Farly Muhammadan Coins of Bengal. — > By
A. F. Rudolf Hoernle, Ph. D.
(With four Plates.)
In 1863 an unusually large hoard of silver coins, numbering in all
no less than 13,500 pieces, was found in the State of Kooch Behar in
Northern Bengal. J About 10 years later another, much smaller hoard
was found in or near the Fort of Bihar, containing only 37 pieces. § Both
hoards consisted of coins of almost exclusively Bengal mints, only a very
* For an attempted solution of the relation of Gahrwars to Rahtors I refer to
Elliott’s Supplementary Glossary. The fanciful derivation given to the name here is
“out of house and home” (ghar bahar), referring to the flight of the tribe after the
destruction of Kanauj.
f From Mr. F. N. Wright’s Report on the Revision of the Settlement of the
Cawnpore District, pp. 18 — 22.
X See Report (with list of coins) by Dr. R. Mitra in J. A. S. B. vol. XXXIII, pp.
480 — 483. Also E. Thomas’ Initial Coinage of Bengal , in J. A. S. B., vol. XXXYI,
p. 1.
$ See Journal A. S. B., vol. XLII, p. 343. The exact date of this find is not
mentioned by Mr. Thomas.
54 A. F. R. Hoernle — A JSTeiv Find of JEarly Muhammadan Coins. [No. 1,
small number belonging to the imperial mints of the Dehli Sultans.* The
coins of the large hoard embraced a period of some 107 years, reaching up
as high as about A. H. 634 ( = A. D. 1236). Those of the smaller hoard
extended over a term of 13 years and went back as far as the year 614
A. H. ( = 1216 A. D.) ; thus bringing us to an interval of only 14 years
from the first occupation of Bengal by the Muhammadans, which took
place in 600 A. H. (=A. D. 1203) under Muhammad Bakhtiyar Khalji.
Selecting the earliest specimens from among the coins of the two finds,
Mr. E. Thomas described them in two papers, contributed to this Jour¬
nal. f The substance of the first paper is also incorporated in his Chroni¬
cles of the Pathan Kings of Dehli, pp. 109 ft.J
Quite recently, in the beginning of November 1880, a buried trea¬
sure was found by three land cultivators in some kheraj ground within the
municipal limits of Gauhati (in Asam). The hoard consisted of 38
silver pieces and 40 small lumps of gold ; but only 14 of the former and
one of the latter were recovered by the Deputy Commissioner of Kamrup,
who, under the Treasure Trove Act, forwarded them to the Asiatic Society
of Bengal. On examination by me they proved to be early Muhammadan
coins, some of which bear the name of the provincial mint of Lakhanauti,
while others do not mention their place of mintage at all. Among them
were some which have not been hitherto described and published ; one or
two, I suspect, are altogether new.
They consist of —
4 coins of the Dehli Emperor Shams-ud-din Altamsh.
Bengal Sultan Ghiyas-ud-din Twaz.
Dehli Empress Riziah or Jalalat-ud-din.
Dehli Emperor ’Ala-ud-din Mas’aud.
Dehli Emperor Nasir-ud-din Mahmud.
Bengal Sultan Mughis-ud-dm Yuzbak.
Before proceeding to describe these coins in detail, it will be useful
to give a table of the Governors of Bengal and the contemporary
Emperors of Dehli, indicating those rulers (in small italics) coins of whom
have been already discovered and described by Mr. Thomas. This will
show at a glance the additions (in capital italics), procured from the pre¬
sent find.
1 coin
2 coins
1 coin
3 coins
3 „
V
))
Y)
))
* Less than 150 in the large and 1 in the smaller hoard.
f See vol. XXXYI, 1867, pp. 1 ff. and vol. XLII of 1873, pp. 363 ff. . The first
paper had been origninally printed in the Journal R. A. S. (N. S.), vol. II. of 1866,
pp. 145 ff.
J See also Blochmann’s Geography and History of Bengal , in J. A. S. B., vol. XLII,
pp. 245 ff. Also Dr. R. Mitra in J. A. S. B., vol. XXXIII, pp. 579, 580.
1881.] A. F. R. Hoernle — A New Find of Farly Muhammadan Coins. 55
I. Coins of Shams-ud-din Altamsk.
No. 1. (Plate I, No. 1). Silver. Weight 164| grs. Apparently new
in this variety. It closely resembles Nos. 1 and 3 in Thomas’ Initial
Coinage of Bengal , Pt. II, pp. 350, 353 ; but the legend on the obverse
is differently arranged.
Ohv.
J&J f j
%»
Bev.
Horseman
(with club in right hand).
Margin : illegible.
56 A. F. It. Hoernle — A New Find of Farly Muhammadan Coins. [No. 1,
The marginal legend is complete, but in illegible scrawls, exactly re¬
sembling those in No. 3 a of Thomas’ Initial Coinage , Pt. II, p. 353. The
date, to judge from other coins of this type, would be some year between
614 and 616. No mint place is mentioned.
No. 2. (Plate I, 2). Silver. Like No. 1 in every respect ; but the
marginal legend is incomplete.
No 3. (Plate I, 3). Silver. Weight 165 grs. Date 6[26]. Ex¬
actly like the coin No. XXVIII, described and figured by Mr. Thomas, in
his Chronicles of the Pathan Kings of Dehli , p. 46, and noted as “ very
rare.”
Obv. I Per.
<xij| y t & j| y y i
i . o ? ' (j 5
jr+j I
Margin: . 1^
Nothing of the margin is left in Mr. Thomas’ coin ; the small portion
(AjU) still visible here clearly belongs to &UL* sittamayat = 600. Mr.
Thomas gives reasons for his conjecture that the date must be 626 A. IT.
It may be noted that the four segments, formed by the square within
the circle, contain, on the obverse, an ornamental scroll, oh the reverse,
three dots.
No. 4. (Plate I, 4). Silver. Weight 167^ grs. Date [6] 30. Ex¬
actly like the coin, No. XXX, described and figured by Mr. Thomas, Chro¬
nicles, p. 52. Only one-half of the date is left (30), but it suffices to fix
the date as 630. The illegible space of the margin is just sufficient to pro¬
vide room for the two words v-^o at the beginning and AjUju* at the end.
The coin, therefore, bears no name of any mint.
Obv.
• ^
j+Ji ^^sci ^ iLLTf
The syllables are contained in
the right-hand-side segment.
Fev.
a!J| ill aJU il
All | O.+s:'0
aU| j /0 f J |
Alar gin : <k \&& , , ,,
A I *' •• .
• • ...... A\^j
1881. ] A. F. R Hoernle — A New Find of Early Muhammadan Coins. 57
II. Coins or Ghiyas-ttd-din ’Iwaz.
No. 5. (Plate I, 5). Silver. Weight 165 grs. Unique in this variety.
Date : sixth month of 621.
The legend on the obverse is much like that on coin No. 7 a in Mr.
Thomas’ Initial Coinage of Bengal, Pt. II, p. 357 (J. A. S. B. vol. XL II) ;
but the last phrase of that legend is omitted here, and the words are
differently arranged. On the reverse, the legend is as on his No. 6a ( ibidem ,
p. 356), but with a different date. The letters, especially on the obverse, are
excessively badly formed. The two first numerals of the date are very much
worn, but sufficient is distinguishable, to determine the date as 621. It
cannot be later than 622, as Khalif Nasir-ud-din died in that year ; nor can
it be a date in the second decade of the 7th century, because the second
numeral is clearly (not j or 8^-c), and because the similar coins
Nos. 7 and 7 a of Thomas are of 620. No mint is named ; but of course
it must be some Bengal mint, as Ghiyas-ud-din was ruler of Bengal.
III. Coins of Jalalat-ud-din (Rtziyah.)
No. 6. (Plate I, 6). Silver. Weight 166 grs. Mint Laknauti. Date
[631].
This coin agrees in every respect with the coin No. 90 in Thomas’
Chronicles, p. 107, and No. 2 in his Initial Coinage , Pt. I, p. 39. The
agreement even extends to the imperfect marginal legend. It is to be
noted, however, that in the present coin the word “ daughter” is
placed between and ijfLLJf. The date unfortunately was on the lost
portion of the margin.*
Ohv.
JazSl] ^IkLJi
1 9
J> O
j+J\
No margin .
Rev.
/c I
Margin :
* The date of this coin is 634, as shown by a duplicate in the Society’s Cabinet ;
see below No. 24, p. 67.
H
58 A. F. R. Hoernle — A New Find of Early Muhammadan Coins. [No. 1,
No. 7. (Plate II, 7). Silver. Weight 159 grs. Mint [Laknauti].
Date 685 *
This is a variety of the former (No. 6) ; the legend on the obverse
being in a slightly different arrangement. The word eAjf is again dis¬
tinctly placed between Altamsh and us Sultan. The name of the mint
town, omitted in the imperfect marginal legend, should be Laknauti. f
No mar yin. '
IV. Com or 'Ala-ud-din Mas’aud Shait.
No. 8. (Plate II, 8). Silver. Weight 163 grs. Unique. X
This coin is peculiar in that it has no marginal inscription indicating,
as usual, the place of mintage and the date. Nor does it appear from its
present state, that it ever had any marginal circle. The whole face of the
coin, on both sides, is covered by a double-lined square area, with four
external segments, formed by the circumference of the coin, and containing
an ornamental scroll on the obverse, and three dots on the reverse (as on
coin No. 3). The inscription on the reverse is peculiar in adding &1J!j
b'illah to the Khalif’s name and &1J at the end of the whole legend, and
on the obverse, in omitting the article J I al before sultan. In the
peculiarities of its outward arrangement, as well as in those of its inscriptions,
this coin is an exact likeness of the coins of Nasir-ud-din, No. 9 and its
duplicate. Indeed, as regards the reverse, the two coins, Nos. 8 and 9,
are almost duplicates, even as regards the heavy, square form of the letters.
On the obverse, the legends are alike, barring only the ruler’s name ; but
while ’Ala-ud-din’s coin, No. 8, shows the same kind of heavy square letters
as on the reverse, that of Nasir-ud-din, No. 9, shows the light, oblong kind
of letters, which re-appear on his coin, No. 10, and still more strikingly
on Mughis-ud-din’s coins (Nos. XI, XII).
* This is now in the possession of the Hon'blo Mr. J. Gibbs, by exchange.
f This is shown by a duplicate of a variety of this coin in the Society’s Cabinet ;
see below No. 26, page 67.
1 I know only two other specimens which resemble this coin, and which I dis¬
covered afterwards, see Nos. 27, 28, page G8.
1881.] A. F. E. Hoe rule — A New Find of Early Muhammadan Coins. 59
Ohv.
o
9
9
No margin.
Fee.
< °
rUJ(| o*c ^
9
XA^ I All I- ^v'''~*“-V''-^'vv^'l
✓ >
n p
&JJ
JVb margin.
No place of mintage is named ; hence it may be assumed to have been
the imperial mint of Dehli. Nor is any date given ; but as the iOialif
A1 Mustansir died in the middle of 610 A. FI., and ’Ala-ud-dm ascended
the throne in 639, it would seem to be limited to one of those two years.
(See Thomas’ Chronicles, pp. 120, 122). But see below, p. 61.
The execution of the inscriptions is not good. That on the obverse
is so crowded, as to necessitate the inserting of the two words 8U> and
cXFl**, interline arly, between the second and third lines. Moreover the
consonant is never written, unless it be indicated by an almost imper¬
ceptible straight line ; thus we have o>6aJJf, ujhal, e>*X3 on the obverse and
on the reverse.
V. Coin's of Nasir-ud-din Mahmud Shaii.
No. 9. (Plate II, 9). Silver. Weight 164 grs. Date [611 ?]
Of this coin, there are two duplicate specimens in the lot,# which are in
every respect the counterparts of coin No. 60 in Thomas’ Chronicles,
p, 81, Initial Coinage, Pt. I, p. 35 (J. A. S. B., vol. XXXVI) and Pt. II,
p. 363 (J. A. S. B., vol. XLII), where it is noted as “ unique.” Accord¬
ing to Mr. Thomas, the margin is “ illegible.”! But from the present
coins it is quite clear, that there is no circular margin at all ; the angles
of the square areas touch the circumference of the coin, and form with it
four segments, containing scrolls on the obverse, and three dots on the
reverse. In fact, they are in this respect exact reproductions of ’Ala-
ud-din’s coin, No. 8.J No mint is named, nor any date. The former is
probably Dehli and the latter 611, as will be shown afterwards (see below,
p. 61).
* The duplicate is now in Mr. Gibb’s possession, by exchange,
f In his last reference, however, (Initial Coinage, Pt. II, p. 363) no mention is
made of any margin at all.
1 It is noteworthy that Marsden in his Oriental Coins (PI. XXXV, No. DCXCIV)
figures a very similar coin of Nasir-ud-din, which also is devoid of marginal circles,
and indicates no mint or date. But the inscriptions are somewhat different, omitting
on the obverse, and reading } ^.xc} on the reverse. Unless,
indeed, the margins should be worn away, as Mr. Thomas ( Chronicles , p. 126) seems to
suppose ; but of such wear there appears to be no evidence.
60 A. F. 11. Hoernle — A New Find of Early Muhammadan Coins. [No. 1,
Ohv.
° *9
A 9
j LvJtxl) >
9 y 9
I y\
-No margin.
Rev.
- °
-jk/ot &L’L*
s
Oj?
^lJ ^ . ^.V X/0
No margin.
No. 10. (Plate II, 10). Silver . Weight 169 grs. Mint Laknauti.
Date [645]. Unique.
The obverse of this coin is an almost exact reproduction of the obverse
of No. 9, with the exception only, that the four segments contain words
instead of scrolls ; viz., above yjA>, on the left ; below (?), on the
right The reverse differs from that of No. 9 altogether, but, on the
other hand, it is apparently an exact reproduction of that of coin No. 110
in Thomas’ Chronicles , p. 129, with the exception of the date, which is
probably 645. The date is almost wholly wanting ; there is however room
for three numerals, and the traces left of the first numeral best agree with
five ; and considering that this coin shares the peculiarity of the
reading Mahmud Shaliu-bnu- Sultan with No. 9, the date in all probability
is 645. For in his later coins of 652, 654, 655 Nasir-ud-din always de¬
scribes himself as Mahmudu-hn-us- Sultan.
It may be noted that the inscription on the obverse of Mr. Thomas’
No 110 is the same as on the obverse of the present coin, with the excep¬
tion of the omission of aU> after Mahmud and the addition of the article
<Jt al before edk-Ls and of a few almost illegible words at the end. Among
the latter, however, in the left hand corner, the word yuzbak is quite
distinct, written precisely as in the coins of Mughis-ud-din, Nos. 11 and 12.
The mention of the name Yuzbak fixes the date of the coin as being during
the governorship of Ikhtiyar-ud-din, before he assumed independence under
the title Sultan Mughis-ud-din. The coins Nos. 11 and 12 show that he
was already independent in 653 ; hence the date must be either 651 or
652 probably the latter.*
* According to Mr. Thomas’ transcript, one numeral is omitted before 5 and one
after. The latter, of course, is 6 ( = 600) ; the former must he 1 or 2.— This coin
was, at first, thought to be lost, hut I found it afterwards in the Society’s Cabinet, and
it is described below, see No. 29, pp. 68, 69.
1881.] A. F. R. Hoernle — A New Find of Early Muhammadan Coins. G1
Obv.
YI. Coins oe Mughis-ud-din Yuzbak.#
• • c
No. 11. (Plate II, 11). Silver. Weight 171 grs. Mint Lalcnauti.
Date, month Ramazan 653 A. H. New. This money is said to be derived
from the land revenue of Eadan and Nawadiya f (Bardwan ? and Nadiya).
This coin, in the arrangement of the surfaces and in the style of
execution of the letters, J very closely resembles Nasir-ud-din’s coin, No. 10.
As regards the obverse, this resemblance is even closer to Nasir-ud-din’s
coin, No. 9, in one point ; viz., in resuming the scroll (instead of the
words) in the segments. There can be no doubt, that Mughis-ud-din,
when he made himself independent of Nasir-ud-din, imitated his coins, as
nearly as possible.
•<s
Xj
+ia£-Sj\ ^IkLvJt
9 9
✓
9
» 9
cr:
X
Rev.
r O
*
o 9
OJ>
UAsO J+J I
✓
Mary in ...
.
Obv.
^iLLwJf
j LioJl
f . *9 9
* 9
^yUal — 1 1
No margin.
Rev.
o p
f
op
^A/0 yj\
s
O
Margin t | <X &
" " O
+ ^
No. 12- (Plate II, 12). Silver. Weight 171 grs. Mint Lalcnauti.
Date 653 A. H. Duplicate of No. 11.
* Regarding the history of this ruler, see Major Raverty’s translation of the
Tabaqdt i Ndsiri , pp. 761 ff.
f Spelled Nudiyah in the Tabaqat i Nasiri. See Blochmann, Geography and
History of Bengal , in J. A. S. B., Yol. XLII, p. 212.
j The coins of Mughis-ud-din are particularly graceful, with their light, oblong
letters and the little ornamental scrolls to fill up the vacant spaces of the square areas
62 A. F. R. Hoernle — A New Find of Early Muhammadan Coins. [No. 1,
There are two points, especially, on which the coins of this new Find
throw light, viz., the dates of Nasir-ud-din and those of Mughis-ud-din.
1. From a comparison of the dates of these coins, it will be seen that
they embrace a period of about 40 years, i. e., from A. H. 6 Id to
653 ; viz. :
For all practical purposes, these dates are certain, except that of the
two undated coins of Nasir-ud-din (No. 9 and its duplicate), which 1 have
put down to the year Gdd.
There were two brothers of the name of Nasir-ud-din, sons of Sultan
Altamsh. The elder was Governor of Bengal for a short time ; viz., two
years, A. H. 624-626.* The younger, born A. H. 626 (the year of the
death of his namesake brother), was Emperor of Dehli, after ’Ala-ud-dm
Mas’aud Shah, for 20 years, A. H. 644-664. During his reign the Bengal
Governor Ikhtiyar-ud-din Tughril Khan revolted and made himself in¬
dependent under the title of Sultan Mughis-ud-din.
It is quite certain that the coin No. 10 belongs to the yQunger Nasir-
ud-din. For firstly, the Khalif Musta’sim, mentioned on it, succeeded in
A. H. 640, while his predecessor Mustansir was Khalif during the two
years of the elder Nasir-ud-din's governorship of Bengal. Secondly, there
is the striking resemblance between this coin and those of Sultan Mughis-
ud-din, who was a contemporary of the younger Nasir-ud-din, and who
clearly imitated the latter’s coins.
The case is very much more doubtful, as regards the other coins of
Nasir-ud-din (No. 9 and its duplicate). Mr. Thomas ( Chronicles , pp. 82,
83, Initial Coinage , Pt. II, pp. 360 ff.) considers that the type of coin,
to which they belong, must be ascribed to the elder Nasir-ud-din. It is
with some diffidence that I venture to differ from so great an authority
on Numismatics ; but I am inclined to ascribe these coins to the younger.
My reasons are the following :
In the first place, the present coins clearly show that the Bengal
Governors never struck coins in their own name, except when they had re¬
volted and established an independent Saltanat. Thus all the present coins
bear the names of Dehli Emperors, except those of Ghiyas-ud-din and
* See Major Raverty’s Translation of the Tabaqat i Nasiri, pp. 594, 629 ff. Also
E. Thomas, Initial Coinage , Pt. II, p. 35, Pt. II, p. 350, Chronicles, p. 82.
18S1 .] A. E. It. Hoe rule — A New Find of Early Muhammadan Coins. 63
Mughis-ud-din, who, for a certain time, had made themselves independent.
During that time, they replaced the Emperor’s name with their own ; but
while they were mere Governors, they did not venture to interfere with the
Emperor’s superscription. Thus Ghiyas-ud-din’s name does not appear on
the coins before or after his revolt, but that of the Sultan Altamsh. Simi¬
larly Mughis-ud-din’s name does not appear on No. 10, which was struck
before his revolt, but Nasir-ud-din’s. The utmost a Governor might
venture to do was to place his own name as an appendix to that of his
Emperor ; as shown in No. 110 in Chronicles } p. 129, where Ikhtiyar-
ud-din Yuzbak («’. e., Mughis-ud-din) adds his name after that of his Em¬
peror Nasir-ud-din ; in this case, indeed, there was a special reason for it ;
for, as the date of the coin shows, Yuzbak was at that time already on the
eve of his revolt (see below, page 65) and the conjunction of his own
name with that of the Emperor was the first step towards it. Again
though ’Izz-ud-din Tughril was the Governor of Bengal during the time
when a woman, Riziyah, sat on the imperial throne, yet his name does not
appear on the contemporary coins, but that of the Empress Jalalat-ud-din.
It is clear, therefore, that the coins, which were struck during the •Bengal
Governorship of the elder Nasir-ud-din, could not have borne the latter’s
name, but that of his father Altamsh, who was the Emperor of that time.
But in addition to this inferential proof, there is direct evidence of
the fact. Mr. Thomas, Initial Coinage , Pt. II, pp. 360 361 ( Plate X, Nos.
7 and 8) describes and figures two coins, struck at Laknauti,* in the year
621, that is, in the year when the elder Nasir-ud-din was already Governor
of Bengal ; but both coins do not bear his name, but, as usual, that of ther
contemporary Emperor Altamsh. It is clear, therefore, that the Nasir-
ud-din, who describes himself as “ Sultan” and puts his name on the coins
under discussion, cannot have been a mere Governor of Bengal, but must have
been an Emperor of Dehli. Whence it follows, that he must be the younger
Nasir-ud-din ; for he alone of the two namesakes ever was Emperor.
In the second place, when describing the coins, I have shown (see p.
59) that Nasir-ud-din’s coin, No. 9, is a close imitation (barring the
ruler’s name, of course) of ’Ala-ud-din’s coin, No. 8, and also (through No.
10) a more or less close prototype of Mughis-ud-din’s coins, Nos. 11 and 12.
This fact accurately fixes Nasir-ud-din’s position between ’Ala-ud-din and
Mughis-ud-din (that is, between 611 and 653) and proves him to be the
Emperor of that name, but not the Governor of Bengal of that name, who
died 18 years previously (626). Moreover, it should be remembered, that
points quite peculiar to themselves ; thus, the absence of any indication of
* The imperfect word, in No. 7 on PI. X, which Mr. Thomas reads as
is probably^ and the preceding lacuna is
64 A. F. R. Hoernle — A New Find of Early Muhammadan Coins . [No. 1,
mint-place and date, the omission of the article before Sultan, the addi¬
tion of illah Now it is extremely improbable, that the Emperor ’Ala-
ud-dm should appropriate, for one type of his coins, not only the general
style, but also the peculiarities of a coin of a mere Governor of Bengal, and
that, of a Governor who had died 13 years previously (for Nasir-ud-dm,
the Governor, died A. H. 626, while ’Ala-ud-din became Emperor in 639).
On the other hand, it is perfectly natural that the Emperor Nasir-ud-dm
should (temporarily) appropriate the style and peculiarities of the coins of his
immediate predecessor ’Ala-ud-din, whom he succeeded in 644. He probably
very soon discarded the imitation. His coins, No. 10 of A. H. 645 (in the
present lot), and No. 110 of 651, No. 106 of 654 (in Chronicles , pp. 127,
129) already show different styles, without the peculiarities of ’Ala-ud-din’s
coin. We shall probably not go far wrong, if we assume that his coins of
the style No. 9 belong to the very commencement of his reign and are to
be ascribed to A. H. 644. This is further made probable by the fact that
coin No. 9 shows an anachronism in preserving the name of the Khalif
A1 Mustansir b’illah, who had already died in 640. This would seem to
show that ’Ala-ud-din’s coin was adopted by Nasir-ud-dm in some haste,
merely changing the imperial names, but leaving all the rest undisturbed ;
but as soon as his affairs had become settled, the needful change must have
been made,f as shown, e. y., in the very similar coins, noticed by Marsden,
Oriental Coins , p. 523 (Plate XXV, No. DCXLIV). ’Ala-ud-din’s
coin would lend itself all the more easily to this anachronism, since no
date is mentioned on it. Indeed, judging from its peculiarities, I am
inclined to think that the omission of the date was intentional, so as to
allow of its being struck continously throughout the reign of ’Ala-ud-din,
up to 644, when Nasir-ud-dm succeeded him. Which again would account
for the fact of its being adopted so easily by the latter emperor. That
it, however, was only adopted by him as a very temporary measure, is
shown by his coin, No. 10, which (see page 60) in all probability was
already struck in 645, and which preserves the reverse of his (temporary)
coin, No. 9, but exchanges the anachronical name of Mustansir, for the
correct Musta’sim.
In the third place, most of the arguments, which Mr. Thomas adduces
for his belief that the coin belongs to the elder Nasir-ud-dm, are taken
* Also the addition of V illah ; though this occurs also on a few coins of Altamsh ;
e. y., No. XXX, in Chronicles , p. 53.
f There still remains some difficulty about this anachronism. For ’Ala-ud-din him¬
self changed the Khalif ’s name on his coins, from 641, see Chronicles , p. 122. And it
seems strange, why Nasir-ud-dm, when he wanted to imitate ’Ala-ud-din’s coins, did
not make a more appropriate selection. But the peculiarities of the coin, and the ease
of its adoption on account of the omission of any date, may have influenced him.
1881. J A. F. R. Hoernle — A JSTew Find of Early Muhammadan Goins. 65
from its peculiarities, which, he considers, point to an early period (see
Chronicles , pp. 82-8-1). Much of the force of these arguments disappears,
when it can be shown, from the present Find, that all those peculiarities
occur in a coin of ’Ala-ud-din, that is, at a date quite as late as the younger
Nasir-ud-din. With regard to the peculiar phrase bnu- Sultan ( Chronicles ,
p. 84), the case is even stronger • for the present Find shows, that it also
occurs in No. 10, which is an undoubted coin of the younger Nasir-ud-
din. Whence it is clear, that its occurrence in No. 9 in no way tends to
prove that the latter is to be ascribed to the elder brother of that name.
In the fourth place, the omission of any mention of a place of mintage
appears to me to point to Dehli as its mint -place. For no one would
think of the provincial mint of Lakhanauti, unless that place were specially
indicated. But if the coin was struck at Dehli, it could not have proceed¬
ed from the elder Nasir-ud-din, who, if he coined at all any coins in his
own name, must have done so in Lakhanauti, the capital of his Bengal
governorship.
2. Regarding Sultan Mughis-ud-din, it has been already mentioned
that he made himself independent under that title during the long reign
of the Emperor of Dehli, Nasir-ud-din. His history is narrated at length
in the Tabaqat-i-Nasiri, where however, unfortunately, no dates are given,
and the exact period of his independence has not been known hitherto
(see H. Blochmann, Geography and History of Bengal , in J. A. S. B.,
vol. XLII, j). 246). The coins, now discovered, however, help to clear
up this obscurity. They show that in 653 he was already independent.
Further the coin of Nasir-ud-din, No. 110, in Thomas’ Chronicles, p. 129,
bearing the joint name of Ikhtiyar-ud-din Yuzbak (as Mughis-ud-din
was called before he made himself independent), which is dated either 651
or 652, shows that his independency cannot have commenced earlier than
either of those two. years, more probably towards the end of 652. Lastly
there is a coin of Nasir-ud-din in the Society’s Cabinet,* which was
struck at Lakhanauti and bears date the second month of the year 655, and
which shows therefore that at that time Mughis-ud-din’s independence
must have been ended and the Dehli Emperor’s sovereignty again acknow¬
ledged. According to the Tabaqat-i-Nasiri, Mughis-ud din lost his life
in an unsuccessful war with the Rai of Kamrud. This probably happened
at the commencement of the year 655f and led to the re-establishment of
* See No. 30 in the Supplement, page 69.
t The second month or Safar of the year 655 A. H. corresponds, as far as I can
make out, to July of 1256 A. D. In the Tabaqat i Nasiri (pp. 765, 766) it is stated
that Mughis-ud-din was wounded and died not long after the spring/ harvest . This
bring us towards the middle of the year (1256 A. D.) according to our reckoning, the
spring harvest being in March or April.
I
66 A. F. R. Hoernle — A New Find of Far ly Muhammadan Coins. [No. 1,
the Dehli supremacy. Altogether Mughis-ud-din’s independent Saltanat
cannot have lasted much longer than two years (653 and 654).
SUPPLEMENT.
Since writing the foregoing account, I had occasion to examine
the Muhammadan coins in the Society’s cabinet, in conjunction with the
Hon’ble Mr. J. Gibbs, C. S. Distributed in various bundles and mixed
up with Pathan and Moghul coins, we found a small number of coins of
the early Bengal series. These I afterwards examined with the following
result. It will be seen that there are among them a few pieces of consi¬
derable interest.
There were 8 coins of Shams-ud-din Altamsh.
3 „ of Gliiyas-ud-din Twaz,
3 „ of Jalalat-ud-din (Rizryah).
2 „ of ’Ala-ud-din Mas’aud Shah.
6 ,, of Nasir-ud-din Mahmud Shah.
2 „ of Mughis-ud-din Yuzbak.
I. Coins of Shams-tjd-din Altamsh.
No. 13. Silver. Weight 148 grs. A duplicate of No. 3 ; but
margin altogether illegible.
No. 14. Silver. A duplicate of No. 4 ; now in the possession of
Mr. Gibbs, by exchange.
No. 15. Silver. Weight 164^ grs. A variety of Nos. 4 and 14.
Margin partially legible &bo j jj»$£ . Pate 630.
The variety consists merely in the slightly different formation of the letters.
No. 16. Silver. Weight 151^ grs. Like Nos. 4 and 14 in every¬
thing but the date, which is 632. The margin is almost complete
AjI/o aIv.vj ^ 2 Lji axm
No. 17. Silver. Weight 148-g- grs. Apparently a badly preserved
duplicate of No. 16.
No. 18. (Plate III, No. 1). Silver. Weight 161 grs. Belongs to
type No. XXXI in Thomas’ Chronicles , p. 53. But in the present coin
both marginal readings are not identical. According to that on the
reverse, this money is derived from the land-revenue of Kanauj and some
other place the name of which I cannot read.
Obv . o AAgdf
Rev. ? j gijL .
No. 19. Silver. Weight 165 grs. (Plate III, 2). Unique. It belongs
to type Nos. 4, 14, 16 (or No. XXX in Thomas’ Chronicles, p. 52), which
it resembles in every respect, except that it names Lahnauti as its place of
1881.] A. F. I!. Hoernle — A New Find of Farly Muhammadan Coins. 67
mintage. As far as I know, this is the only coin of Shams-ud-din hitherto
known (or at least, made known), which expressly bears the mint name of
Lakhanauti. Margin complete : ciJj <xw JjTCL fjjt
Ad j. It is dated A. H. 633.
No. 20. Silver. Weight 156^ grs. Apparently a duplicate of No. 9
in Thomas’ Initial Coinage of Bengal , Pt. II, p. 359 (in J. A. S. B. vol.
XLII). The margin, however, is almost illegible. The place of mintage
is not mentioned, but it must have been Lakhanauti in Bengal, as it follows
the type of Ghiyas-ud-din’s coins (see below).
II. Coras or Ghiyas-tjd-din ’Iwaz.
No. 21. Silver. Weight 161 grs. Duplicate of No. 4 in Thomas’
Initial Coinage , Pt. II, p. 354.
No. 22. (Plate III, 3). Silver. Weight 160^ grs. Resembles No. 5
in Thomas’ Initial Coinage , Pt. II, p. 356, in every thing but the marginal
legend which reads differently and gives a different date, A. 616.
Margin: P Aw <xw ? jy-%** .........
No. 23. Silver. Weight 157 grs. Duplicate of No. 6a in Thomas’
Initial Coinage , Pt. II, p. 356. But the margin is not quite complete,
. . . y .
III. Coras of Jalalat-tjd-din (Riziyah).
No 24. (Plate III, 4). Silver. Weight 162 grs. This is a dupli¬
cate of No. 6. But fortunately in the present coin that portion of the
margin, which contains the date 634, is complete, while the other portion
containing the mint-name is wanting.
Margin : A>Uw £JjI Aw jy$£ . fAA
No. 25. (Plate, III, 5). Silver. Weight 159 grs. This is a variety
of No. 7, which it resembles in every respect, except that the word cuLf
is not placed between and but, interlinearly, above them.
A duplicate of this coin is described and figured by Mr. Thomas in his
Chronicles , p. 107 (PI. I, 27 and PI. VI, 1). The margin, unfortunately,
is incomplete ; it gives the date distinctly, but the mint, which no doubt
was Lakhanauti, is omitted.
Margin : A|L.w> aw . . f 3a
No. 26. Silver. Weight 146 grs. A very badly preserved duplicate
of No. 25. Of the marginal legend only AA&!| remains; thus
fixing Lakhanauti as its place of mintage.
68 A. F. IF Hoernle — A New Find of Early Muhammadan Coins. [NoAL,
IV. Coins of ’Ala-ud-din Mas’aud Shah.
No. 27. (Plate III, 6). Silver. Weight 142 grs. Apparently unique.
This coin shows the same inscriptions as No. 8, with all its peculiarities ;
viz., on the reverse, the addition of h'illah after Al Must an sir and of
llali after Al Mominin ; and on the obverse, the omission of the article
us ( Jl ) before sultan. It differs from No. 8, however, by the possession
of a margin with inscriptions on both sides, of which illegible traces are
still distinguishable. The original presence of margins is also evidenced
by the fact of the size of the square areas being much smaller than in
No. 8. The letters, also, are much more neatly formed on the present
coin, than on No. 8. As a further minor difference it may be noted, that
the segments on the reverse of the present coin show the usual four dots
arranged two on each side of a small loop, while on No. 8 the loop is
absent. There are traces of a word, in the left hand corner, below
which I cannot quite make out. They look like hamd “ praise”,
or perhaps cdA. And it may be noted that on No. 8 there are also traces
of a word in the same place.
No. 28. (Plate IV, 1). Silver. Weight 115 grs. Apparently unique.
This coin agrees with Nos. 27 and 8 in omitting the article us ( Jf ) before
sultan on the obverse.* For the rest, the legends are the usual ones, as
on No. 97 in Thomas’ Chronicles , p. 122 ; that is, &JJb and *JJ, on the
reverse, aie omitted. It is not quite clear, whether there were originally
any margins with legends ; there are no apparent traces left.
I here, add that there are several coins of the usual type (like
Nos. 97, 98 in Thomas’ Chronicles , p! 122) in the Society’s Cabinet.
V. Coins of Nasir-ud-din Mahmud Shah.
No. 29. (Plate IV, 2). Silver. Weight 140^ grs. Unique. This
is the coin which Mr. Thomas has described and figured in his Chronicles,
p. 129, No. 110. I have thought it desirable to re-figure it, as Mr.
* Unless the scrawl over the ^ of sultan should he meant for Jf.
1881.] A. F. R. Hoernle — A New Find of Marly Muhammadan Coins. 69
Thomas has only given the obverse, which does not contain the marginal
legend with the date, and because the facsimile of the obverse given by
him is not quite exact. As I have already mentioned on p. 60, the name
Fuzbalc is distinctly recognizable in the lower left-hand-corner. The
word just preceding the name I read doubtfully Al Mu'ain “ the
9
appointed one” or “ the assistant” ; the letters go mini with th q pesh over
it and the following ’ ain are quite distinct. Below this word, again, there
are traces visible of Khan or c^bw Sultan, perhaps of Tughril Khan ,
a name of the Yuzbak.
No. 30. (Plate IY, 3). Silver. Weight 169 grs. Unique. In
general, style of execution this coin very closely resembles No. 10 ; but it
omits Shah after Mahmud and adds the article al to Sultan. The date in
• •
the margin is : Month Safar in A. H. 655, which is noteworthy, as fixing
the termination of the independent Saltanat of Mughis-ud-din.
Ohv.
))! ^liab*. J(
tj+ss'0 j.h&+S\ jjf
Fev.
$lt 0.4C ^
Cpt**3 Jr+h
Margin : &£~Jl iAa ^*0
★A. ^3
A J J 4.^.
No. 31. Silver. Weight 169 grs. Belongs to type No. 106 of
Thomas’ Chronicles, p. 127, to which it is like in every respect, excepting
the date which is 655.
No. 32. Silver. Weight 162 grs. A variety of the same type as
No. 31, but the square areas are larger and the letters of a coarser make,
closely resembling No. DCXIV in Marsden’s Oriental Coins. Both margins
are almost altogether worn away.
No. 33. (Plate IY, 4). Silver. Weight 167 grs. A variety of the
same type as No. 32. On the obverse a small portion of the margin is
le£t : . ... , naming Dehli as the place of mintage.
Y. Coins oe Mughis-tjd-din Yuzbak.
No. 34. (Plate IY, 5). Silver. Weight 168 grs. Triplicate of
Nos. 11 and 12 ; the best preserved among them.
No. 35. (Plate IY, 6). Silver. Weight 145£ grs. Variety of
Nos. 11, 12, 34. The letters on the reverse are not quite so well formed,
especially in the margin, where, e. g., d-w (or J>i) stands for cJu.
70 A. F. R. Hoernle — A New Find of Farly Muhammadan Coins . [No. 1,
While examining these coins I have been led to make two observa¬
tions which I should like to mention.
1. As to the place of mintage. In the case of Shams-ud-din’s coins
of the horseman type no mint-place is mentioned (unless indeed it be
contained in one of the illegible scrawls). Mr. Thomas ascribes the coins
of this type to a Bengal mint (see Initial Coinage , Pt. II, p. 352), on
two grounds : first , because these coins have been found in conjunction
with others which are undoubtedly of Bengal mintage ; and secondly ,
because a unique gold coin of this type actually bears the mint name
“ Gaur” on its reverse (j>^& Neither reasons, however, appear to
be quite conclusive. As to the former, coins of undoubtedly Dehli mintage
also have been found in conjunction with them; e. g., Nos. 3 and 4, coins
of which type Mr. Thomas himself ascribes to Dehli. Then secondly, though
the reading Zarh ha Gaur (not Zarb Nagor ) is most probably the true
one, it only proves that particular (unique) gold coin to be Bengal-struck ;
it may be an exception ; it does not show that the silver coins of the same
type were also struck in Bengal. It is certain from coins of other types,
that Shams-ud-din struck coins of the same type, both at Dehli and at
Lakhanauti ; and it is to be observed that those struck at Dehli bear no
mint name, while those struck at Lakhanauti bear that name. Thus the
coins, Nos. 4 and 19, are of exactly the same type ; but No. 4, which does
not name any mint, is admittedly of Dehli, while No. 19 is of Lakhanauti,
because it expressly names that mint. Speaking generally, it seems but
reasonable that in the case of coins of Dehli Emperors, when no mint
is named, it should be the Imperial mint of Dehli. In their case no one
would think of another mint, but the Imperial one, unless it were
expressly mentioned that they were struck at a provincial mint (Gaur or
Lakhanauti). On the same principle (though the result is different), in
the case of the coins of the Bengal Sultan Ghiyas-ud-din Twaz which
name no mint, the latter must be a Bengal mint (Gaur or Lakhanauti) ;
because Ghiyas-ud-din being merely the ruler of Bengal, no one could
think of any other but the principal Bengal Mint. Accordingly I
incline to the opinion, that all coins of Shams-ud-din of the Horseman
type, which bear no mint name, are to be ascribed to Dehli ;f and further,
generally, that all coins of Dehli Emperors, without any mint name, must
be thus ascribed. Major Raverty, in his Translation of the Tabaqat-i-
Nasiri, p. 772, while questioning Mr. Thomas’ ascription of these coins to
Bengal mints, thinks they may have been struck in Bihar, on the occasion
* Maulvi Abdul Hai of the Madrasah, however, informs me that the correct
Muhammadan spelling of this name is Ghaur
f Their connection with Shams-ud-dm’s Dehli copper coins of the Horseman type
( Chronicles , p. 71) is obvious.
1881.]
C. J. Rodgers — On the Coins of the Sikhs.
71
when Shams-ud-din “ sent forces from Dehli towards Lakhnauti, possess¬
ed himself of Bihar, and installed his own Amir therein.” But there is
really no evidence of the existence of a Bihar mint at this time ; but the
passage quoted from the Muhammadan historian may show how it came
to pass that some of Shams-ud-din’s coins, struck at Dehli, were carried
thence to Lakhanauti.
The second observation refers to the style of the letters. Three
different styles can be clearly distinguished : a rude and ill-formed, an ordi¬
nary square and an ornamental oblong. The first style may be best seen
in Nos. 1 and 5 ; the second in Nos. 4, 29, the third in Nos. 3, 11. The
rude form is peculiar to the early Bengal coins of Ghiyas-ud-din Twaz
and to Shams-ud-din’s coins of the horseman type. The ornamental oblong
is seen in all Bengal coins of Mughis-ud-din. The imperial coins show
both the ordinary square and the ornamental oblong style, more or less
distinctly; thus compare Nos. 3 and 4 of Shams-ud-din and Nos. 10 and
29 of Nasir-ud-din. Whether any and what conclusions may be drawn
from these facts regarding the mints from which they may have been
issued, I must leave others to decide, who understand more of Indian
Numismatics than I do.
On the Coins of the Sikhs. — By Chas. J. Rodgees.
The power and rule of the Sikhs have passed away. The year which
witnessed the total destruction of the Sikh army at Gujrat, witnessed also
the annexation of the Panjab to British India. Since 1849 the Sikhs have
been nothing more than what they were before the time of Gobind Singh,
a religious sect. All signs of their political influence and superiority are
fast passing away from the country. When the present generation has
passed away, there will be little in the Panjab to show that the Sikhs were
once rulers. Even now it is forty years since the death of Ranjit Singh,
and it is only here and there one meets a Musalman zamindar who tells us
of what he suffered from Sikh extortion and oppression. And it is only
now and then one meets with a grey beard who glories in the memories of
the raids of the Sikh soldiery.
The history of the Sikhs from the time of Nanak to the battle of
Gujrat is one of the most interesting and instructive studies in the whole
range of modern revolutions. It shows how religiousness and quaintness,
combined with self-denial and an open house can carry the day against all
established customs and national prejudices. It shows how a little truth
combined with shrewdness and eccentricity, audacity and assertion, bold and
long continued, can at last prevail over all objections. By religiousness I
72
[No. 1,
C. J. Rodgers — On the Coins of the Sikhs.
do not mean real godliness, I only mean the performance of those actions
which are accounted religious by the people amongst whom they were per¬
formed. There was very little in the characters of some of the Sikh reli¬
gious leaders to mark them as teachers of religion. Their lives were loose,
as were their doctrines. We read constantly of faith and of saving faith
in Sikh books. But it resolves itself into faith in the Guru who claimed
for himself perfect infallibility, if not perfect equality with god. The
commandments of Sikhism have to do with wearing long hair, abstinence
from cow’s flesh and Muhammadan women and smoking and drink. They
encourage bloodshed, hatred, malice and all uncharitableness wherever and
whenever Muhammadans are concerned. The modern Sikhs are, however,
a temporizing lot of people, and they find our rule too obliging to their
superstition. Their zeal and energy are not employed against the English
but against Sikh declension from ancient ritual and discipline. The Koo.
kas were Sikh Wahabees or Wesleyans, and so are the Nirmalas.
As this paper has to do with the coins of the Sikhs, the symbols of
their temporary power, it may be as well, although it is an oft told story,
to give here a short account of the rise of the Sikhs, and to show how they
became changed from a religious sect into a ruling power.
1. Ndnak the founder of the Sikhs was born in 1469 A. D. at Tal-
wandi near Lahore. This was in the time of Bahlol Lodi. His father was a
Khatri. He early became a recluse and joined himself with a Musalman
musician named Mardana. He afterwards wandered about like a modern
faqir. In these journeys he must have got some ideas about Muhamma¬
danism and Hinduism beyond what his native village could have given him.
Nanak died at Kartarpur in 1538, in the 7th year of the reign of Huma-
yun. There is no trustworthy account of his life. He seems to have been
as friendly to Musalman s as to Hindus. At his death one party wished to
bury him and the other to cremate him. His doctrine was that there was
one God. But with this he mixed much of polytheistic Hinduism and
more of mysticism. At the same time he took good care to insist on his
own guruship and on the necessity of giving alms to him as guru. To his
followers he promised participation in all that was given to him. He made
disciples from both Muhammadans and Hindus. Before his death he
appointed a Hindu, named Angad, his successor. Nanak’s discqdes (Sikhs)
were an ignorant rabble, few of them knowing how either to read or write.
They were his servants and followed him for what they obtained as alms
or in the shape of food.
2. Angad, the second guru, did not rise above his fellow Sikhs in
scholarship. His influence on his sect was nil. He simply figures as a
man named a guru. He died in 1552 A. D., having made his servant
Amar l)as his successor, to the exclusion of his sons, as Nanak had done
1881.]
C. J. Rodgers — On the Coins of the Sikhs.
73
before him. In all this we can trace the influence of Muhammad’s Khali-
fahs who acted at first similarly.
3. Amar Das was a Khatri. He lived at Gobindwal. He, though un¬
able to read and write, composed some verses which are inserted in the
sacred writings of the Sikhs — the G-ranth. He died in 1571 A. D., having
nominated his son-in-law Ram Dass his successor.
4. Ram Dass was an inhabitant of Clink or Umritsur, or rather he
settled there after his marriage, and the place was afterwards known as
Guruchak. About this word Chak, we may notice that the “ principality
of Cheka, the ancient Sakalo, stretched from the Beas on the east to the
Indus on the west, and from the foot of the Rajaori hills to the confluence
of the Panjab rivers.* “ It therefore comprised all the plains of the Pan¬
jab . The Cheka of A. D. 650 had in fact the same limits as the king¬
dom of Lahore in A. I). 1650. ”f Cheka would seem to be the country
inhabited by the Sakas or Indo-Scythians. In the late trip of His Honor
the Lieutenant-Governor of the Panjab to Ivulu, Thakur Hari Chand of
Lahoul presented him with three Kanerki coins and a medallion, saying,
that these coins belonged to “ the dynasty of the Sak-po kings which exist¬
ed very long ago.” But the word chak means also the wood placed under
the brick work in a well. This, however, would not apply to Umritsur as
here was a fountain and not a well. Hence we may regard Chak as being
a remnant of the old Cheka or Sakata of the Scythians.
Ram Dass prospered as a guru. He seems to have had a literary turn.
As he collected alms, he dug out the tank from which Umritsur takes its
name. But he did not build it, that is, as we say in India, he did not make
the tank pakka. For in his successor’s time the tank was overgrown with
weeds. He died in 1581 A. D. The tank was dug out in 1578 A. D. It
was outside the city walls. Dr. Trumpp says the city grew round it. This
was the case afterwards, but not in the time of Ram Dass. There is still
visible in the city an old gate called the Darshani Darwaza. This was the
gate by which worshippers were wont to leave the city, when they were
going to visit ( darshan karnd ) the temple. There are several other gate¬
ways still visible, and the walls can be traced. The present city is many
times larger than what was called Ramdaspur. At present it is the custom
to dig tanks outside cities, not inside. There were several tanks outside
Ramdaspur. These formed into dabs afterwards in some cases. They have
now been filled in and will be converted into intra-mural parks or gardens.
There were other tanks also outside the city which are now tanks inside,
such as.the Santokhsar, Ram Sar and Viveksar. Sar is Persian for a foun-
* J. A. S. B., p. 693, for 1854.
f Ibid, footnote on same page.
K
74
[No. 1,
C. J. Rodgers — On the Coins of the Sikhs.
tain or head of a river. # Amrit is the water of immortality . But the Sikhs
of the present century spell the word with a b and call it Ambratsar. On
the Gurmukhi coins it is thus spelt. On the lamp shades in the railway
station I notice the word is printed probably by an Amritsar man ^ f
The b is very plain. Some etymologists (Sikhs never were troubled with
learning) derive the name from Arnbar ( ) — ambergris, or a rich per¬
fume. Amritsar is certainly a place of strong smells, but by no means
pleasant.
5. Ram Dass was succeeded by his son Arjan. And from this time
the guruship became hereditary. Arjan built the tank and temple, but not
those which exist now. The present structure is a more modern building.
He began it in 1588 A. D., the year of the Spanish Armada. Tradition
says that there was a grand procession formed, that portions of Nanak’s
sayings were recited, and that the guru laid the first stone. But the brick¬
layer did not consider it laid properly, so he took it up again and relaid it.
Arjan then prophesied that the building he was commencing should be one
day destroyed and again rebuilt. But Arjan did more than build the tem¬
ple. He collected the saying and verses of Nanak and others, and wrote
them in Gurmukhi letters in a book which is called the Granth. This
book therefore represents to a certain extent the moral maxims of the
teachers who had existed before Arjan’s clays in the Panjab. It being in
the language of the people, has always exercised much power over them.
It was the book in the mother-tongue of thousands of unlettered men and
women. No wonder they reverenced it. It is now called the Granth Sahib,
and the temple is called the Durbar Sahib : while Amritsar, the city which
contains the two, is spoken of as Sri Amritsar. It is more reverenced now
than either understood or practised. Its language, being three centuries
old, is not intelligible now to the masses. Many changes have come over
the people in those three hundred years of Mogul rule and rise of British
power.
Arjan was' enabled by his followers’ gifts to maintain some kind of
state. He made arrangements for his income being collected with regulari¬
ty. But Amritsar lay in the road between Hehli and Lahore, and Arjan
unfortunately brought himself to notice by leaning favourably towards the
rebellious son of Jahangir. That rebellion was wiped out with one of the
most bloody acts the history of India records. 7cX) men were impaled and
poor Khusrau was led between the rows to be regaled with the groans and
shrieks of the victims. Arjan escaped this horrible death. But for all
* [Or rather, sar is the Sanskrit saras “ pool, tank,” which in the modern Indian
languages becomes sar. Santokh-sar or santosha-saras is the “ tank of contentment :”
Ram-sar “ the tank of Ram,” Vivek-sar “ the tank of discrimination.” Ed.]
1881.]
C. J. Rodgers — On the Coins of the Sikhs.
75
that, he was killed at Lahore in 1606 A. D., one year after the gunpowder
plot. His dabbling in politics was not a success.
6. Heir Govind was his successor. He was a man with a military
turn. But as there was an established government, his movements must
have resembled those of a freebooter or an insurgent. He built Sri Hargo-
vindpur on the river Beas to serve as a place to flee unto when any actions of
his made flight a necessity. Joining the regular army, he rendered himself
obnoxious by appropriating the pay of the soldiers. He was imprisoned
many years for this. He afterwards entered the service of Shah Jahau.
But his old propensities broke out afresh, and he left it and became once
more a freebooter. Ramdaspur was taken by Shah Jahan’s troops, but in
an encounter with Har Gfovind at Kartarpur they were defeated. After
this, however, Har Govind was compelled to take refuge in the hills where
he died, 1638 A. D., in the house of a robber with whom his son had been
residing.
7. liar Bdi succeeded his grandfather Har Govind. He joined Dara
Shikoh, the unfortunate brother of Aurangzeb, against that astute and wily
monarch. When Dara was beaten, the result was not favourable to Har
Rai. He died in 1660 A. D., having done nothing worthy of notice.
8. Har Kisan succeeded Har Rai his father. He died in 166J
A. D., having accomplished nothing.
9. Tegh Bahadur, third son of Har Govind, next became Guru. He
took up his residence at Anandpur, but as a rule led a roving life like a
common faqir. In one of these excursions he was imprisoned at Debit.
But it turns out that this excursion was a predatory one, and as a conse¬
quence he was not only imprisoned, but executed A. D. 1675.
10. Govind Singh his son succeeded him, although only 15 years old.
He knew some Persian and Hindi. He began his guruship by practising
austerities to secure the favour of the goddess Durga, whose divine assis¬
tance he needed in order to wreak vengeance on the Musalman rulers who
had punished his father for his misdeeds. The moral obliquity of the Sikhs
is not to be wondered at. Their surroundings were against all integrity
of morals. We are told of this guru that he was a proficient in the science
of Kok. But this statement never seems to have affected his position as
guru.
His life was that of warrior-priest or a Knight Templar. His eccen¬
tricities are regarded as his religious teachings. His worship of iron,
because by its aid he plundered, is one. His institution of the Jces, or
unshaven hair, is another. He lived at Anandpur while his own hair grew.
Hence this place is sometimes called Kesgarh. He wore a comb, to comb
his hair with, a dagger and a sword. His dress consisted of a pair of short
cotton breeches which came part way down the thigh. He abolished caste,
76
[No. 1,
C. J. Rodgers — On the Coins of the Sikhs.
instituted pahal or baptism, created the khalsa and ordered all his baptized
disciples to be called Singhs. Besides this be wrote a book in which all
his ideas are stated. This he called the “ Granth of the 10th reign or
Guruship.” The one compiled by Arjan is known as the “ Adi Granth.”
But Govind’s Granth is not all his own. It consists of compilations from
the works of the poets he had about him.
His wars with his neighbours could not long go on without the inter¬
ference of the imperial troops. Two of his sons were killed in these distur¬
bances. Two others were slain at Sarhind by the governor into whose hands
they had been betrayed, This act has obtained for this city the Sikh title
of fitmunhin “ the accursed.” Govind Singh himself became a fugitive.
In Malwa, at a place called Damdama, he at last found refuge. But he
afterwards removed to Anandpur. After the death of Aurangzeb he once
more came into public notice and took service under Bahadur Shah, who
gave him a military command in the Dakkin. He, however, returned to
Anandpur for awhile to look after the affairs of his guruship, which were
getting into confusion through the extortions of his tithe collectors. After
this he went to Nander in the Nizam’s Dominions on the Godavery, where
he was murdered by the sons of a man whom he had himself murdered. It
seems that he had purchased horses from this man and had not paid him.
The man wanted his money and dunned the guru for it. The guru, who
was never famous for meekness, getting angry one day slew him.
Thus we see that the last two gurus, father and son, caine to a violent
death which resulted from their own wrong-doings. Govind Singh was
murdered in 1708 A. D.
Much false sympathy has been bestowed on the fate of these two men.
But the truth is that were two such men to arise now in India, there is no
doubt they would be hunted down. No sooner did Ram Singh, the Kooka
leader, try his hand at raiding, than the authorities were after him. His
people were taken red-handed, fresh from their fight, and they were blown
from guns by the Deputy Commissioner of Ludiana and the Commissioner
of Amballa. The former officer was strangely enough made to go on pen¬
sion (thus losing about a thousand rupees per mensem), the latter officer
was appointed to an ambassadorship to Central Asia and knighted.
Govind Singh was the last Guru. He appointed a faqir, named Banda,
to the leadership of the Sikhs. This man seems to have been ignorant of
the precepts of Govind. But he understood and followed his practice.
This in the course of a short but dreadful career of eight years’ constant
depredations caused him to be taken prisoner by the imperial army at
Gurdaspur in the Panjab. He was taken to Dehli and put to death by
frightful torments in 1716 A. D. No Sikh bemoans his death. He was
a man whose actions were so cruel, that in those days an example was
necessary.
1881.]
77
C. J Rodgers — On the Coins of the Sikhs.
After the imperial government had seen what the outcome of the Sikh
movement was, there was not much enquiry as to their principles and doc¬
trines. They were disturbers of the public peace, and as such they were
hunted and slain.
We have now to trace briefly the history of the next 83 years in the
Panjab. In 1799 A. D. Ranjit Singh took Lahore. But from the death
of Banda to the accession of Ranjit Singh an interval of 83 years has to
be accounted for. It will easily be understood that the chance of plunder,
combined with the performance of a: religious act, would serve as sufficient
stimulus in the heart of every Sikh to action against the Musalman autho¬
rities Unfortunately opportunity was not wanting. The imperial family
at Dehli was like a wheel of sixteen spokes. The first had been strong
enough. But they had been prosperous. Prosperity had begot luxury and
luxury, debauchery. The successors of Akbar and Babar could no longer
rule. The empire lay at the mercy of any one strong enough and bold
enough to take it. Nadir Shah invaded India in 1738-9. The results of
his invasion are well known. Both before and after this Persian incursion
there was a Muhammadan governor of Lahore. The Sikhs, who formed
themselves into plundering companies, were on several occasions out-man-
ceuvered, taken, and executed. After the death of Nadir, Ahmad Shall
Abdalli or Durrani obtained the ascendancy in Kabul, and of course he
regarded India as his lawful prey. But from the death of Banda to Ahmad
Shah’s first invasion of India in 1718 A. D. there is a space of 32 years.
During this time Sikhism, in spite of Muhammadan suppressions had pros¬
pered, as all wrong prospers where it is not exterminated. Hence during
this first invasion the Sikhs erected a small fort at Amritsar. This fort,
when the invasion was over, was destroyed by the Muhammadan governor
of the Panjab. The invader was a Muhammadan and the defender was a
Muhammadan, hence both were to the Sikh his legal prey. Lahore was
taken a second time by Ahmad Shah in his third incursion in 1752 A. D.
In this period of change the Sikhs prospered and increased in numbers.
The fourth invasion of the Abdalli took place in 1755-0, Prince Tai-
min was then made governor of Lahore. He drove the Sikhs out of Amrit¬
sar and destroyed the stronghold they had erected. But in his turn he
was so harassed by the Sikhs that he was obliged to retire to Multan, and
the Sikhs occupied for a short time Lahore and Amritsar. It was during
this temporary occupation of Lahore that the first Sikh rupee is said to
have been struck by Jassa Singh Kullal, the Sikh leader. It had on it
the following inscription in Persian : —
J2R La.
♦ V
78
C, J. Rodgers — On the Coins of the Sikhs.
[No. 1,
Mr. Lepel Griffin in his “ Rajahs of the Panjab”# says “ Nor were
these coins struck before 1762, not in 1757-8, as stated by Cunningham,
and it is very doubtful whether they were ever struck in large numbers at
all. The Rajah of Kupurthalla has none in his possession, nor do I know
any one who has seen one. The “ Tawarikh-i- Punjab ” of Ganesh Dass,
states that the Sikhs did not strike this coin, but that the Kazis and Mul¬
lahs in 1761, after the famous Nanak Shahi rupee had been struck, and
desiring to anger Ahmad Shah against the Sikhs, coined 21 rupees with
this inscription themselves, and sent them to the Shah at Kabul, who was
as indignant as they anticipated at the insolence of the Distiller (Kalal)
who claimed to have seized his country (Mulk-i- Ahmad) .” I may add
that I have hunted through some thousands of Sikh rupees myself but
have never seen one yet. If they were sent to Kabul to Ahmad Shah direct,
he probably broke them up at once.
The Mahrattas were at this time paramount in Dehli. They became
naturally the rulers of the Panjab and they took Sirhind, Lahore, Multan
and Attock. This brought Ahmad Shah once more to India. His fifth
expedition was in 1759-61. He retook the Panjab and extended his arms
across the Ganges. (He struck rupees in his 14th year at Muradabad).
But the one great action of this campaign was the battle of Panipat in
1761, in which the power of the Mahrattas in Northern India was utterly
destroyed. Ahmad Shah did not know how to improve a victory. He
left for Kabul immediately after Panipat. Of course the usual thing
happened. The Sikhs rebelled against his governors, and that rebellion
induced his return in 1762. In this invasion he turned his arms chiefly
against the Sikhs who on all previous occasions had always hovered around
His armies whether victorious or defeated. They had never been well taken
in hand before and had received but scant attention from the conqueror.
Hence their numbers had increased marvellously. From the fact that the
Sikh loss in the great battle which took place “ between Gujerwal and
Bernala, twenty miles south from Ludiana,” is estimated at from twelve
to twenty-five thousand men, we may calculate the full Sikh power at that
time at something between fifty and a hundred thousand fighting men.
On his return from this great victory Ahmad Shah not only destroyed
the temples around the tank at Amritsar, but he killed cows in them and
washed the Muhammadan shrines, which had been defiled by swine’s blood,
with the blood of slaughtered Sikhs.
The Sikhs were not, however, destroyed. The truth is that during all
this anarchy and invasion and counter rebellion, there had been many im¬
portant families in the Panjab rising quietly into power and importance.
These families had summoned their retainers round them. The leaders and
* Footnote, p. 506.
1881.]
79
C. J. Rodgers — On the Coins of the Sikhs.
the retainers had one common ground for discontent, one common bond of
union, their faith. They were Sikhs. Their oppressors were Muhammadans.
Each of these leadings was called a Misl. The whole of the Misls was
termed “ the Sarba Khalsa or whole Sikh people.” Here were then mate¬
rials for the formation of a mighty republic in the East. But there was
only one Washington on earth in those days and he was in America. The
spirit which animated him and his fellow countrymen was one of liberty
and law and desire for the common weal. In the Panjab there was no
such man and no such spirit. The Panjab had passed through no prelimi¬
nary training and was not fitted for liberty. Each man, as he had risen by
oppression, maintained himself by the same means. His chief thoughts
were for self-aggrandizement. Hence these twelve Misls of the Sikhs
became twelve centres of jealousy. So long as Ahmad Shah kept on
invading India, they remained to a certain extent united against a common
foe. After he left India, after his 7th expedition in 1764, the Sikhs for a
while combined. They were to have had a “ Gurumata” or assembly of
the chiefs (a congress or parliament) once a year, but it never came to any¬
thing, or its meetings were attended only by the religious. One thing is
certain, they got possession of Lahore and Amritsar. And at this time they
struck, in Lahore the political capital of the Panjab, the first Sikh rupees.
They were called “ Gohindshdhif not “ Nanak Shdhi ” as Mr. Griffin
states. The latter term came into use afterwards as we shall see. The
inscriptions were the following : —
Obverse —
Reverse—
^ f ^ i— j j"-*-®
I Arp
See plate Y, fig. 1. It is a rupee of good, almost pure, silver, weigh¬
ing 177 grs. which is the average weight of the rupees of the Moghuls.
The distich on the obverse is intended for Persian poetry. It means
“ Abundance (the word is deg = cooking-pot ; we have the same vulga¬
rism in England — ‘ to keep the pot boiling’ means to have food sufficient
for daily use) the sword, victory and help without delay, Guru Gobind
Singh obtained from Nanak.” The Sambat year on the reverse is 57 years
in advance of our year. Hence this rupee was struck in 1765 A. D. I have
rupees of this type struck in Lahore, for the years 1822, ’25, ’26, ’27, ’28, ’30,
’31, ’32, ’33 and ’34 There was an interruption in 1766 and ’77 {i. e. in
1823 and ’24) caused by Ahmad Shah’s last descent on India. • There may
be rupees for some of the missing years. But we can scarcely expect to
find them for the years 1823 and ’24, S. Ahmad Shah invaded India for the
last time then. During this invasion the ruler of Patiala received from
80
C. J. Rodgers — On the Coins of the Sikhs.
[No. 1,
Ahmad Shah a sanad making him a Maharaja. He is therefore the old¬
est Maharaja in the country and unlike all the rest was created such by
a Musalman.
The years after the departure of Ahmad Shah were times when one
misl after another became pre-eminent. The whole of the Panjab lay at their
mercy. Multan, Kussur, Pakpattan, Kangra were scenes of many a bloody
fight. It was not so much then Sikh against Muhammadan, but Sikh
against Sikh, Misl against Misl. Taimur Shah son of Ahmad Shah was
obliged to come against Multan in person in 1778-9 A. T)., and it was
surrendered to him by the leader of the Misl occupying it. But Sikhism
had no more interruptions from Afghanistan during the time of Taimur
Shah. From Delhi, too, little opposition was shown. The steady way in
which rupees were struck in consecutive years shows that the mint towns
were comparatively free from attack.
Fig. 2, PI. Y, is a rupee struck at Amritsar in 1335 S. The inscrip¬
tions are both quite different from those on fig. 1.
Obverse —
Reverse —
d!<f
I a rc
1 do not pretend here to give correct readings. The reverse is I think
correct. I have four rupees of this series 1835, ’36, ’37, ’38. They enable
me to read the mint as^ 0^*1 distinctly. The b and the dot under it are
most marked. The reading of the obverse is far from satisfactory. The
3rd line is not in my figure. But it is all on a coin which I have of the
year 1836. The middle line is correct. The top line has Shah Ndnak on
it undoubtedly. The whole may be read thus — “ The man of victory,
obtained by the exertion ) of Guru Gobind Singh and the grace of kino-
Nanak, struck this coin in each of the two worlds.” I must confess I am
not satisfied with this rendering. But after years of search midst thousands
of coins I am able to do no more with certainty. This therefore is the
Nanak Shahi rupee.
Fig. 3, PI. V, is a rupee also of Amritsar. But it returns to the ob¬
verse on fig. 1. In the reverse inscription, however, are some new features,
first the katdr or dagger : (2) the word and (3) the word The
full reverse is this : —
•• *
| Ap | CUA+.W
1881.] C. J. Rodgers — On the Coins of the Sikhs. 81
I have a rupee of tfrs same year with a similar obverse, but with the
reverse containing, instead of Amritsar Xjf eAi| and instead of the hot dr, a
gurz or mace. It will be seen at once that Anandgarh is spelt incorrectly.
It ought to be eJfi} . (This place is the fort in Anandpur to which we
have so often referred. It is a town at which an annual fair is held to
which all fanatical Sikhs resort. At one of these fairs one of the most
accomplished Panjabi scholars, the Rev. Mr. Janvier of the American
Presbyterian Mission, was cruelly murdered by an Akali. ) The word
too comes on this one. So here we have a first year of some new govern¬
ment or era. The katar and the gurz would seem to indicate that it was to
be one of brute force. I cannot say what it refers to. Just then Sikhism
was in a ferment of raids and excursions and internal broils. There was
no one leader pre-eminent. Combination seems to have been the custom
just then. This word is used by all the Mughal emperors on their rupees
from the time of Shah Johan , instead of the figure 1, for the first year. So
that the existence of this word in this position indicates that in this year
some new rule was inaugurated. In fig. 4, pi. Y, we have on the obverse
the figure r above the word JU3, and pr on the reverse, thus showing that
this rule or reform or new administration lasted for some time. In all
Mughal rupees the same rule is followed. The year of the Hejira is on
one side and the year of the reign on the other : only as a rule the latter
comes with the mint town and the former with the king’s name.
It is of this time 1841 S. = 1784 A. 13. that Cunningham writes,
“ The Sikhs were predominant from the frontiers of Oude to the Indus.”
It was at this time that Maha Singh, the father of Ran jit Singh, entered
on that series of moves which landed him the head of the Sikhs. His son
Ranjit was born in 1780. He himself died young, at the age of 27 only,
in 1792, during his siege of Gujrat. But the coin I am inclined to attri¬
bute to the Sikh ascendancy, rather than to Maha Singh. Ranjit Singh
never put the year of his reign on his coins.
Pigs. 5 and 6, pi. V, are reverses of Anandgarh coins of 1844 and 1846.
I have one other of 1843 struck at the same place.
Their obverses are all the same as that of fig. 1.
The inscriptions on fig. 4 call for attention
L
&
82
C. J. Rodgers — On the Coins of the Silchs.
[No. 1,
^ I regard as Punjabi Persian in which there is
more jingle than either good grammar or clear meaning.
Akal taJcht should mean the throne of the Timeless one , that is of God,
and should go along with Amritsar . Maimanat bakht , both words mean
the same, prosperity . BaJcht is usually preceded by an adjective when used
in a compound word. The language of the Granth Dr. Trumpp tells us is
full of such jingle in which we seek in vain for clear meaning.
The term cf ■&'«*> comes for the first time, on this coin. Sachcha Shah,
“true king,” is the title by which in the “ Sakhi Book” Gobind Singh is
always addressed. Here it is used in the plural (I have shown this in 7 and
8) and probably has to do with both Nanak and Gobind Singh ; for here
Nanak is not preceded by the term Shah.
The years between 1846 S. and 1856 S. must have been jmars of great
distraction and disorder all over the Panjab. I find my cabinet, after my
diligent search of years, without any rupees of this period except an Amrit¬
sar rupee of 1854.
In June 1856 S. Ranjit Singh entered Lahore. Before that time the
city had been in the possession of at least three Sardars, each of which held
a portion of it. We do not need to give imagination much rein in order
to conjure up a picture of what Lahore must have been during that period.
The historian of the Panjab Rai Kanhiya Lall, C. E., has the fol¬
lowing passage in his history of the Panjab in Urdu prose, about what
happened after Ranjit’s entry into Lahore. The poets being all present : — -
•i
^ -
J
]Jr* >** AT jjj
e(
14
0 j* ^■s/0 jjf
LC
i/MA/O
cU-C
C— ‘■-vj
This is all wrong. The distich in question was used first, as we have
seen, on the rupees of 1822 S. It was not made for the 1st year of Ranjit
* History of the Sikhs. 2nd Edition, p. 179.
1881.]
C. J. Rodgers — On the Coins of the Sikhs.
83
Singh. Neither were rupees struck quite so early. I have never seen a
rupee yet of 1856. But I have several of 1857, struck in Lahore and these
were the rupees first issued by Ranjit Singh. But they do not contain his
name. Ranjit Singh put his name on nothing, gave his name to nothing.
The fort he built at Amritsar is called Gobind Garb ; the garden he made
there, Ram Bagh.
The rupees of 1857 S. = 1800 A. D. are shown in figs. 7 and 8, PI. Y.
I have given both sides. There is no sign of “ Ranjit” any where. Figs.
9 and 10 of the same plate give the obverses of two coins of 1860 S. and
1864 S., both struck at Lahore and containing the same inscription. A
careful study of these will show how difficult is the task of reading coins
which contain only a few of the centre words of the inscriptions. On the
reverse is an anchor which on Lahore rupees is a new sign. Since the plate
was drawn other coins have turned up : but they add to the inscription and
confusion. The cross lines are the difficulties. The lower one on the ob¬
verse evidently is the of The top one I have not yet read'.
However here are the complete inscriptions as far as I can make them out.
Obverse — Reverse —
<*p u-m* Same as on No. I.
Ua («*»*&*• jt j With additions of anchor and
v~ leaf.
jj j /♦■>;** oj
After the accession of Ranjit Singh rupees were struck regularly every
year at Amritsar and Lahore. After the conquest of Multan there must
have been a mint established there, for the rupees run in pretty regular
series. It may be as well here to give the events of Ranjit Singh’s career
after the capture of Lahore.
1801-2. Reduces Banghi Misl and Kussur becomes tributary.
1802. Takes Amritsar.
1803. Repulses Sansar Chand, a hill raja.
1804. Again repulses Sansar Chand.
1801-5. Obtains homage from governors of Jhang, Sahiwal and
Multan.
1805. Holkar goes to the Panjab, pursued by the English. Last
Gurumata or national Sikh Council held. After this the Panjab may
be regarded as a kingdom or absolute monarchy.
1806. Ranjit Singh interferes south of Satlaj. Takes Ludiana.
1807. Takes Kussur and the town of Multan but not citadel : still
obtains tribute.
84
C. J. Rodgers — On the Coins of the SiTchs.
[No. 1,
1808. Sikhs south of Satlaj ask for British protection.
1808- 9. Mr. Metcalfe sent on mission to Ranjit. R. again invades
territories S. of Satlaj.
1809. British troops occupy Ludiana. R. sigus first treaty with Bri¬
tish. He gets Kangra fort.
1809- 11. Disturbances with the Gurkhas.
1810. Ranjit fails again in obtaining Multan.
1811. Shah Zarnan goes to Lahore. Ranjit Singh conquers states
south of Kashmir.
1812. Shah Shuja and family go to Lahore.
1818. Ranjit obtains possession of Attock. Sikhs defeat Afghans
afterwards near the town.
1818- 14. Ranjit gets possession of the Koh-i-Nur diamond. Shah
Shuja and his family escape.
1814. Ranjit fails in an expedition against Kashmir.
1815. Comparative rest.
1816. Small raid towards the S. W.
1817. Nothing important.
1818. Multan taken after a siege of several months. Later in same
year occupies Peshawur temporarily.
1819. Kashmir conquered.
1819- 20. Dera Gazi Khan conquered.
1821. Dera Ismael Khan subdued.
1822. Minor quarrels, Yentura and Allard arrive in Lahore.
1823. Battle of Noshelira. Peshawar reduced but not retained.
1824. Rebellion of Muhammadan tribes near Attock.
1825. Intentions on Shikarpur.
1826. Sick.
1827. Mission to Governor-General. Disturbances at Peshawur.
1827-30. No conquests.
1831. Ranjit Singh meets Governor- General at Ruper.
1831. Expels Daudputras from S. W. Panjab.
1831-3. Various negotiations. Fort Attock built.
1833. Shah Shuja leaves Ludiana for Afghanistan. He defeats
Sindhians in January 1834 near Shikarpore, but he is himself defeated in
July at Kandahar. He returns to India 1835.
1834. Ranjit Singh annexes Peshawur. Tank and Bunnoo subdued.
Ladakh reduced.
1835. Claims Shikarpur but makes no attempt on it.
1836. Ranjit restrained by English from attacking Sind.
1837. Battle of Jumrud in which Hari Singh was slain and two guns
lost.
1881.]
C. J. Rodgers — On the Coins of the Sikhs.
85
1838. Negotiations about Shall Shuja.
1830. Ran jit Singh dies, 27th of June.
The rupees of the next two or three years follow one of the preceding
types. They were struck in Lahore and Amritsar. The latter rupees,
however, from 1861 S. (perhaps 1859 S.), show another sign. I have drawn
on Plate V, figs. 11, 12, 13, 11, 15, 16, and 17 to show them. The first
four have a sign on the obverse, of a double branch. This is supposed to
represent a peacock’s tail. The one on No. 15 is a different attempt, I
cannot say better. The figure on No. 16 is quite different. It represents
the drisi or thumb mirror worn by women of loose character. No. 17 has
a branch only on it. The dates are 1861, 62, 62, 62, 63, 63 and 66 respec¬
tively.
During all these years a woman named Mora, whom Ranjit Singh first
saw at a dance at the Shalimar gardens at Lahore, a dancing girl, ruled
Ranjit Singh. Such was the power she had over him that the two often
appeared in public on an elephant in a state of intoxication. One day she
laid a wager that she would do the same as Niir Jahan had done with
Jahangir, get her name on the rupees of Ranjit Singh along with his. This,
Cunningham says, she accomplished. “ In 1811 he caused coins or medals
to be struck bearing her name.”* But the coins do not hear out the asser¬
tion. She put her mark on the coins. Mora means a peacock. Hence the
tail of the peacock is her mark. The coins are known as Mora Shahi rupees
amongst the bankers, although the profession of the woman is always added
Mora Kanehni (the prostitute). The mark on No. 16, the arisi is not
necessarily the mark of a dancing girl. It is often worn by wealthy, vain
women of all castes. There is one feature of all these rupees of Mora.
The alif in the word Akdl is left out. The inscriptions are the same as
on fig. 2 of PL V. Mora was afterwards discarded. According to the
Sakhi Book one of the most grievous sins a Sikh could commit was to keep
a Muhammadan woman, and Mora was a Kashmiri and therefore a
Muhammadan. The Sikh community stood it for a long time. But they
determined to punish Ranjit for his continued debauchery. They there¬
fore in the first place refused his offerings to the temple. Then they
summoned him before an assembly of priests at Amritsar and the conqueror
of the Panjab, with folded hands and hare feet, had to acknowledge his sin
and profess penitence and ask for forgiveness from the representatives of
the Khalsa. They fined him a lakh and a quarter of rupees : hut the wily
sinner pleaded poverty and got off by paying 5,000 rupees. The fine was
probably more than the gifts they had refused, and Ranjit packed offf
* History of the Sikhs. 2nd Edition, p. 179.
f She was the cause of all Ranjit’s hesitation and folly on the occasion of Metcalfe
going to the Panjab court. It was for her sake he was always returning to Amritsar.
86
C. J. Rodgers — On the Coins of the Sikhs.
[No. 1,
Mora to Pathankot and consoled himself for her loss with the charms of
another woman, named Grulbegam, and other unmentionable loves. He,
long before his death, became a confirmed drunkard and a more confirmed
debauchee. Dr. Macgregor’s book reveals many weaknesses of the Sikh
conqueror.
The coins after the Mora series go on steadily. The Amritsar rupees
keep to their own inscription. The Lahore rupees have the third line of
obverse as on fig. 8. Figs. 17 and 18 (the latter on PI. YI) show the
3rd line of the Amritsar rupee inscriptions. Fig. 8 shows the third line
of the Lahore ones.* PI. YI, fig. 19 is a rupee struck at Multan Ddr-ul-
Aman “the abode or gate of peace or safetjY’ The inscriptions are the
same as those on the later Lahore rupees. The leaf is along with the
mint town , not as in the Amritsar rupees which have the leaf for the first
time in 1859 S., afterwards in 1866 S. and afterwards regularly as shown
in fig. 18, pi. YI. I have not been able to trace the origin of this sign.
Up to 1884 S. the rupees had the year on the reverse of the coins
above the end of in This year 1884 Sr appears on all the coins of
the next ten years and sometimes afterwards, The real year is put on the
obverse as in fig. 20, pi. YI, where we have the figures at between
and <jAj. I have the whole series going up to 1894 S. or rather 94 S.,
for the other figures are dropped in the obverses. Fig. 22, pi. VI, goes up
to 1900 S. in the obverse, keeping 1884 in the reverse.
The year 1885 S. has rupees of its own without apy year on the
obverse. But this year is retained on the reverse of all the later Sikh
coins, down to the year 1906 S., the date of the battle of Gujrat, the real
date of the rupee being placed on the obverse. Fig. 25, pi. YI is of the
year 94 S.,-but it has 1885 on the reverse. I have given it, because it has a
katar to the right of the alif in akdl.
Fig. 21, pi. YI calls for remark. On the obverse it has the inscription
of fig. 1, pi. Y. On the reverse is a circle of dots in which is a leaf and
Sambat 1884. The margin is only partly legible. Akdl is there and so is
Kashmir. Kashmir was conquered in 18 J 9 A. D. = 1876 Sambat.
Fig. 22 is worthy of notice as showing an Amritsar rupee with the
original distich on it as on fig. 1, PI. Y.
Fig. 23 claims separate notice. The obverse contains the inscription
of No. 1, PI. Y in fine condition, every letter being visible. The reverse
has two figures on it, Nanak and his Muhammadan fellow wanderer
Mardana. Below these are the words “ Zarb-i- Lahore 1885.” But the
real date is 93 as shown in the obverse. The origin of this retention of
* In Plate YI, owing to some obtuseness of my own, I have put the reverses of
coins to the left and obverses to the right, reversing the order followed in the Vth
plate.
1881.]
C. J. Rodgers — On the Coins of the SiJchs.
87
the years 1884 and 1885 has been explained to me thus. There is a class
of faqirs who say that, inasmuch as the number of breaths a man will
take is numbered when he is born, the more slowly people breathe the
longer will they live. I suppose the idea may have got into Ranjit Singh’s
mind (he was the slave of all kinds of superstitions as well as lusts), that
if he could manage to drag out one year to the extent of ten, his life would
he all the longer, the number of years being originally fixed. This rupee,
the only one I have seen of this kind, is the property of the Rev. J. Doxie
who kindly made me an electrotype copy of it.
Fig. 24, PI. VI is a Peshawar Sikh Rupee. Obverse as in fig. 1, PL Y
with year 1894. It was struck by Hari Singh and the date is that of
the battle in which he lost his life 1894 — 1887 A. D. = date of battle
of Jumriid. The reverse has on it Zarb-i-I eshdwar Sanat-i-Jalus 1894.
The date is on each side and it is the same year. It is a light rupee,
weighing only 135 grs.
The remaining figures on pi. VI are those of rupees struck after the
death of Ranjit Singh. He died in 1839 A. D., as we have seen 1896
Sambat. Fig. 26 is a rupee of 97 S. It has on it Om in Panjabi letters. #
Mr. Lepel Griffin says that there is a rare rupee with “ Ung” on it, which
he says means God. Now I have never seen this word. I think it must
be a mistake for Om, the invocation in common use in Thibet. Ting does
not mean God, it only means body. f Thus Devanga means God incarnate
or embodied God.
Fig. 27 is a rupee of the year 99 with a trisiil on it.
Fig. 28 is a rupee of the year 1900 S. with an umbrella on it.
Fig. 29 is of 1902 with an umbrella to the staff of which is attached a flag
Fig. 30 is of 1904. It has on it a canopy under which is the word
Sat in Gurmukhi or Panjabi letters. Sat = the True, i. e., God. Below to
the left is a very peculiar knot.
Fig. 31 is of 1905. It has on it again the canopy and Sat. To the left
is a thorny club.
All these coins from figs. 25 to 31 inclusive are of Amritsar. They
have the inscriptions on the obverse varying from fig. 4 in several points
* Panjab Bajahs.
t [Om is a Brahmanic symbol of the Deity, well-known throughout India. JJng
is merely an anglicised spelling of it, and does not mean body, which is ang, Sanskrit
anga. Ed.]
88
C. J. Rodgers — On the Coins of the Sikhs.
[No. 1 ,
Fig. 32, PI. VI is a Multan rupee of the year 1899 S. The rupees of
Amritsar are the only ones which have the double year on them. Those
of Multan and Lahore have only one year on them. This rupee has on
the reverse, together with the leaf, a thorn mark. On the obverse is a
lily. The Lahore and Multan rupees, as a rule, follow the type of the
coins of 1857 A. S. in their inscriptions.
There were gold coins struck also by Ran jit Singh. I give one in
PI. IX, fig. 74. Its inscriptions will at once be recognized.
We will now go on to the Gurmukhi and other coins of the Sikhs.
Guru = teacher, mukhi = mouth. Hence Gurmukhi = language of the
Guru, which is the Panjabi of the people. The characters in which the
language is written are of Sanskrit origin.
Fig. 33, PI. VII is a gold coin weighing 167 grs. It has on it, in
Gurmukhi, the obverse of fig. 1, PI. V. But the reverse is “ Wdh Guru
ji , Wall Guru ji , Wall Guru jif the religious cry of the Sikhs. It
has no date on it and no mint. It is the only one I have ever seen in
gold in Gurmukhi. Its weight indicates that it is a regular mohur and
not a medal.
Fig. 34, pi VII is a silver coin in Gurmukhi, weight 115 grs. Obverse
as on obverse of 33. “ Deg, tegh, fatli , nasrat i he darang ydfdt aj Ndnak
Guru Gohind Singh.”
Rev. “ Jarh i Kashmir i Sri Akdl Purukh ji. Year 189 — On
the obverse is a sword crossing a shield, on the reverse is the leaff. “ Sri
Akdl Purukh ji” is the commencement of the “ Akdl Astut ” a hymn in
praise of the Timeless one, which hymn follows the Japji in Guru Gobind’s
Granth. The words mean “ hail, timeless Divinity.”
These two Gurmukhi coins are in my cabinet. I got the gold one in
Ludiana and the silver one in Lahore. I have as yet seen no others in any
cabinet or museum.
The rest of the coins on PI. VII require but scant notice. They are
all of copper and are chiefly remarkable for their great weight and bold
execution and extreme rarity. They are not old. There are full dates on
two ; both the same 1885. Nos. 35 and 37 are probably of the same date
or near it. The hexagonal ones I thought had been hammered into that
shape after coinage. But this is impossible. Since drawing the plate
I have got another weighing 322 grs. There may be more. 1 had to pay
a rupee each for these large ones, as I find the Sikhs worship them. They
contain full inscriptions and the name of Nanak, and that is all a real
Sikh wants. The broad Muhammadan rupees of Akbar fetch a large price
* See Introduction to Trumpp’s Granth. Footnote, p. xc.
f Kashmir was conquered by Ranjit in 1819 A. D. = 1876 S. So this coin was
struck some time after the conquest.
1881.]
C. J. Rodgers — On the Coins of the Sikhs.
89
in the market, owing to the fact that they contain the Kalimah on one
side. The inscriptions are thus —
Obverse of all : — Alcdl Sahai, Guru JVanate Ji devices various.
Reverse : — “ Jarb Sri Ambratsar ji ” and date, device a leaf. In
No. 40 every letter is perfect. The dies of the rupees must have been as
large as these large coins. No. 41 is a smaller sized one, of less weight,
but with the same inscription, weight 175 grs.
No. 42, PI. VIII is a bilingual coin in copper with a variety of the
previous inscription. It reads obverse : — “ Baba Nanak ji Saha.” Reverse :
— “ Yah falus " in Persian. Baba = padri is the term of endearment
whereby the Guru is known amongst his followers. The date on this
coin in Arabic figures is apparently 1900 S. ; weight 153 grs.
No. 43 has the same inscriptions, mutilated in Gurmukhi and with
ornaments on the Persian side,
Nos. 44, 45, 46 are obverses of small coins struck in Amritsar. They
have in them the inscription of the copper coins of PI. VII. Their devices
are respectively a katar and a flag.
No. 47 is the reverse of an Amritsar coin. It has “ Jarb Sri Abratsar"
on it. The m is omitted. With the leaf is a star or thorn.
No. 48 has on the obverse the inscription on rupees fig. 26 &c. Reverse
is “ Pao ana i Nanak Shahi,” a quarter anna of the Nanak Shah. The
Jdo ana is not on this specimen, but on one I got while this paper was in
hand.
No. 49 has a similar obverse with date 1896 S, over the Panjabi word
san = year. The date is repeated on the reverse, above a leaf which is
surrounded by beads. There are remains of words which indicate that
spelling was not a strong point with the Sikhs. It was struck at Derajat.
But there is an ain (^) introduced.
No. 50 is a coin of the same parts. It is given only in the reverse.
Inscription is “ Zdrb i Jera ” (jat.)
No. 51 is noteworthy as having two leaves on the obverse with the
inscription going round them. It has also the same inscription repeated
on the other side of the coin.
No. 52 has the usual obverse inscription. But the reverse one goes
round a leaf and is Jarb Amr a (tsar), which is the only place where the
name of their capital is spelt correctly.
No. 53 is a coin of which I regret I have as yet met no large full
sized one. On the obverse it has the usual inscription. But on the reverse
it has “ khalasa ji, jarb Ambratsar ji" round a leaf. It was therefore
struck by the Khalasa or Khalsa. Weight 178 grs.
No. 54 is an ordinary coin as to inscriptions. Bub the figure of a lion
shows that it is one of Slier Singh's. The Sikhs never were great artists.
M
90
C. J. Rodgers — On the Coins of the Sikhs.
[No. 1,
No. 55 is a copper coin with the Persian inscription on obverse of
fig. 1, PI. Y. On the reverse it has also “ Jalus Zarh Sri Amritsar ” 1897 S.
No. 56 has apparently the same on obverse as No. 55. But on reverse
it has (Zarh) Kashmir , Sri Akdl . 1899 S.
No. 57 is the same as 55, with other words of the inscription not in 55,
and on obverse the year 1881 S.
No. 58 is a rude coin with bold letters on it which are a perfect jumble.
It is supposed to be the produce of a village mint.
No. 59, PI. IX is an ordinary pice to look at, at first. But its inscrip¬
tions are extraordinary and inexplicable. I have given four sketches of
it. Nos, 60, 61, 62 are the same coin : “ Akdl devaki danaj” is certainly
the inscription. Devaki is a name of a man and danaj means a dragon.*
On Nos. 63, 64, 65, the same name comes in Persian with “ Akdl Guru
Nanak ji” in Gurmukhi letters. The reverses of all are just the ordinary
Amritsar ones. No one can enlighten me as to the meaning of Devaki or
danaj.
No. 66 has “ Akal Salidi” in Gurmukhi and Yak f aids in Persian both
on one side. The other side is a smudge, but it has the leaf and therefore
the mint name was there once.
No. 67. Obverse “ Akdl Nanak ji.” Reverse “ Zarh i Khitta i Kash¬
mir 1789” or rather 20789 which are most extraordinary dates, f There is
small flag over khitta.
No. 68 is a most extraordinary production. In the middle of a
peculiar star is the word Ncinak in Persian characters. On the other side
round a leaf is “ Zarh i Dish ” (or something like this, perhaps it is Datha —
it is obscure) nkot.” The date 1894 S.
No. 69 is somewhat obscure. It contains only the ends of words.
They however have not occurred on any we have yet looked at. “ Gat” is
the end of one. Some suppose that it is the end of Guru Angad’s name.
The device on the reverse is new, a circle with four spikes in it. The date
looks all right, but it gives no help and it is in Arabic figures 1729. If
however the figures are intended for Gurmukhi ones, there is a slight
muddle.
No. 70 is equally obscure. The one word plain on it is “ Dheg.”
What the rest means I do not pretend to tell. Some learned Panjabis say,
* [ Devati is the name of a woman ; Krishna’s mother was called so. The inscrip¬
tion is probably incomplete, as shown by the absence of the final dl in the first line ;
the last line probably ended in ji (as in NdnaJcji). Ed.]
f [It should he observed, however, that 2078 is in a separate place from 9, and
that by the side of 9 there is a trace of another number, apparently 5. So that 2078
and 95 Avould seem to he two distinct dates, of which 95 (*. e ., S. 1895) would he very
appropriate. Ed.]
1881.]
91
C. J. Rodgers — On the Coins of the SiTchs.
it is their way of spelling Tegh Bahadur. But dheg is so out-of-the-way
a pronunciation for Tegh, I cannot think this is what is meant. The
reverse is equally obscure. Perhaps some larger coins may he found of
both these types. (The next letter after the g is p. Therefore Dheg
Dahddur may he meant.)
No. 71 is a more satisfactory coin. Obverse “ Sen Singh 1898” S.
The word Singh is spelt in the usual vulgar fashion, and the date in Arabic
figures reads backwards 8981 like as on some coins of Hyder Ali. The
reverse has a cross and a leaf and the mint in Persian, but there is not enough
of its letters to enable us to make it out. It is a rough coin and the only
one I have yet seen bearing a ruler’s name, if No. 70 has not Tegh Bahadur
on it.
No. 72 is a lump of copper. It has on one side in Persian “ Zcirb i
Kashmir .” On the other “ Samwat 1880” in a circle. This was struck
four years after the conquest of Kashmir. The rough coins of Ahmad
Shah, struck in Kashmir, are exactly of this type, lumps of copper stamped
and made current.
No. 73 is just such another piece of metal as No. 72. It has on the
obverse in Gurmukhi “ Ndnalc San (li). On reverse it has two swords,
hack to back, between which is a flower or dotted rays. The whole was
enclosed in a double circle with dots. It is a Kashmir coin. The inscrip¬
tion may read Nana (Id) (zarb i) Kash {mir. )
No. 74 is a gold mohur of 1861 S. It hears the inscriptions of the
rupees figs. 26, 27 &c. The only particular thing to notice in it is that
it has no alif in the word Akdl. Thus it would seem to have been struck
during the period Mora was exercising so baneful an influence over the
sovereign and his court. I cannot conceive so grave a mistake happening,
unless all supervision had been taken away from the mint. It was repeated
year after year. It is true the coin was in Persian, and the Sikhs are not
Persian readers. The hatred of Guru Gohind Singh towards Muham¬
madanism was so great that he prohibited the study of Persian, and positively
forbade any one of his followers getting his livelihood by the use of it.
And yet as we have seen all the rupees of the Sikhs are in Persian, bad
Persian it is true, but Persian. Ranjit Singh’s most trusted adviser was
the faqir (as he in his false humility called himself) Aziz ud Din. Ranjit
Singh could neither read nor write. He was in learning a thousand years
behind his time. Hence I suppose he cared little as to what was on his
coins. And his subjects cared less, provided they got good weight and good
metal. That the metal is good is shown by the Nanak Shahi rupees being
in constant demand for the manufacture of ornaments and from the fact
that they sell for 17 annas each, on account of the excellent silver they
have in them.
92
C. J. Rodgers — On the Coins of the Silchs.
[No. 1,
The coins depicted in plates YI II and IX are known as Nanak Shahi
pice. They are sold in the bazaars at the rate of 56, 57, 58 couples (tagge)
for the rupee or from 112 to 116. Now 6 Nanak Shahi pice weigh down
7 of our pice, and hence each one is -^ths of one of our pice. Hence,
roughly speaking, although our pice is of less weight than the Nanak Shahi
pice, the market value of the latter is one half that of the former. These
pice are in great demand. Their cheapness enables a man to give away
at a marriage 112 to 116 coins, whereas if he changed a rupee into pice
struck by the English, he would give only 64 Thus he gives more actual
weight of metal and gives more in number. In Amritsar and Lahore and
all centres of population in the Pan jab they are in great demand. One
source of gain of the money-changers is the trade in these pice. They
sell them to people who are about to celebrate a marriage. Afterwards in
the course of barter and exchange the coins find their way to the shop¬
keepers and traders who let them accumulate, until they have a rupee’s
worth, when they sell them to the money-changer again at reduced rates.
Each money-changer’s stock consists chiefly of these pice. * He has
hundredweights stored away. As they come from all parts of the country,
they are mixed with other odd coins. And it is from these mixed heaps of
things that most of the rarest coins of the Pan jab olden times are obtained
For when the coins return to the money-changer, he sets to work to sort
them, and every year he gets great quantities (if he is in a favourable part
of the country) of coins other than Nanak Shahi pice. It is from these
men I have got all my rarest coins. They are the natural places for old
coin deposits. But whereas dealers charge enormous prices for their coins,
these men are content if they get three or four times the value of the
coin. The stream incoming is constant. I have sometimes visited one
of these places as often as twice a week and have never been disappointed
yet. The silver coins however do not lodge here. They get only as far
down as the sarrafs and dealers in bullion, and to them therefore I go
for rupees and gold coins. Of course if no collector goes near these shops,
the copper coins are melted down for the sake of the silver thejr contain,
and the silver and gold coins are melted down for the sake of bullion or
ornaments. I am sorry to add that up to the present no collection of
Sikh coins exists for the people of the country in which the Sikhs once
held sway.*
There is one point still more, worthy of notice, before I close this
paper. I mean the ratio existing between silver and copper. I have shown
above that the pice sell for from 112 to 116 per rupee and that they are
* [ Since the above was put in type, the Panjab Government have purchased the
whole of Mr. Rodgers’ Sikh coins for the Lahore Museum. Ed.]
1831.]
C. J. Rodgers — On the Coins of the Sikhs.
93
heavier, by one-sixth, than an English struck pice which sells at 64 per
rupee. At this rate silver is about 72 times dearer than copper. I am
inclined to think this is the ratio which obtained in olden times. If so,
my calculations with respect to the income of Akbar will have received
strong confirmation.
Additional Note.
There are three transliterations which demand explanation, those on
the Dera Ghkii Khan coins. In my paper the coin I have given was
ascribed, according to the most learned Panjabi I could get hold of, to
Tegh Bahadur. I confessed in my paper that I was not satisfied with this
reading. After my paper was sent off, I again visited the bazaar, in the
hope that I might find some clue to the deciphering of this to me then
unique coin. I got without any difficulty no less than 25 coins of this
description, and I at once began to compare them with each other. Then
I found that one coin had a little of the top line, another a little of the
bottom one, a third a little of the right middle line, and a fourth a portion
of the left of the coin, and thus I found out that the coins were struck at
Dera Ghdzi Khan. The other transliterations require no notice. .
Since this paper was in the press, I have found out rupees bearing the
name of Bam, struck in Lundi and also Gurmulchi and Sanscrit. I have
also obtained one rupee, struck at Jhang , and several struck at Bind Dddan
Khan. I have also seen some gold mohurs in the Lahore Museum struck
in Gurmukhi with the same dies as some of the commonest pice, apparently.
I have also found some rupees of years not mentioned in the paper, notably
one of Multan struck in the year of the capture of that city A. D. 1818
= A. S. 1875, and one of Amritsar struck in 1856 A. S. The subject is
not yet exhausted, long and prosy though this paper has been.
The whole of the Sikh coins, gold, silver and copper, in my collection,
have been purchased by the Panjab Government for the Lahore Museum.
Thus two subjects I had in view have been accomplished. (1) An account
of the coins of the Sikhs. (2) The possession by the Provincial Museum
of the coins of its own province. Of course there should be in the Impe¬
rial Museum at Calcutta a duplicate collection.
V
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.
Pb:I
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Journal As. S oc. Bengal, Vol.L.Pt.l 1881.
D>-Ct*VK
L ith >$c 'Prvn- by W. Newm ua>v & C/0
EARLY MUHAMMADAN COINS
OF BENGAL.
Journal As. Sob, Bengal, VolL.Pt 1.1881. AA H.
I )r<xwrL Lith tSr Printed by W- JTeurm&ru Sc C/°
EARLY MUHAMMADAN COINS OF BENGAL.
Journal, As. Soc. Bengal, Vol. L.Pt. 1, 1881.
?h m.
D rntM'Ti', L ith & Printed* by W .Nt»’>nci*z <£' C°
EARLY MUHAMMADAN COINS OF BENGAL
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Journal, As. S o c. Ben^ al, Vol. L , Pt.J 1881
PI: IV.
'Dra*rn,LiUt> & Printed, by TV- Newman. 4 O
Calcutta.
EARLY MUHAMMADAN COINS OF BENGAL.
PL V.
RUPEES OF THE SIKHS.
• ■
Journa 1, As. Soc. Bengal, Vol. L, Pt. 1. 1881
Pl:W.
Chae'.J H/‘dLgeS'S ■
RUPEES OF THE SIKHS.
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Journal, As. Soc. Bengal, Vol. L, Ft. 1, 1881.
GJ Bo oLytfs dels
GURMUKHI GOINS OF THE SIKHS.
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Journal, As. Soc. Bengal, Vol. L, Ft. 1, 1881. FI/.- VM.
C . J TLoctofers cbeV
MISCELLANEOUS COINS OF THE SIKHS.
W. Nc\ vrn*t.-n &r C& l^rvp
Journal, As Soc. Bengal, Yol L, Ft. 1,1881
Ft . IX.
C J. RocJy del
MISCELLANEOUS COiNS OF THE SIKHS.
W.Xbm- rruxn <?- CP. Itrup
JOURNAL
OF THE
ASIATIC SOCIETY OF BENGAL.
Part I.— HISTORY, LITERATURE, &e.
Ir
No. II.— 1881.
On the Coins of Char ibael, king of the Homerites and Sabceans . — By
Major W. F. Phieeaux, F. R. G. S., Bombay Staff* Corps.
(With a Plate.)
In the year 1843 M. Arnaud, a French traveller, discovered at San’a
and the neighbouring cities of South Arabia a considerable number of
Himyaritic inscriptions, which were subsequently collected and published
by M. Fresnel, the distinguished Arabic scholar, in the Journal Asiatiquo
(IV serie, tome V,.pp. 211, 309 ; VI, p 169). On some of these inscriptions
were found the names of two ancient kings called Kariba-el, one of whom
it was tolerably evident, must be identical with the monarch of that name
who is mentioned in the twenty-third chapter of the Beriplus of the Ery¬
thraean Sea, as having been the paramount sovereign (eVfW/xos /JacnXeu?) of
the two contiguous tribes of the Homerites and the Sabseans at the time
that work was compiled The name of one of these princes occurs in one
passage only (Fres. XXIX) where he is described as Kariba-el Bayyan, son
of Yatha' -amar, Alakrab of Saba y while the other is mentioned in three
inscriptions, first (Fres, XI) as Kariba-el Wattar, son of .D/mnar-’ali,
Makrab of Saba ; secondly (Fres-. LVI), at the end of a long list of princes*
as Kariba-el Wattar ; and thirdly (Fres. LIV) as Kariba-el JVattdr
Yehan’am, king of Saba and Raidan, son of Z)Aamar-’ali Bayyan. A com¬
parison of these names and titles with the text of the Beriplus affords
sufficient evidence that the king mentioned in that work is identical with
the second of the princes named in the inscriptions. The writer of the-
JBeriplus states three facts regarding Kariba-el, firstly, that his metropolis
N
96
W. F. Prideaux — On the Coins of Charibael.
[No. 2,
was at Saphar ; secondly, that he was the sovereign of the contiguous
tribes of the Homerites and the Sabaeans ; and thirdly, that, by means of
embassies and presents, he established terms of friendship with the Boman
Emperors. Saphar is universally acknowledged to be the town of Z/^afar,
otherwise known as Haql-Yahsib,# a name which it probably owes to
another ancient king of the Homerites, El sharah Yahsib, who is mention¬
ed in one of the inscriptions preserved in the British Museum (No. 33).
Al-Hamdani, the historiographer of Yemen, calls Baidan, f&k-*
the castle of the kingdom at Z/zafar, the seat of government and the resi¬
dence of the kings The original seat of the Sabsean monarchy was at
Marib, but after the expedition of iElius Gallus and the consequent ruin of
that city, it seems probable that the inferior tribe of Himyar, which is
always represented in Arabian legends as an offshoot of Saba, rose to power
and fixed its capital at the town of ZAafar. It is evident from the texfcof
the JPeriplus that at the time of the compilation of that work the Home¬
rites were the ascendant tribe, and it seems reasonable to conclude that
Kariba-el was their chief. The original designation of himself and his
father was Mahrab of Saba, an inferior title to that of Malih , which he
afterwards bore, and one which apparently corresponds to the Greek
Tvpavvos, under which title we find Cholaibus, the subordinate chief of
the district of Mophareites, mentioned in the twenty-second chapter of the
JPeriplus. After he had brought the united kingdoms under his sole
authority, he assumed the exalted epithet of Yehcm’am , struck coins, as we
shall presently see, at his castle of Baidan and consolidated his power by
an alliance with the Csesar of Borne.
The name of Kariba-el belongs to the regular system of Himyaritic
nomenclature, and its probable signification is JEl has strengthened. The
root Icarab occurs in other Himyaritic names, such as Tobba’-karib, Ma’adi-
karib, and is also found in the title Mahrab , a designation which would
seem to have a nearer analogy to the ddodesta of the mediaeval Italian
cities than to the tyrannies of the Greeks. The root is also found in the
Hebrew Kerubim , those mythical creatures which are represented in the
Assyrian sculptures as colossal winged bulls with human headsf and whose
strength is asserted in the Bible to be sufficient to support the Deity Him¬
self (2 Sam. xxii, 11 ; Ps. xviii, 10). The surname JVattdr is not uncom¬
mon in the lists of the Sabsean kings and is referable to a root which
appears primarily to convey the idea of uniqueness and thence of excellence.
It is cognate with the Biblical name of Yether or Yethro (Jethro). The
further epithet of Yehan’am which was subsequently assumed by Kariba-el
is derived from the causative or Hiphil form of the root and may
* D. II. Muller, Die Burgen rind Schlosser Siidar aliens , Wien, 1879, p. 37.
f Lenormant, Les Origines de V Histoire, 1880, pp. 112, sqq.
1881.]
W. F. Prideaux — On the Coins of Charibael.
97
be rendered the bestoiver of favour , a designation which would not be
inappropriate to one who had secured the friendship of Iiome by the means
mentioned in the Periplus.
Of the extent of Kariba-el’s dominions we have no exact means of
judging, but they probably included the greater part of that country which
is now, and has been for many years, known as El-Yemen, for it may not
be uninteresting to mention that the division of Arabia into El-Yemen
the south , and Esh-Sham, the north , is of very early date. In one of the?
inscriptions discovered by M, Halevy at Beraqish in South Arabia, refer¬
ence is made to an altercation between the inhabitants of the two divisions
CHDawn romTQ, Hal. 535, 13). That part of Kariba-el’s kingdom
which comprised the south-western extremity of the peninsula was called
Mophareites and was under the government of the tyrannus Cholaibus.
This is known to the Arabs as the Beled el-Ma’afir ( )* and is
described in Al-Hamdani’s geographical work, the Jeziret el- Arab. The
name of the chief, Kulaib , is a diminutive form of Kalb, one of the
principal tribes of ancient Arabia, and mentioned as a personal desig¬
nation in more than one inscription (Hal. 396, 1 ; 662, 1). The au¬
thority of Kulaib extended over a considerable portion of the opposite
African coast ( Periplus , § 16). HaYAramaut, however, still existed as a
distinct kingdom and was ruled over by a king called Eleazus, a name
which under the form of El-’azza (•t^N), is frequently mentioned in the
Himyaritic inscriptions (Hal. 77, 1 ; 208, 1 ; 231, 7 ; 613, 2). The prin¬
cipal city of HaYAramaut was Sabbatha, the Sobota of Pliny, the JYQ$
of the British Museum inscription No. VI. 6, and the of Al-Ham-
dam.
The period at which Kariba-el reigned must be determined by the date
of the Periplus. Some years ago I examined this question with considera¬
ble care, and for the reasons alleged by me in a paper published in the
Transactions of the Society of Biblical Archaeology (Vol. II, p. 16), I
have come to the conclusion that Kariba-el must have reigned about the
year A. D. 75. I believe that this date agrees with that which is now
generally received by scholars, and should it differ, it must be considered
that the writer of the Periplus may sometimes refer a fact to the period of
his voyage, and sometimes to the time at which he was working up his
notes of travel into the form in which they now exist.
Having said so much by way of introduction, it remains to add a few
words upon the more immediate subject of my paper. A few months ago
I received from Aden a few silver Himyaritic coins, among which I was
pleased to discover two which I had no hesitation in attributing to Kariba-
el Wattar Yehan’am. The following is a description of the coins, which
I have brought with me for exhibition this evening : —
* D. H. Muller, Heise nach Constantinopel, Wien, 1878, p. 10, &c.
98
[No. 2,
W. F. Prideaux — On the Coins of Char ihael.
Kariba-el Wattar Yehan’am.
(The inscriptions are written in Hebrew characters, as Himyaritic type
is not procurable.)
1. (Plate X). Ob v. Head to right, beardless, the hair arranged in
three stiff corkscrew curls ; round it the inscription and the
monogram r~h ; below head ^TH, to right 3P-
Rev. Head as in obv. ; above the head the monogram , behind the
head the monogram ^ ; the right side of the coin in grenetis.
Ar. Size: *6 in. Weight: 23*673 gr. = 1*534 grammes.
2. Obv. Head as in No. 1 ; around head the inscription JIT bull?
and the monogram ^|£} ; below head n't, to right
Rev. Head as in No. 1 ; behind head the monogram se ; the right
side of the coin in grenetis.
Ar. Size : *58 in. Weight, 24*49 gr. = 1*587 grammes.
On the obverse the name of the king and the first three letters of his
epithet QV3HP are given, below is the name of the mint-place Raiddn. I
am unable to explain the signification of the monogram cb which is also
found in two other coins in my possession (one of ’Umdan Yehaqba^A and
one of Yada’-ab Yenaf) or of the symbol ?P which is found on all the
Baidan coins of this type that I have seen. It has also been discovered on
some of the sculptured Himyaritic inscriptions.
The monogram or which appears on the reverse can be resolved
into the letters TTH Wattar, the surname of Kariba-el. The other mono¬
gram on the reverse of No. 1 I am unable to explain.
It was my original intention to have added a few remarks upon the
subject of the Himyaritic coinage generally, but within the last few days
I have been favoured with the proof-sheets of a paper entitled Neue hirnja -
rische Munzen by Dr. J. H. Mordtmann of Constantinople, which is on
the point of publication, and which treats the question in such an exhaus¬
tive manner that any observations of mine would be superfluous. It
will be sufficient to state that the numismatic system of the
may be classified into three divisions ; the first consisting of thick coins
struck in imitation of the drachmas of Athens with the head of Athena,
generally countermarked with a Himyaritic character, on the obverse, and
a rude imitation of the owl with the letters A©E on the reverse ; the second
consisting of thin coins of still ruder execution, which are designed upon
the Athenian tetradrachms of more recent date and are sometimes varied
by the head of Augustus on the obverse ; and the third comprising the
series of small hollow-struck indigenous coins to which those which I have
exhibited belong. The first two classes have been very ably treated by Mr.
Barclay Y. Head in the Numismatic Chronicle , N. S. Yol. XVIII, Pages
1881.] W. F. Prideaux — On the Coins of Char ih a el. 99
273-284 ; and Dr. Mordtmann has gone still further into the question and
has I think satisfactorily deciphered the rude Pehlevi inscription which
appears on the reverse of some of them. I produce for exhibition to the
meeting a specimen of the earliest class from my own collection (Plate X,
No. 7). Of the second class which have lately become exceedingly common
I possess a considerable quantity in England, including the unique gold
coin figured in the plate accompanying Mr. Head’s paper (PI. XIII, Nos.
4, 5 — 16). # Specimens of the third and most interesting class are still
comparatively rare. The two coins of Kariba-el are the first of this class
which have been exhibited before any English Society. In addition to these,
I produce a coin of Yada’-ab Yenaf, struck at Uarh (Caripeta of Pliny ?)
(Plate X, No. 3), and three of another king, ’Umcl4n Yehaqba^A,
struck at Raidan (Plate X, Nos. 4, 5, 6). There are a few other
specimens in the British Museum, and Dr. Mordtmann also possesses two
examples of Kariba-el and a few others which are described in the paper to
which I have adverted. The indigenous silver coinage of El-Yemen appears
to have been succeeded by the gold and copper mintages of the Axumite
kings of Abyssinia, who are supposed to have secured a footing in South
Arabia towards the close of the 1st century A. D. It will be seen from
the specimen which I produce before the meeting (Plate X, No. 8)
that these monarchs were to a certain extent indebted to their Iiimyaritic
predecessors for the types of their coins, which it is probable were current
in South Arabia until the conversion of that part of the peninsula to Islam.
On the Revenues of the Mitghul Empire. — By H. G. Keene, C. S.
Akbar’s Revenue.
The Journal of the Asiatic Society of Bengal, Part I, No. IV, 1880,
contained a paper by Mr. C. J. Rodgers on the Copper Coins of Akbar.
The writer, a practical numismatist well known in Upper India, laid down
as a principle that it must have been a necessity of the position of the
Emperor Akbar, “ when he made a demand from his ministers for revenue
returns,” to fix upon a standard. He gives us the description of a coin
called the “ yah tdnlcaf weighing 59 grains Troy; and he concludes that
the 640 krors of “ moradi tanlcas ” of Nizam-ud-din Ahmad, about which
we have heard so much, must be based on the standard of two hundred to
the rupee and be equal to three million two hundred thousand sterling a
year. He adds that Abul Fazl’s estimate of the revenue of the same period
in dams will be equivalent to about the same, or three million five
* Dr. Schlumberger ( Le Tresor de Scm’d , p. 6, note 2) suggests that this is the
same coin as that mentioned by me in the Transactions of the Soc. of Tibi. Arch. Vol. II.
p. 5, but this is not the case. The coin sent by Capt. Miles to the Royal Asiatic Society
from Aden was, I believe, Axumite.
100 H. G. Keene — On the Revenues of the Mughul 'Empire. [No. 2,
hundred and forty thousand. The discrepancy is not fatal, if we suppose
Nizam-ud-din to have been giving only the land revenue, while Abul Fazl
added the customs. He adds that Thomas’s estimates are incredible, and
that the subject is one of great importance ; in which every one who thinks
much about it must agree.
But extreme and conflicting as are Mr. Thomas’s amounts, there are
numerous difficulties in the substitute suggested by Mr. Rodgers. In the
first place there is fair evidence that in the next reign, after Khandes and
Gujrat had been absorbed in the empire and Todarmal’s settlements had
borne their fruit, the revenues ran from twelve millions sterling to about
seventeen and a half. The first may be gathered from the statement of
Coryat, the wandering Vicar of Odcombe, who was a man of a most inquiring
disposition, and who gives the detailed account that the revenue (in the
early years of Jahangir) was “ forty millions of crownes of six shillings
each.” The second rests upon the testimony of the Badshah namah of a
contemporary of Shahjahan’s who says that on the demise of the crown
the revenue was over 18 krors. In the next place, Abul Fazl does not con¬
fine his estimate to the 567,63,83,883 dams erroneously given by Mr.
Rodgers : he gives it in Rupees, and he repeats it in detail as the aggre¬
gate of what he calls his taqsim Jamas. In the text of the Ain Akbari
he says that three Arbs, &c. of dams were equal to Rs. 90,749,881, annas 2
and pies 5 and the aggregate of the taqsim Jamas, given afterwards, brings
the total up, with some customs items, to nearly ten krors (9,96,13,850).
Now whatever else is to be discussed, we shall hardly go wrong in suppos¬
ing: that Nizam-ud-din and Abul Fazl both meant the same. Both were
financial officers of the highest rank, and, as Mr. Rodgers well says, their
estimates are for two succeeding years, the 39th and 40th of the reign.
Lastly, there is no sufficient ground for assuming that the dam was worth
so little as Mr. Rodgers supposes. He arrives at his conclusion by taking
it as being five times the value of a tanka of which 200 went to the rupee ;
he says truly enough that forty of these dims were equal to the rupee,
vide Blochmann’s Ain , p. 31 ; and hence he infers that this brings out his
estimate of 3 krors 54 lakhs. But it does not do so. Abul Fazl, as we
have seen, though he preserves the proportion of 40 : 1, says that the land
revenue in the 40th year was three Arbs , sixty-two krors ninety-seven
lakhs , fifty-five thousand one hundred and forty-six dams, or Rs. 90,749,881
which is the estimate in dams divided by forty.
Thus, then, we see that Mr. Rodgers’ first principle was wrong, and
we arrive at a second proposition : not only must Abul Fazl and Nizam-
ud-din mean much the same total, but they express it in different standards.
The tanka * of the one must bear to the dam of the other some such propor¬
tion as that of three hundred and sixty-two to six hundred and forty ; or, in
* It will be seen presently that the word is tanka without the alif.
101
1881.] H. G. Keene — On the Revenues of the Mughul Empire.
other words the tanka of Nizam-ud-din must have been nearly the sixty-
fourth of a rupee.
Now it seems to me that the coins figured by Mr. Rodgers furnish an
indication of this having been the case. His dam weighs 76 grains ; an d
a rupee, as he tells us, is worth 6400 grains or thereabouts which is, indeed,
about the average market value in copper. Supposing his dam to be a little
worn it will represent exactly the half of a revenue dam (160 x 40 = 6400)
just as the modern “ pyce” is half the tanka or “ taklca ” of native accoun¬
tants. Mr. Rodgers’ tanka weighs 59 (say without rubbing 60), which
could not possibly have been the tanka , of which five went to the dd m
(although five times half would be 150, not far from the weight of th e
dam ) .
The probability, then, is that the tanka mentioned by Nizam-ud-din
was no real coin, but a copper integer of account used by him from some local
or special reason, as the sixty fourth-part of the silver integer, or Rupee.
Now this can he shewn to be otherwise reasonable. The word tankah
is given in dictionaries to be (what it still is in native usage) the equi¬
valent of two paisah. There is no positive evidence as to the value of th e
paisah of those days ; the word does not seem to have been established, in
its modern sense, till quite recent times. But the Company struck a coi n
(which they called “ yak pai ”) in the name of the emperor ; this coin
weighed 100 grains. I have one in my possession which has never bee n
rubbed ; but I need not send it, as the Society can easily procure one for
reference ; and Mr. Rodgers, in his concluding note, also mentions the
same thing. But if this was the standard of the imperial coinage, under
whatever name, it is but natural that the “ murddi tanka ” (which is other¬
wise so puzzling) should have been the equivalent expression in the days of
Akbar. The paisah of those days was the same as the dam (Blochmann ’s
Ain, p. 51.)
In support of my belief that in point of fact the copper tanka was an
imaginary figure sometimes used in accounting, I would refer to Mr.
Thomas ( Chronicles , p. 49, note). It is not therefore clear on what data
the learned author has elsewhere taken the tankah of Nizam-ud-din to be
the Sikandari tankah. If anything is certain, it is that the use of the word
“ murddi'1'' in accounts means that a sum is being expressed in copper.
The exact words used by Nizam-ud-din are to be found in the Tabaqdt
Akbari : —
C cel
H *
“ i. e., at the present time Hindustan yields a revenue of 640 krors
niuradi tankahs ” (v. Elliot- Doioson, p. 186).
The suggestion that this means ten krors of rupees derives strong
confirmation from the following passage in Mr. Thomas’s Preface ; —
102 H. Gf. Keene — On the Revenues of the Mughul Empire. [No. 2,
“ Indian Currency consisted of hybrid pieces of silver and copper com¬
bined in the proportions necessary to constitute the equivalent subdivi¬
sions of the ruling silver tanlcah , which was never divided in practice by
any other number than 64.”
After explaining that the instinct of the Indian was to reckon by
fours, and that the copper exchange against silver commenced with four
fids to the sixty-fourth part of a silver tanlcah , the author adds : —
“ The quaternary scale in short was all pervading ; there was no
escaping the inevitable fours, sixteens, thirty-twos and sixty-fours, the
heritage of the masses which, having survived alike Aryan intrusions and
Muhammadan conquest, still flourish undisturbed by the presence of British
decimals.”
The copper integer or “pyce” of the British currency in India is still
64 to the Rupee ; but I am not sure that there is in this any thing anti-
Aryan. Indeed we have in England the analogy of our avoirdupois
weight, which still proceeds upon a scale of sixteen, as our “ crown” of five
shillings is the fourth of the pound sterling. If, however, sixty-four was
the necessary divisor for bringing copper tanhahs into their silver equiva¬
lent, it appears almost inevitable that the muradi tanlcah of Nizam-ud-din
is the sixty-fourth of the muhligh or silver integer, which was the Rupee.
And hence the revenue of Akbar in his 39th and 40th years was about ten
krors of Rupees.
If not, and we are to take the muradi tanlcah to mean merely the
coin so called, of which (as we learn from the Ain) five went to the dam
and two hundred to the Rupee, then Mr. Rodgers would be nearer right.
The tanlca figured by Mr. Rodgers weighs 59 grains, that mentioned by
Nizam-ud-din (which is however differently spelt) would only be half the
sixty-fourth (say 50 grains). If these could he taken to coincide, the
revenue aggregate given by the latter would have to be halved also. In that
case the word “ Hindustan” would have to be taken in a more restricted sense,
as meaning nothing but the Suhahs of Allahabad, Agra, Belhi and Bengal,
aggregated by ‘ Abul Fazl at three krors and forty-three lakhs .’ And
this, which is the only alternative solution, is equally destructive with the
former of Mr. Thomas’ excessive estimate, which he attempts to support by
doing violence to Abul Eazl’s words and figures. Before adopting it
however, we must attentively study the text of Nizam-ud-din, and I believe
it will be found impossible to suppose that the geographical area of Hindu¬
stan could have been intended to be thus restricted. For we are there told
that Hindustan measures 1680 Icos from the Hindu Kush to the Bay of
Bengal and 800 from Kashmir to Baroch : and so measured Hindustan
will be found to comprise the whole twelve Suhahs of Abul Fazl, assessed,
as we learn from his details, at nearly ten krors of Rupees, as well as
Khandes and Guzrat, whose assessment is more doubtful.
103
1881.] 11. K. Bhattacharya — Identity of TIpello with JJpaplam.
I therefore see no escape from the conclusion that ten Icrors is the
right figure ; that the estimates of Nizam-ud-din and Abul Fazl agree ; and
that the muradi tanlcah is neither the one-fifth of a dam mentioned in the Ain
nor the modern “ double pyce,” but an imaginary integer of copper accounts
whereof sixty-four equal one silver Rupee. I conclude, farther, that this sum
was increased, by the end of the reign, to about twelve Icrors; that increase
being due to good settlements and a firm administration. Of course my
conclusion is wholly inconsistent with the complaint of Sir R. Temple
( India in 1880) that the British get no more out of the empire than the
Mughals did. But that is a complaint which would, as I imagine, be
endorsed by very few persons who were acquainted with the facts.
On the Identity of TJpello with Upaplava. — By Risni Kesii
Bhattachabya Shastki.
• •
With reference to a letter which was sent a few days ago by the Deputy
Commissioner, Delhi, asking about the site of the city of TJpello or (the
correct word) Upaplava mentioned in the Virataparva, Mahabharata, I beg
to submit the following which I hope may throw some light on the subject.
As Sanskrit literature is wholly destitute of trustworthy geographical
records, it is not easy, after the lapse of ages, to ascertain precisely the site
of several places enumerated in the Puranas. A skilful conjecture only may
be made by way of solving the problems of such a nature.
The sloka referred to in the letter is : —
cTT^r ^ II
“ Salya having arrived at Upaplava entered the camp and saw there
all the Panclavas.”
Mlakantha in his commentary on this sloka says—
“ Upaplava is a city in the kingdom of Virata” (Matsyadesa).
So the solution of the question solely depends on finding out the site
of Matysyadesa or the kingdom of Virata, a task which is as difficult as
may be exj^ected at a time like this when all the geographical names of
ancient India have assumed quite different forms.
However, we must try to trace the place by collecting local traditions
as well as Pauranika descriptions relating to the subject.
It is a common saying among the people of Midanapur district in
Bengal that, the Matsyadesa of ancient times had been situated in the
vicinity of that district, while others state that the kingdom of Virafa had
104 K. K. Bhattacharya — Identity of TJpello with Upaplava. [No. 2,
been situate near the Maldali district in Northern Bengal ; and both parties
show some ruins to verify their respective theories.*
I found the other day in a Bengali Map of India by a Ganesachandra
Bhattacharjya that Berar of the present time was marked as the kingdom of
Virata of the Mahabharata. According to the Prakrita Grammar the word
Virata in Sanskrit might be reduced to the form of Birada in the Prakrita,
hence Birara or Berar in the vernaculars. So this last supposition has a
strong etymological ground to support it.
The traditions and hypotheses cited above are apparently of such a
contradictory nature that from them not much light can be derived.
So leaving them aside for a moment, let us search in the Mahabharata after
the districts bordering on Matsyadesa.
We find in the Digvijaya Parvadhyaya, of Sabhaparva, Mahabha¬
rata : —
VT*TT |
fftT ^T§f*TT II
“ That Bhima on his way to conquer the eastern countries, having sub¬
dued many countries, in a short time came to Dasarna, where Sudhar-
ma the king of the place fought a dreadful battle, but Bhima gained the
field. After completing the conquest of this country, the very powerful
Bhima subdued the inhabitants of Matsya and Malada respectively.”
It is manifest from the above that the Matsyadesa of Mahabharata
had Dasarna on one side and Malada on the other. But this, instead of
solving the problem, leads us to a greater confusion. Now the question
arises where was Dasarna situated, and where Malada P On the reply to
this depends our solution, but this is not an easy task.
Mr. Wilson, in his commentary on the 24th sloka of Meghaduta re¬
cites the following in respect of Dasarna :
“No traces of this name are to be found in modern maps. It is
enumerated in Major Wilford’s lists from the Puranas, Asiatic Researches,
Vol. VIII, amongst the countries situated behind the Vindhya mountains and
corresponds according to him with Daserene of Ptolemy’s. * * * * It may
possibly correspond, at least in part, with the modern district of Chattisgarh,
* [This is a mistake, according to Dr. E. Mitra, who thinks “ that the Pandit
must have confounded Midnapur with Dinajpur which has often been described as
the Virata of the Mahabharata.” See Proceedings, A. S. B., August 1880. On the
identification ot Virata, see General Cunningham’s Ancient Geography of India , vol. I’
p. 350. Ed.]
105
1881.] R. K. Bhattacharya — Identity of TJpello loith Tip ay lav a.
as the etymology of both words refers to similar circumstances, Chattis-
garh being so named from its being supposed to comprise thirty- six forts.
According to Bharata the commentator on our text, Dasarna is derived from
Dasa ten and Rina a stronghold or Durga of the Peninsula and hence
means the district of the ten citadels.”
If we rely on the above a part of the question is solved. Let us now
look after Malada.
In his commentary on the 15th sloka of Meghadiita in which a term
Mala occurred, Mr. Wilson observes that “ the easterly progress of the cloud
and the subsequent direction by which he is to reach the mountain A'mra-
cuta, prove that the place here mentioned must be somewhere in the imme¬
diate vicinity of Ruttanpore, the chief town of the northern half of the
province of Chattisgarh and described in Captain Blunt’s tour, Asiatic
Researches, Yol. II, the only modern traces that ean be found of it are in a
plane called Malda, a little to the north of Ruttanpore ; in Ptolemy’s map
there is a town called Maleta and situated with respect to the Yindya
mountains similarly with the Mala of our poet.”
Many places may be found in the map of India under the name of
Mala or Malwa. A. term which according to the Prakrita Grammar may be
supposed to have been derived from the Sanskrit Malada. Mr. Wilford in
his lists from the Puranas has applied this name to the Malabhoom of Midana-
pur, Bengal, while according to Pliny Malas are the countries of the Mali
of the Punjab, a tribe who are described to have fought a dreadful battle with
Alexander the Great. Besides these, a district of the same name, as we
have already mentioned, is still to be found in northern Bengal.
This being the case, nothing ean be precisely determined by merely
saying that Matsyadesa was situated between Dasarna and Malada ; for we
cannot ascertain which of the above mentioned places is meant here. (1)
If Malabhoom of Midanapur be taken for it, the first tradition may be
deemed acceptable. (2) If Maldah of Bengal be considered to have been
the Malada of the text, it would furnish a strong argument in support of
the second. (8) If we concur with Mr. Wilson, the place so described
in the Bengali map might be considered as possibly a correct one. So the
solution still is enveloped in hopeless confusion.
Let us adopt another way which may lead us to the correct place.
Manu in his division of India states : —
“ R i
^ TnfMT: I
^ n”
106 R. K. Bhattacharya — Identity of TJyello with ZIpapIava. [No. 2,
“ Tbe sacred place lying between tbe two divine rivers Saraswati and
Drisbadwati (Gagra) is called Brahmavarta, and next to Brahmavarta is
Brahmarshidesa, a place consisting o£ Kurukshetra, Matsya, Pancbala, and
Surasenaka.”
Kullwlcabhatta , in bis commentary on tbe last sloka, says “
“ Tbe words Matsya &c., when used as plural, denote tbe countries of
tbe same names. Pancbala is tbe name of Kanyakubjadesa and Surasena of
Mathura.”
It would be out of place here to discuss whether Pancbala and Kanya-
kubja are two different names of the same place. Yet it may be safely-
inferred that even at tbe time of Kullukahhatta tbe names of tbe places
mentioned in tbe old books must have become obsolete, otherwise Kulluka-
bhatta would have pointed out tbe modern name of Matsya. Nevertheless it
is evident from tbe above mentioned passage of Manu that Matsya Desa
was situate next to Kuruksliestra in tbe Ambala district and was probably
on tbe south-east of it.
Again we find in Yirataparva, Mahabharata — tbe way of tbe Panda-
vas from Kamyavana — a forest extending on tbe banks of tbe Saraswati —
to Matsyadesa is described as follows : —
■q-T^T^TT^T I
'^r TOT ^TrT Il” *
VJ \J
“ Pandavas calling themselves hunters and going straight by north of
Dasarna, south of Pancbala and through Yakrilloma and Surasena reached
tbe kingdom of Matsya.” From this passage we may easily infer that
Matsyadesa must have been situate on tbe north-west of Surasena (modem
Mathura), a place nearly corresponding with that of Manu.
Moreover it is mentioned in tbe Gograhaparvadhaya, Yirataparva
of tbe Mahabharata, that Matsyadesa was situated on tbe south-east of
Hastinapur, then tbe capital of India, and was at a distance of two days’
journey from it, thus : —
^sTST TfsW ^ I
t 11”
A place called Hathnapore in tbe Mirut district is supposed to be tbe
Hastinapore of tbe Mahabharata. This supposition also, if correct, supports
our point. On tbe whole we may be satisfied that Matsyadesa must have
107
1881.] R K. Bhattacharya — Identity of TJpello with TJpaplam.
been situated between Mathura and Delhi, and consequently the Pandits
who claim that Upello on the Delhi and Agra road was the Upaplava of
ancient times may be quite correct.
As regards Dasarna, although we have not any strong argument on our
side to refute Mr. Wilson, yet we may freely urge that there was a
Dasarna in the north-western Provinces ; for a river of the same name is still
to be found in the Hamirpur district, North-West Provinces.
With respect to Malada it is true that no definite trace of it is to be
found now. Nevertheless we must consider it to have been situate in the
North-Western Provinces. There is a place in the Delhi district called
Malwa, from which a large quantity of oil is exported to various provinces
of Hindustan. I may throw out the suggestion that this Malwa may be
the Malada of the Mahabharata. If this be the case we have got a con¬
sistent theory which may be provisionally accepted as true until some better
one be found in its place.
Translations from the Hamdseh . — Bp C. J. Lyall, C. S.
In the Journal of the Asiatic Society of Bengal for 1877 I
published some translations of old Arabian poetry, chiefly from the
Hamdseh, and the following are offered in continuation of those.
Somewhat more exactness of metrical form has now been aimed at in
the English versions, but I hope that accuracy has not been allowed
thereby to suffer. The majority of the poems have been translated
in Arabian metres, a full explanation of each of which will be found
where it occurs. A critic in the Academy, noticing the previous
series, has called in question the possibility of giving in the English
language any idea of Arab metres, or at least the adequacy of the
attempt made in that series. On that occasion, however, I aimed
(with one exception) at no exact reproduction in English of the order
and quantity of the syllables in the Arabic originals : only a general
likeness was intended ; and that likeness seemed to me to be suffici¬
ently secured. I may mention that I have carefully studied M.
Stanislas Guyard's Theorie Nouvelle de la Metrique Arabe, and that any
discrepancy which may be detected between his views on the Arabian
metres and mine is not due to my ignorance of the former. The four
metres which I have imitated in the translations are the Tawtl, the
Hezej, the Kamil, and the Wdjir (the last exactly only in one poem,
No. Ill : in Nos. XV and XXII only the general scheme is followed),
o
108
C. J. Lvall — Translations from the Hamaseh.
%j «/ •
[No. 2,
As regards the last three, I believe that there is little or no difference
between M. Guyard and myself. As regards the Tawil, I am as yet
quite unable to accept his theory of the value of the foot fa'ulun, which
he considers presents a double ictus, like mafcfilun . This is not the
place to argue the question ; but all the phenomena alleged by M.
Guyard in support of his view appear to me to bear an interpretation
consistent with that taken by me, while there is much besides that
confirms me in my opinion.
The poems here rendered belong to all the periods of which
specimens are given in the Hamaseh, from the oldest days of the War
of Basus down to the time immediately preceding that in which the
collection was compiled. The majority are, however, ancient. The
probable dates have been given when I could ascertain them ; but it
will of course be understood that those put forward by Caussin de
Perceval for pre-islamic times are for the most part conjectural, and
at the best only approximate. The references to the pages of the
Hamaseh are to Frey tag's edition of the Arabic text, with et-Tebrizi's
commentary.
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C. J. Lyall — Translations from the Hama sell.
El-Find ez-Zimmdni.
109
Forgiveness had we for Hindis sons :
o
we said : f The men our brothers are :
The Days may bring’ that yet ag'ain
they be the folk that once they were.51
But when the Ill stood clear and plain,
and naked Wrong was bare to day,
And nought was left but bitter Hate — -
we paid them in the coin they gave.
5 We strode as stalks a lion forth
at dawn, a lion angry-eyed ;
Blows rained we, dealing shame on shame,
and humbling pomp and quelling pride :
Spear-th rusts wherefrom the spouting blood
gushed forth as wine from full wine-skin.
Too kind a man may be with fools,
and move them but to flout him more ;
And Mischief oft may bring thee peace,
when Mildness works not Folly’s cure.
Hamdseh, pp. 8 — 12.
Notes.
The metre of this poem is Hezej of the first form : —
The English endeavours to reproduce it as far as the metrical structure of
our language will permit.
The author’s real name was Shahl son of Sheyban : his surname, el-
Find, means “ the mountain crag” or “ a mighty piece of a mountain.”
Accounts differ as to the reason why it was given ; some say he was so
called because of the hugeness of his stature : others, that he said on a day
of battle to his fellows who were pressed hard — “ Plant yourselves against
me : I will be a rock to your backs.”
The Benu. Zimman, to which tribe Iiq belonged, were of the offspring
of Bekr son of Wail, and dwelt in the central mountains of Nejd among
the Benu Hanifeh. They, like their friends of Hanifeh, long held aloof
from the War of Basus (one of the greatest of the ante-Islamic struggles
between the Arab tribes), which was at first confined to the divisions of
Bekr descended from Duhl son of Sheyban on the one side, and Teghlib
110
C. J. Lyall — Translations from the Hamaseh.
[No. 2,
on the other. For many years Sheyban was worsted in the contest with
Teghlib, and at last the former sought the aid of el-Harith son of ‘Obad,
chief of Hanifeh, in bringing about a peace. El-Harith sent his son (some
say, nephew) Bujeyr to the men of Teghlib to treat for a compromise.
The young man was, however, slain by Muhelhil, the leader of Teghlib,
in despite of his character of peacemaker ; and from that time el-Harith
and his tribe were arrayed with their brethren of Bekr against Teghlib.
The latter soon found that fortune had turned ; and the struggle ended,
after forty years of strife, in a hollow peace and the emigration of Teghlib
to the uplands of el- ‘Iraq.
The War of Basus is a great centre of old Arab song and story. It is
also one of the oldest well-vouched-for historical events of the Days of the
Ignorance. Caussin de Perceval places its commencement, the slaying of
Kuleyb, in 491 A. D., and the death of Bujeyr and the taking part in the
war of el-Harith son of ‘Obad in the following year, 495 ; but this seems
to me an error. Several battles are named in which Teghlib was victorious,
before the disastrous Day of Qiddah, “ the Day of the shaving of the
love-locks,” Tihldq el-limem, when they were beaten with great slaughter
by el-Harith ; and I think we must allow at least five years between the
outbreak of the war and this event.
The poem above given is connected by tradition with the War of
Basus, and it was most probably composed when the men of Hanifeh were,
by the treacherous murder of Bujeyr, drawn into the strife of Bekr with
Teghlib. This would fix its date as about the end of the 6th century after
Christ.
v. 1. “ Hind’s sons.” This is the better reading: the text of Frey-
tag gives “ sons of Buhl but no contest of Hanifeh with Buhl is record¬
ed : certainly not during the War of Basus. Hind is the reading given
as an alternative in the notes, and that found in the Kitdh el-Aglmni ,
xx, 143. This Hind was the mother of Teghlib, herself the daughter of
Murr son of Udd, and sister of Temim.
The first two couplets of the poem have been somewhat inappro¬
priately quoted by more than one writer on old Arab legend as a prover¬
bial example of brotherly endurance of injury. They are but the prelude
to a stern administration of chastisement.
v. 6. The exact meaning of iqrdn is difficult to ascertain : of its
general sense there can be no doubt. Literally it should be “ a yoking
together” ; and it seems probable that it refers to the taming of an unruly
camel, which is tied to a stronger one that is tame, and so brought under
control. Thus ‘Amr son of Kulthum says in his Mohallaqah (v. 6G) : —
matd na’-qid qarinatand (better, to‘qad qarinatund) hihablin
tejudda-l-habla ’em teqisi-l-qarind.
1881.] C. J. Lyall — Translations from the Hamaseh. Ill
that is
“ When we bind onr unruly camel to another with a cord [to
tame her] (or, as I prefer to read :
t( When our unruly camel is bound to another with a cord,”)
“ She snaps the cord or breaks her fellow’s neck.”
The meaning of this couplet is illustrated by an anecdote told of (Amr
son of Kulthum in the Aghani (ix. 183), on the authority of Ibn-el-A‘rabi :
“ ‘Amr son of Kulthum of Teghlib led a foray against the men of Temim :
then he swept down upon a tribe of Qeys son of Tha‘lebeh, and filled his
hands with their goods, and took prisoners and captives. Then he ended
that expedition in el-Yemameh where the Benu Hanifeh dwelt, among
whom were certain men of ‘iji- But the men of Hajr heard of his coming,
and the first who went forth to meet him of Hanifeh were the Benu
Lujeym, with Yezid son of ‘Amr son of Shemir at their head. This chief,
when he saw the son of Kulthum, set his lance at him, pierced him, and
cast him to ground from his horse : for Yezid was a mighty man, huge of
bulk. And he bound him with bonds of leather, and said to him—
1 Art thou not he that saith —
“ When our unruly camel is bound to another with a cord,
she snaps the cord or breaks her fellow’s neck” ?
Lo ! I will yoke thee (sa’ uqrinuJca) to this camel of mine, and drive
the pair of you together side by side.’ Then cried ‘Amr, ‘ Help, men of
Rabkah ! Like shall be paid for like !’# And the men of Lujeym gathered
together and besought Yezid not to do as he said ; but he had never really
purposed it. And he carried ‘Amr with him to one of their castles in Hajr,
where he pitched a tent for him, and slew beasts to feast him, and clad
him in rich clothing, and gave him a goodly she-camel to ride, and poured
for him wine to drink.” &c.
From all of which it follows that qarineh means a camel which is
yoked to another (qarin) to cure her stubbornness, and that aqrana is used
for the action of yoking a qarineh to a qarin ; which justifies my render¬
ing, “ quelling pride,” and explains how iqrctn comes to mean, as et-Tebrizi
says it does, ghalheh, “ overcoming.”
II.
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112
C. J. Lyall — Translations from the Hamdseh. [No. 2,
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f Orweh son of el- Ward of cAbs.
God’s scorn on the homeless wight who under the pall of Night
goes cowering the shambles through, and gathers the marrow¬
bones ;
Who comforts his heart, full rich, as oft as at eventide
he lights on a wealthy friend to yield him his fill of milk !
He lies in the twilight down, and drowsy the morrow wakes,
and shakes from his dust-spread side the gravel where he has
lain.
A help to the women-folk in all that they bid him do,
at even he jaded lies like camel outstretched to die.
5 So he : hut the homeless wight the breadth of whose valiant face
glows bright as a mighty flame that shines through the mid¬
night mirk,
A terror to all he hates, besetting their way with fear,
while home-bound they curse him deep, as losers the luckless
shaft :
Though far from his haunts they dwell, they image his coming
nigh,
and watch, as his kinsmen watch when one whom they love
comes home :
Yea, he, if he lights on Death in faring his way, a death
of glory it is ; and if on .Riches one day, how due !
Ham. pp. 207 — 9 .
1881.]
C. J. Lyall — Translations from the Hamdseh.
113
Notes.
The metre is the most ordinary form of the Tawil ; the English
imitates it : —
(rare) (rare)
‘Orweh son of el- Ward was a warrior and singer of ‘Abs in the long war
which that tribe waged against Bubyan called the War of Dahis, A. D.
568 — 608 (C. de Perceval). He was a proverb for his generosity, and it
was said of him by one of the early Khalifehs — “ He who calls Hatim the
most generous of the Arabs wrongs ‘Orweh.” His very name implies his
character : for ‘ orweh means those trees and bushes fit for pasture which
do not dry up in seasons of drought, and are therefore a resource in times
of dearth. He was called lOrwat-es-$aldliJc, “The resource in time of
hunger of all vagabonds,” because he never failed to give them of his
store, or to find food for them by plundering others. Much of his poetry
has survived and has been edited and published by Prof. Noeldeke.
Such a vagabond as ‘Orweh delighted to help, and such an one as he
despised, are here set before us by himself. These Sa‘dlilc , outlaws, home¬
less men, were numerous in the days of the Ignorance. Ta’abbata Sherra
was such an one: such were es-Suleyk son of es-Sulakeh and esh-Shenfara
of Azd. They were men who had on them the guilt of blood and had
been disowned by their tribe. All men’s hands were against them, and
they alone against all. What hardness and heroic strength of heart this
solitude bred are nowhere so strikingly seen as in that most magnificent
of old Arab poems, the Ldmiyyeli of esh-Shenfara.
v. 1. “God’s scorn be on him,” literally, “ may God smite him on
the cheek” and so disgrace him.
The word musafi in this line is difficult, both to parse and render :
for the discussion of it the reader is referred to et-Tebrizi and Freytag’s
notes. I have taken it in the sense of “ gathering up out of the dust and
cleaning,” but with some diffidence. There is a various reading for it —
madaft: “who goes after, or in search of:” but this has the aspect of a
device to smoothe a difficulty, and is frigid.
v. 2. “His fill of milk :” that “ milk” is intended by the “ entertain¬
ment,” qira, spoken of, I infer from the meaning of nmyessir, which
denotes “ one whose herds and flocks yield him abundance of milk.”
v. 3. He goes to rest early and rises late, still drowsy,
v. 6. “ As losers curse the luckless shaft” : zejra-l-memhi-l-mushali-
heri ; el-menih was the name of one of the three arrows which, in the game
played with ten arrows by the pagan Arabs, had no lots assigned to them.
114
C. J. Lyall — Translations from the Hamaseh.
[No. 2,
Seven of the ten were winning arrows, and three, el-menih , es-sefih , el-
weghid , losing. El-menih may also mean lent : but it is unnecessary to
take it in that sense here.
v. 7. “ Watch teshaiuwif means straining the gaze in looking for
a distant object.
III.
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Abu-l- GIml et- Tuhawi .
• •
My life and my wealth, yea all that is mine, be ransom
against Time's wrong for those who shewed true my forecast !
The knights who are weary never before Death's onset,
though stubbornest Strife ply there the dread Mill of Battle.
Men they who requite not good with an evil guerdon,
nor do they return for roughness a gentle answer.
Their sternness abides unflagging, though they be roasted
again and again in War's most flaming furnace.
5 They held with the sword el-Waqba's guarded meadow,
— the sword from whose edge flew all Death's shapes united;
It drave from before them headlong the rush of foemen,
and madness at last was healed by a wilder fury.
Not men they to feed their flocks on the skirts of Quiet :
not they to pitch tent, whereso they abide, in meekness !
Ham, pp, 12 — 15.
1331.]
C. J. Lyall — Translations from the Hamaseh.
Notes.
115
The metre is JVaf rol the first form, and is imitated in the English
kj _ w w _
_ KJ KJ _ I _
KJ
KJ KJ _
KJ
\J KJ
The poem belongs to the early days of el- Islam, when the rivalries of
the Arab tribes were still as strong as before the coming of the new faith.
The event on which it touches happened in the days of ‘Othman (A. TI.
25 — -35). El-Waqba (or el-Waqaba according to the Mardsid, iii. p. 291)
was a hima or pasturage surrounding a well of water, reserved by a tribe
or family for its own use and forbidden to others, lying on the road be¬
tween el-Basrah and el-Medineh, three miles distant from ed-Daju‘. Such
liimas (which I render by “ guarded meadow”) are often heard of in Arab
verse and story, and disputes connected with them gave occasion to bloody
contests. The War of Basus, for instance, took its rise in the trespass of
a strange camel named Sarabi, belonging to a guest of the house of
Tessas son of Murrah, of the family of Buhl son of Sheyban, into the him a,
of Kuleyb, chief of the combined clans of Teghlib and Bekr. Kuleyb shot
at and wounded the camel, and was himself slain by Tessas in revenge for
the insult done to his guest. In the days of ‘Othman, says et-Tebrlzi,
‘Abdallah son of ‘Amir, of the family of ‘Abd-Shems son of ‘Abd-Menaf,
was governor of el-Basrah and its dependencies, and he gave over the charge
of the himas of that region to Bishr son of Hazn of Mazin (a branch of
Temim). Bishr and his brother Kdiufaf took possession of el-Waqba, and
digged there two wells, called Dat-el-Qasr and el-Taufa, which exist to this
day. Fearing lest ‘Abdallah should take them away by force (for their
water was sweet as morning rain), they buried them under mounds ot earth
to hide them. But the matter reached ‘Abdallah, who demanded of them
the wells which they had dug without his leave. They refused to sur¬
render them, and were ejected by him from their office. Now ‘Abdallah
had placed his uncle Mas‘adeh of Suleym over the well of Abu Musa. This
well was taken forcible possession of by some men of Bekr and a company
gathered from other tribes, and when Mas‘adeh called upon them to
pay for its use, Sheyban son of Khasafeh of Bekr smote him in
the face with his sword, so that he was carried wounded to his house.
Thereon the men of Bekr removed to el-Waqba, as being nearer to their
home and a safer abode, and settled there. And Bishr son of Hazn sent
word to the Bekris — “ If ye desire only to halt here this summer, ye and
those that are with you of your tribe, halt and be welcome ; but if ye desire
aught else, let me know of it : for this is my land and my water.” But
they replied, threatening him — “ If we see thee in el-Waqba, we will do
to thee thus and thus.” Whereon Bishr sent his brother Khufaf and otaer
p
116
C. J. Lvall — Translations from the Hamdseh .
%j t/ •
[No. 2,
kinsmen to all the men of Temim settled round about, to the Bel-‘Ambar,
to the Benu Yerbu‘ ibn HanSaleh, and to the Benu Mazin ibn Malik,
asking help against Bekr. How these men fared among their kinsmen,
who helped them and who hung back, is told at great length, and were
tedious to relate here. In the end the men of Mazin rode forth to attack
Bekr, and overcame them, and recovered el-Waqba for their tribe, who
still held it in the days of the geographer Abu ‘Obeyd el-Bekri, who died
A. H. 487. And this deed of Mazin is the subject of the poem.
Abu-1- Ghul et-Tuhawi, the author, is so called because he was descend¬
ed from Tuheyyeh, daughter of ‘Abd-Shems son of Sa‘d son of ZejM-
Menah. This woman had three sons, ‘Auf, Abu Sud, and Jusheysh, by
Malik son of Hanftaleh ; and the posterity of these were known by their
mother’s name, not their father’s : a very rare thing in Arabian genealogies.
v. 1. “ May my life be thy ransom !” is a phrase which recurs con¬
stantly in Arab verse. Like expressions are — “ May my father and mother
be thy ransom,” “ May I he thy sacrifice !” &c. The idea of fida is, of
course, that the person devoting himself takes upon him all the evil in the
destiny of the other whom he addresses. Hence the common expression,
heard every day in India, fidwi ( properly fidaioi).
v. 2. “ The Mill of Battle” : a frequent comparison in old Arab
poetry ; the locus classicus is in the Mo'allaqah of ‘Amr son of Kulthum,
vv. 30, 31 : —
matd nenqul HI a qaumin rahdnd
yekunu Ji-l-liqdH lahd tahind.
yekunu thifdluha sharqiyya Nejdin
ivaluhwatuhd Qudd‘atu ’ ajmaHna
“ When our war-mill is set against a people,
as grain they fall thereunder ground to powder.
“ Eastward in Nejd is set the skin thereunder,
and the grain cast therein is all Quda‘ah.”
(l Stubbornest strife”: the word zabun signifies thrusting, pushing,
straining one against another.
v. 4. “ Boasted ’ salu hil-harhi. This, again, is one of the com¬
monest phrases for War : as in the words of el-Harith son of ‘Chad (for
the incident, see the notes to No. I) : —
lam ’ akun min junatihd, ‘ alima-l-ld -
hu , waHnni biharriha-l-yauma salt.
“ I was not of those whose wrong wrought it, God knows !
yet must I today be burned in its blaze.”
1881.]
C. J. Lyall — Translations from the Hamdseh.
117
v. 5. “ All Death’s forms” : ashtat-el-manuni. The best way to take
ethe phrase is, I think, to understand the various strokes by which death
an be dealt with a sword : as shearing oft the head, cleaving the skull, &c.
IV.
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Ibrahim son of Iluneyf en-Nebhdni.
Be patient : for free-born men to bear is the fairest thing*,
and refuge against Time's wrong or help from his hurt is none.
And if it availed man aught to bow him to fluttering Fear,
or if he could ward off hurt bj humbling himself to III,
To bear with a valiant front the full brunt of every stroke
and onset of Fate were still the fairest and best of things.
But how much the more, when none outruns by a span his Doom,
and refuge from God’s decree nor was nor will ever be.
5 And sooth, if the changing Days have wrought us — their wonted
way —
a lot mixed of weal and woe, yet one thing they could not do :
They have not made soft or weak the stock of our sturdy spear :
they have not abased our hearts to doing of deeds of shame.
118
C. J. Lyall — Translations from the Hamdseh.
[No. 2,
We offer to bear their weight a handful of noble souls :
though laden beyond all might of man, they uplift the load.
So shield we with Patience fair our souls from the stroke of
Shame :
our honours are whole and sound, though others be lean enow.
Ham. TV- 125-6.
Notes.
The metre is the same as that of No. II.
I have been able to ascertain nothing regarding the author ; from his
name, Ibrahim, he was doubtless born after the promulgation of el-Islam.
His tribe, Nebhan, was one of the divisions of Tayyi’. The sentiment of
vv. 5—8 seems to shew that the poem belongs to the first days of the new
faith. The stress laid on the word horr, “ free born,” in vv. 1 and 3 is also
consonant with that age, when the Arabs were being thrust into the back¬
ground by the invasion of all important posts, civil and military, by rnawdli ,
“ freedmen” of foreign birth.
v. 6. l' The stock of our sturdy spear” : qanatan salibatan. The
spear is here not the actual weapon, but the stubbornness and strength of
backbone of the clan. Examples of the metaphor abound ; the following
is found in the Mo‘allaqah of ‘Amr son of Kulthum (vv. 57 — 59) -
*
fa'inna qandtana, yd ‘Amru, '>aiyet
iala-l-xa<dd,i qalblalca ’ an telind :
*iztd 1 adda-th-thiqafu biharshma'azzet
wa-ivellet-hu ‘ashauza?iatan zabund — •
lashauzanatan : ’ icta-nqalabet , ’ arannet
teshujju qafa-l-muthaqqif wa-l-j ebtnd.
il In sooth our spear, o£Amr, has outworn too many a hand
that strove against it before thee, that it should be soft to thee !
u When the straightening-iron clipped it, it stiffened itself against it,
and turned it back upon the the wielder thereof, stubborn and
sturdy :
“ Yea, stubborn : when it was bent to mould it, it cried out,
and wounded the neck and forehead of the strais-htener.”
The phrases “ the spear of such an one is hard,” or “ there is weakness
in their spear,” are almost commonplaces. Et-Tebrizi quotes—
lednet qandti la telinu lighdmizin ;
fa' aldnaha-l- asbdha wa-l- amsd'u.
1881.]
C. J. Lyall — Translations from the Hamaseh.
119
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120
[No 2,
C. J. Lyall — Translations from the Hamaseh.
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Dureyd son of es-Simmeh.
I warned them, both 'Arid and the men who went 'Arid’s way
— the stock of Benu-s-Sauda : yea, all are my witnesses.
I said to them: ' Think— even now two thousand are on your
track,
all laden with spear and sword, their captains in Persian mail/
But when they would hearken not, I followed their road, though I
knew well they were fools, and that I walked not in Wisdom’s
way :
For am I not hut one of Ghaziyyeh ? and if they err,
I err with my house; and if Ghaziyyeh go right, so I.
5 I read them my rede one day beneath where the sandhills fail :
the morrow at noon they saw my counsel as I had seen.
A shout rose, and voices cried — ' The horsemen have slain a
knight !’
I said — ' Is it 'Abdallah, the man who ye say is slain V
I sprang to his side : the spears had riddled his body through,
as weaver on outstretched web plies deftly the sharp-toothed
comb.
I stood as a camel stands with fear in her heart, and seeks
the stuffed skin with eager mouth, and thinks — is her youngling
slain ?
I plied spear above him till the riders had left their prey,
and over myself black blood flowed forth in a dusky tide.
10 I fought as a man who gives his life for his brother’s life,
who knows that his time is short, that Death’s doom above
him hangs.
But know ye, if ‘’Abdallah be gone, and his place a void,
no weakling unsure of hand, and no holder-back was he !
Alert, keen, his loins well girt, his leg to the middle bare,
unblemished and clean of limb, a climber to all things high :
No waiter before ill luck : one mindful in all he did
to think how his work to-day would live in to-morrow’s tale :
1881.]
121
C. J. Lyall — Translations from the Hamaseh.
Content to bear hunger's pain though meat lay beneath his hand :
to labour in ragged shirt that those whom he served might rest.
15 If Dearth laid her hand on him, and Famine devoured his store,
he gave but the gladlier what little to him they spared.
He dealt as a youth with Youth, until, when his head grew hoar
and age gathered o'er his brow, to Lightness he said — Begone !
Yea, somewhat it soothes my soul that never I said to him
e Thou best/ nor grudged him aught of mine that he sought of
me.
Ham. pp. 377 — 80.
Notes.
Metre Tawil , as in No. II : a short syllable occurs in the third place
of the second foot of the hemistich three times in this poem, viz., in vv 1 ,a,
3 ,b, and 12, a, which is exceptionally frequent.
The author, Dureyd son of es-Simmeh son of el-Harith son of Bekr
son of ‘Alqameh son of Juda‘ah son of Ghaziyyeh son of Jusham son of
Mo‘awiyeh son of Bekr son of Hawazin, was a man of great note in the
days of Mohammed’s boyhood and youth. His father es-Simmeh had led
the Benu Jusham in the War of the Fijar on the day of en-Nakhleh, where
the future prophet, then aged 14, was present (A. D. 585). Es-Simmeh
(whose real name was Mo‘awiyeh, es-Simmeh being a title meaning “ the
Serpent”) had, according to the Aghani, five sons by his wife Reyhaneh
daughter of Ma‘di-kerib, a woman of el- Yemen : their names were Dureyd,
‘Abd-Yaghuth, Qeys, Khalid, and ‘Abdallah, all warriors of prowess and
renown. The stock of Hawazin had their abode in the mountains ana
plains to the East of Mekkeh, and were divided into numerous branches, of
which the Benu Thaqif of Ta’if, a strong town no great distance from
Mekkeh, the Benu Suleym, the Benu Jusham, the Benu Sa‘d ibn Bekr
(among whom the Prophet was fostered), the Benu Nasr ibn Mo‘awiyeh
and the Benu Hilal were the chief. These were engaged in frequent con¬
tests among themselves, but, at the time when the event to which the
poem relates occurred, were all united against the great stock of Gfhatafan,
who dwelt to the north of them (‘Abs, Dubyan, ‘Abdallah, Ashja‘). It
. were too long to tell here all that is recorded of Dureyd : his encounter
with Rabi‘ah son of Mukeddem, of the Benu Firas, on the Day of el-
Akhram (one of the noblest stories of the Ignorance), his wooing of the
poetess el-Khansa, or his heroic death at the Battle of Honeyn (A. H. 8. — *
A. D. 630). His fame as a poet rests chiefly on his affection for his
brother ‘Abdallah, in his grief for whose death he composed much verse which
has survived, and is conspicuously excellent among the poetry of that day.
122
[No. 2,
C. J. Lyall — Translations from the Hamdseh.
In or about the year 610 A. D., a company of the Benu Jusham and
the Benu Nasr ibn Mo'awiyeh, both of Hawazin, commanded by ‘Abdal¬
lah, the youngest brother of Dureyd, led a foray against Ghatafan, and
carried off: a great number of camels. They were returning from this
expedition with their booty, and had reached the border of the territory
of Hawazin, at a place called Mun‘araj el-Liwa (“ the place where the
sandhills curve round,” see v. 5 of the poem), when ‘Abdallah proposed
that they should halt and divide the spoil. Dureyd, who was with them,
dissuaded him, pointing out that they were not yet safe from pursuit.
But ‘Abdallah persisted, and swore that he would not leave the spot, till he
had taken his fourth part of the captures, and feasted his companions on
a nagi^h — a camel slain by the leader of an expedition from his share of
the spoil and divided among his fellows. Next da}', while they were pre¬
paring the feast, a cloud of dust was seen. A sentinel posted on the sand¬
hills cried — “ I see horsemen coming clad in yellow.” “ They are of Ashja‘,”
said ‘Abdallah, “ I care not for them.” “ I see others,” said the sentinel,
“ who have the points of their lances set between the ears of their horses.”
“ These are of Fezarah,” said Dureyd. “ And there come also others who
gallop along, trailing their lances on the ground.” “ These are of ‘Abs, and
Death comes with them !” said the elder brother.
Hardly had ‘Abdallah’s men time to mount, when the foe were upon
them. ‘Abdallah fell at the very beginning of the fight, slain by a man of
the house of Qarib, of ‘Abs. Dureyd, fighting to the last over the prostrate
body of his brother, fell grievously wounded, and his companions fled,
leaving the camels, which the men of Ghatafan recovered. When the fight
was over, two men of ‘Abs, Zahdam and his brother Qeys, collectively known
as ez-Zaliclamani, “ the two Zahdams,” with a rider of Fezarah named
Kardam, passed by Dureyd, who was lying among the dead. Dureyd, who
was still conscious, heard the elder Zahdam say to Kardam — “ Methinks
Dureyd is not yet dead : I seemed to see his eyelid move. Get thee down,
and finish him.” “ Nay, he is dead,” said Kardam. “ Get thee down, I
tell thee, and see if he yet breathes.” Kardam dismounted and went up to
Dureyd: he found him still breathing; but, yielding to compassion, he
returned and said : “ He is dead, quite dead.” Notwithstanding this
assurance, Zahdam, before departing, pierced with his lance the body of
Dureyd. By a singular chance, this new wound, by opening a passage to a
quantity of blood which had gathered within from an inward hurt, and so
freeing the lungs, was the means of saving Dureyd’s life. When at night¬
fall the enemy returned home, he dragged himself towards the lands of
his tribe, and met a wandering band of men of Hawazin, who received him
and tended him until his wounds were healed.
1881.]
C. J. Lyall — Translations from the Hamdseh.
123
Some time after, several men of ‘Abs ancl Fezarah, on their way
to Mekkeh during the month of pilgrimage, passed by the country where
Dureyd dwelt. Although it was the time when war was forbidden, they
did not feel wholly secure, and had hidden their faces in their lithdms , the
handkerchiefs with which the Bedawis cover their heads, leaving only their
eyes visible. Dureyd perceived them, and went forth to meet them —
“ What men are ye ?” he asked. “ Is it I of whom thou askest ?” answered
one of the travellers. Dureyd recognized the voice of Kardam ; — “ Ah,”
he cried, “ there is no need to ask further : thou and these who follow thee
have nothing to fear from me.” Then he embraced him, and gave him a
horse, a sword, and a lance, and said, “ Take this as a requital of the kind¬
ness which thou shewedst to me on the day of el-Liwa.”#
v. 1. ‘Arid is said by et-Tebrizi to be another name of ‘Abdallah, who
was likewise called Khalid (but according to the Aghani, Khalid was a
fourth brother of Dureyd’s). The Benu-s-Sauda were the family of
Dureyd and ‘Abdallah, whose mother Reyhaneh was very dark, being of
el-Yemen, where African blood was largely mingled with Arab : es-iSandd
means “ the black woman.”
v. 2. “Laden,” mudajjaj : from dajja, “he walked slowly, as one
carrying a heavy load.” The word therefore means “ fully armed.”
The most esteemed coats of mail were brought from Persia, and in
that country from Soghdiana (es Sughd) ; see Hamaseh, p. 319 : —
Qurumun tesdma min Nizarin , ‘ aleyhimi
mudalafatun min nesji Da uda iva-s-SiigJidi.
“ Warriors who trace their lineage from Nizar, and on them
double coats of mail of the weaving of David and from es-Sughd.”
(David is said by Arab tradition, embodied in the Quran, Surah xxi, 80,
to have been taught by God the art of weaving mail.) The best swords
came from India (hindi, muhenned) and el-Yemen (imported thither by sea
from the former country) ; and the best spears were made at el-Khatt
in el-Bahran, from bamboos also brought from India.
vv. 4 and 5 are given in inverse order in et-Tebrizi’s text : that in
which I have placed them is clearly the right one.
Ghaziyyeh, as will be seen from the genealogy of Dureyd given above,
was the name of the family in Jusham to which he and his brethren
belonged.
* This history is taken almost word for word from Caussin de Perceval, Essai , ii,
pp. 551-554, who again in like manner follows Fresnel, Jour. Asiat Fevrier 1838, who
translates from the Aghani. It would be difficult to better the work of two such
accomplished hands. For the original, see Agh. ix, 3-4.
Q
124
C. J. Lyall — Translations from the Hamaseh.
[No. 2,
v. 7. “ The weaver’s comb:” es-sayasi, plural of sisiyeh , which is
the comb used by the weaver to push up the threads of the woof into the
web, so as to make the fabric close.
v. 8. 11 A camel,” ctat-el-bawivi : the bawiv is the stuffed skin of a
young camel (or with a cow, a calf,) cast before a she-camel who has lost
her young one in order to induce a flow of milk.
y. 12. “ Alert, keen, his loins well girt” — all one attempt to render
kemish-el- izar. Kemish means properly light, quick, active, and is joined
to '’izar (the trailing waistcloth with which an Arab girt himself, loose and
flowing in peace, tightly wound and raised in war or serious business) by a
contracted construction of which examples are frequent. “ His leg to the
middle bare,” as would naturally be the result of girding up the ’izar. “A
climber to all things high:” tailed w ’anjudi, a proverbial phrase for a man
who seeks fame and glory. This verse is found with another reading later
on in the Hamaseh (p. 765)
% • j
Qasiru-l-’izdri, khdrijun nisfu sdqihi ,
saburun ‘ala-l-azzai, tailed u ' anjudi
“ with his izar girt up short, his leg bare up to the middle,
patient in face of hardship, a climber to all things high.”
v. 17. This most touching line has been appropriated by another
poet, a contemporary of, but considerably younger than, Durey d, Sakhr son
of ‘Amr, of the Benu Suleym, brother of the poetess el-Khansa whom
Dureyd wooed. In a lament over his brother Mo‘awiyeh, given in the
Hamaseh, p. 489, he says —
Watayyaba nefsi ’ annani lam ’ aqul lahu
kectebta, ivalam ’ abkhal ‘ aleyhi bimdliyd .
VI.
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1881.] C. J. Lyall — Translations from the Hamaseh.
125
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Durey d son of es-Simmeh.
'Weepest tliou not/ said she,, 'for thy brother V Ay, and sooth
enough
cause there is for tears, but that my frame was builded to endure.
' Whom wouldst thou that I should weep for/ said I, — r 'Abdallah
the dear,
or the slain of Abu Beker, he whose grave is on the height,
e Or that other, 'Abd-Yaghuth, round whom the ravens croak and
hop ?
Sore bereavement, load of sorrow — one grave filled, another dug V
Slaughter chose from all men born the race of Simmeh for her own :
they chose her, and would none other : so fate goes to fated end.
5 Yea, and if our blood be ever end and aim of vengeful hands,
striving day by day to spill it till the days shall be no more.
Flesh to feed the Sword are we, and unrepining meet our doom :
well we feed him, slain or slaying, joyfully he takes our food !
Hearts are cured of rancour-sickness, whether men against us war,
or we carry death among them : dying, slaying, healing comes.
So we halve our days between us, we and all men else our foes :
no day passes but it sees us busy with this deed or that.
Ham. pp. 380-2.
Notes.
The metre is tawil of the first form, which only differs from that of
Nos. II, IY, and V by having, in the last foot of the second hemistich of
each verse, a long syllable instead of a short one in the third place, thus :
The translation is in the ordinary long English trochaic measure.
126
[No. 2,
C. J. Lyall — Translations from the Hamdseh.
The poet represents himself as addressed by a woman, who blames him
for not shewing sorrow for the death of his brethren. This “blaming
woman,” ‘aftileh, is a stock figure in old Arab poetry, whether her office be
to reprove a man for his extravagance and excess in wine, to cast doubt on
his courage, to question the nobility of bis race, or any other of the kind.
Instances will be found on almost every page of the Ilamaseh. In later
poetry this usage disappears, the seclusion of women under el- Islam hav¬
ing made it inconsistent with the manners of the time.
Dureyd, as stated in the notes to No. Y, had four brothers, all of whom
fell in fight, as he did himself. The three here mentioned are ‘Abdallah,
the circumstances of whose death have just been told, Qeys, who was slain
in a combat with the men of Abu Bekr ibn Kilab, a branch of the Benu
‘Amir, and ‘Abd- Yaghuth, who died in battle with the Benu Murrah of
Ghatafan.
v. 2. The licence by which, for the sake of the metre, Belter is
written for Bekr is one admissible and frequently used in the original
Arabic.
v. 3. ‘Abd- Yaghuth : Yaghuth , “ The Helper,” was the name of an
idol worshipped by the Yemenite tribes of Me<5hij, who bordered Hawazin
on the south. Most probably the real name of the other brother, called in
the text ‘Abdallah, was lAbd-el-Bdt, “ Servant of el-Lat.” That many such
pagan names mentioned in the old poems were changed when el-Islam became
prevalent is certain.
v. 4. Et-Tebrizi states that not only Dureyd’s father, Mo‘awiyeh son
of el-Harith, was called es-Simmeh, “The Serpent,” but also his uncle
Malik : the latter was known as “ es-Simmeh the greater,” and Dureyd’s
father as “ es-Simmeh the less.”
• •
v. 7. “ Hearts are cured of rancour-sickness” : yushtafa bind. The
desire for vengeance is represented in old Arab verse as a burning fever,
and the satiating of it as recovery from a disease. So one says ishtefeytu bihi —
“ I was cured by means of him,” meaning “ I wreaked my vengeance on
him and assuaged my desire thereof.” The idiom is of constant occurrence.
The whole poem is considered by the old critics (Aghani, ix. 3) a
splendid example of what the Arabs call sabr , endurance, hardihood, heroic
temper ; and Dureyd’s life was not unworthy of it. For his death, see the
account of the Battle of Honey n in Caussin de Perceval, Bssai, iii, pp. 245 —
253, which in this incident follows the Aghani, ix, 14-16.
1831.]
0. J. Lyall — Translations from the Hamdseh.
127
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e Abdeh son of et-Tabih.
On thee be the peace of God, O Qeys son of ‘Asim, and
His mercy, the manifold, so long1 as He will it shew !
_ The greeting of one whom thou hast left here the mark of Death,
who went far away, and comes to greet thee though in thy grave.
When Qeys died, it was not one who went down the way of Death :
a People it was whose house with his death in ruin fell.
Ilam.jop. 367-8.
Notes.
Metre Tamil , second form (as in Nos. II, IV, and V).
‘Abdeh son of et-Tabib was a Mulcliadrivi, or a poet who lived both
before and after the promulgation of el- Islam. He belonged to the family
of ‘Abbushems son of Sa‘d son of Zeyd-Menah son of Temim, and was an
object of the bounty of Qeys son of ‘Asim, the great chief of Temim in the
days of the Prophet, whose death he here laments. The third verse is
often quoted as the perfection of posthumous praise (Aghani, xviii. 163).
Qeys belonged to that division of the sub-tribe of Temim, Sa‘d son of
Zeyd-Menah, called the Benu Muqais. He is first heard of on the Day of
Sitar (about 606 A. D.), when he defeated Hanifeh and slew Qatadeh son
of Meslemeh their chief. His wife, Menfuseh, bore him many children,
and he is said to have been the means of reviving in those days the evil
custom of female infanticide, which had almost died out among the Arabs,
by putting to death all his daughters. He fought against MeShij at
el-Kulab (612 A. D.), when ‘Abd-Yaghuth chief of the Bel-Ilarith was
slain. In A. H. 9 (A. D. 630) he appeared at el-Medineh at the head of a
great deputation from the whole tribe of Temim, when a famous contest in
verse took place before Mohammed between Zibriqan son of Bedr, the poet
of Temim, and Hassan son of Tliabit, the poet of the Ansar. This ended in
Temim accepting el- Islam in a body, when Qeys was made receiver of the
128
C. J. Lyall — Translations from the Hamdseh.
[No. 2,
poor-rate ( zelcdt or sadaqdt) for his tribe, the Benu Sa‘d. After the death
of the Prophet (A, D. 632), he was one of those who revolted, with many
others of Temim, against Abu Bekr, but shortly afterwards submitted
himself and joined in the expedition led by el-‘Ala el-Hadrami against
el-Bahran, which crushed opposition in that quarter. I have not been able
to ascertain when he died.
VIII.
Malik son of er-Reyb.
I thought who would weep for me, and none did I find to mourn
but only my sword, my spear, the best of BudeynelPs store,
And one Friend, a sorrel steed, who goes forth with trailing rein
to drink at the pool, since Death has left none to draw for him.
Ham. p. 247, quoted in Commentary.
*
Notes.
Metre Tawil, as in No. II.
These lines are quoted in et-Tebnzi’s commentary on p. 247 of
Frey tag’s edition of the Hamaseh, in illustration of the word khinTict , a
stallion. The poem from which they are taken is a lament ( marthiyeh ) by
Malik son of er-Beyb over his own death, a portion of which is quoted in the
Kitab-el-Aghani (xix, 162), and the whole of which is to be found in the
Tqd-ebFend of Ibn ‘Abd Babbihi (ii, 10-11). The author was a brigand of
the tribe of Mazin who roamed over the country of Temim in the neighbour¬
hood of el-Basrah during the early years of the Umawi dynasty. When
Mo‘awiyeh sent Safid son of ‘Otliman son of ‘Affan as his viceroy to Khura¬
san, the latter on his way to Persia met Malik, and, struck by his noble mien
and gallant bearing, invited him to accompany him. Malik, however, fell
sick (some say, was stung by a serpent), and died on the way to Khurasan.
He is best known for the grand poem of which these verses form a part,
and for his love for his daughter, shewn in a touching piece of verse
quoted in the Aghani (xix, 167).
129
1881.] C. J. Lyall — Translations from the Hamdseh.
v. 1. “ Made by Rudeyneli,” Rudeyni, is a stock epithet of spears;
Rudeyneh, tradition says, was a woman of el-Khatt in el-Bahran, who was
most expert at straightening spears : whence every good spear is called by
her name.
IX.
■ ^ $ / * S ^ s ° s
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t^txl ^^9 Ijj^J
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Take thon thy way by the grave wherein thy dear one lies
— Umm-el-Wla— , and lift up thy voice : ah if she could hear !
How art thou come— for very fearful wast thou— to dwell
in a land where not the most valiant goes but with quaking
heart ?
God^s love be thine and His mercy, O thou dear lost one !
not meet for thee is the place of shadow and loneliness.
And a little one hast thou left behind— God^s ruth on her !
she knows not what to bewail thee means, yet weeps for thee.
5 For she misses those sweet ways of thine that thou hadst with her,
and the long night wails, and we strive to hush her to sleep
in vain.
When her crying smites in the night upon my sleepless ears,
straightway mine eyes brim-full are filled from the well of tears.
Ham. jop, 409-10.
130
[No. 2,
C. J. Lyall — Translations from the Hamdseh.
Notes.
The metre is the Kamil , scanned thus :
The English imitates the Arabian measure.
I have ascertained nothing of the author of these lines. Muweylik is
the diminutive of Malik, and el-Mezmum means “ bridled,” — probably a
nickname given for some peculiarity of feature. The verses were evidently
composed after el-Islam. Umm-el-‘Ala was the poet’s wife, whose loss he
mourns.
v. 4. I have taken merJiumeh in the sense in which it is used when
one dead is spoken of — as a prayer that God’s mercy may light on him or her.
v. 7. “ The well of tears,” shu'unu leyni : shiCun , plural of sha’n, are
the tear-ducts of the eye.
iuulA. j e-AlA. Jtjj
«• {*}• w
K/ialof son of KhaKfeh.
I reprove my soul when no man is by for every smile :
yea, a man may laugh, and be sick at heart with a sorrow sore.
In ed-Deyr they lie, my lost ones : many another too
knows well the pain el-Musalla hides in its slope of graves !
Hillocks, around them a many like : and if thou go there,
they will feed thee full of the bread of woe though they stir no whit.
Far away enough are we from thee, since it recks thee naught
how days fly here, nor we know aught sure how they go with thee !
Ham. p. 404.
1881.]
C. J. Lyall — Translations from the Hamdseh .
131
Notes.
The Arabic is in the Taivil of the Jbhird form
scanned thus :
the second hemistich is
<£i
The English adopts the form of the Kamil , as in No. IN.
The author, Khalaf son of Khalifeh, was an inhabitant of el-Medineh,
and is mentioned as an authority on the traditions respecting the Prophet.
v. 1. I have, following the commentary, joined Tchaliyan with o'aiibu ,
in the sense of alone : but it might easily he taken with tebessemtu, in the
sense of “ light-hearted, as if free from care.”
v. 2. Ed-Deyr is the name, apparently, of the spot where his dear
ones were buried. It is the usual word for a Christian monastery. EU
Musalla , “ the place of prayer”, was the name of a small mosque which
stood at the top of a slope called baqi‘-el-Gharqad, used as the cemetery of
el-Medineh.
NI.
9 99^,
^ o
<SyPi
J &.U ! Axe , JU
US
, o j>.
AxaAj cujuJ
z' f O
&
S S’
y / / ^ ^ ' fj Jf. ' r
u 0 9
*«Axaj jX2.sc I Jd
’ // / ^ // s s
^ S s' ^ ^ ^ S y SS ^ s s
V 99 S *> 9 , 99
4.J&, 1*0. U>) AxA*U)
f J J * " J' - * f
1 y /• / '
f Abdallah son of TliaHebeh el-Hanafi.
Before the door of each and all a slumber-place is ready set :
men wane and dwindle, and the graves in number grow from day
to day ;
And ever more and more outworn the traces fade of hearth and home,
and ever yonder for some dead is newly built a house of clay.
Yea, neighbours are they of the living : near and close their fellow¬
ship ;
but if thy soul would win their converse, thou must seek it far
away.
Ham.jp. 405.
ii
132
[No. 2,
0. J. Lyall — Translations from the Hamdseh.
Notes.
The metre is the third form of the Tawil, as in No. X.
Of the author I know nothing. He was a member of the tribe of
Hanifeh, an important division of Bekr who dwelt in el-Yemameh in the
southern part of the central mountain country of Nejd. These verses are
frequently quoted ( e . g., ‘Iqd, ii, 6), but their exact date I have not been
able to ascertain : Ibn-Kliallikan says that they were repeated by Ya'qub
son of Da’ud, once the Wezir of el-Mahdi, when on his release from prison
in A. H. 175 he heard of the death of his brothers.
v. 1. The word find (“ before the door”) means the space in front of
the tent. The same word is rendered “ yonder” in v. 2.
XII.
i Amr son of Qami’ah.
Alas my soul for Youth that's gone — ■
no light thing lost I when he fled !
What time I trailed* my skirts in pride,
and shook my locks at the tavern's door.
Nay, envy not a man that men
say, f Age has made him ripe and wise :'
Though thou love life and live long safe,
long living leaves its print on thee.
Ham. jo. 504.
Notes.
The metre of this poem is the somewhat rare one called Munsarih,
which the old prosodists divide thus : —
1881.]
133
C. J. Lyall — Translations from the HamdseJi.
_ O _ | _ O | _ O _ || _ \J _ | _ O | _ WO _
The existence of a metrical foot mafulatu is however very questionable.
The poem itself exhibits the following scansion : —
_ O _ O _ O _ WO _ || _ O _ _ O _ O _ KJ
Now, if we compare this with the Besit : —
we find that the two coincide, except in the third foot of the Besit , which
in our poem appears as ^ — instead of - ^ — . I am therefore in¬
clined to regard this metre as a shortened form of the Besit, and to divide it
thus : —
_ W _ | _ O _ | O _ | O O _ || _ w _ j _ K.J _ | O _ | OU _
Although the first syllable of the last foot of each hemistich is short, it is
considered b}^ Arabian metrists to represent an original long syllable : that
is, the foot fd'ilun is shortened to fa‘ilun. It therefore receives a stress
in utterance which makes the foot something more than a mere anapaest.
The first foot may show the varieties w ^ — and — o o — ? but these
are not found in this poem.
The piece is interesting as one of the oldest specimens of Arabic
poetry that have come down to us. ‘Ainr son of Qami’ah, its author, was
grandson of Sa£d son of Malik son of Dubey‘ah son of Qeys son of Thafle-
beh, of the tribe of Bekr, who was a leader in the war of Basus, and an
ancestor of the poet Tarafeh. He is claimed as the first of Nizar (that is,
of the Ma‘addic Arabs as opposed to those of el-Yemen) who made regular
qasidehs, and as the master in this art of Imra'-el-Qeys. He reached a
great age, and was the companion of Imra’-el-Qeys in his journey to the
Court of the Greek Emperor, which 0. de Perceval fixes in 535 A. D. :
he died, however, on the way in Asia Minor, and was called by the Arabs
‘Amr ed-da il, that is, “ ‘Amr the lost.” Two verses of his are quoted by
et-Tebrizi on p. 131 of the Hamaseli, which are in a form of the Besit
closely allied to the Munsarih, and quite in the vein of those given above : —
El-Jca'su mullcun liman ’ a‘malalia
wa-l-mulku minim saghirun wa-lcebir :
minha-s-sabuhu-l-lati tetri 7c uni
leytha ‘ ijirrina wa-l-mdlu Icelhir.
“ The cup is a kingdom to him who plies it,
and his kingdom, though little, how vast it is !
Thereout I drink in the morning, and am
a lion of ‘Ifirrin, my wealth overflowing.”
i. e ., the morning draught gives me both valour and generosity, so that in
giving I am as a king.
134
C. J. Lyall — Translations from the Hamdseh. [No. 2,
v. 1. “ Light thing,” ’ amaman ; that is, something near at hand,
easily to be grasped and recovered.
v. 2. The translation fails to give the full force of the original here,
which may thus be rendered : — “ What time I trailed my robes of silk and
wool to the nearest of my wine-sellers, and shook loose my locks.” The
difference between reyt (plural of reytah ) and murut (plural of mirt ) is
not certain : both were sumptuous garments, worn over the under-clothing,
and long in the skirt. “ The nearest of my wine-sellers” shews that he
was a wealthy man, and had many to supply him with wine. The use of
tijdr (plural of tdjir ), which properly means traders in general, in the
exclusive sense of wine-sellers, is worthy of notice, though frequent in the
poetry of the pagan time.
v. 3. “ Ripe and wise” : so I render lialcam, which properly means one
who on account of his years and his wisdom is chosen as a judge or arbiter
in disputes between tribe and tribe, or man and man. Such a halcam was
the ancient ‘Amir son of eS-Barib, ancestor on the mother’s side of the
tribes of Thaqif and ‘Amir son of Sa‘sa‘ah, who on account of the drowsi¬
ness caused by great age required to be roused to attention by a thrust
from a stick (or, as some say, by one of his sons knocking one stick against
another to awake him). See Ham., p. 98, and el-Meydani, at the proverb
inna-l-asa qurilat licti-l-hilmi (i, 32, Biilaq edn.).
v. 4. Here also I have diverged from the phrase, but not the sense,
of the original, which, literally rendered, is — “ If the length of his long
life has delighted him, yet there has become apparent in his face the long
time that he has been saved (from death).” In changing the third to the
second person, I have merely put the general result intended in another
way exactly equivalent.
XIII.
*
Ml
&
O/O,
J-
1881.]
C. J. Lyall — Translations from the Hamdseh.
135
Sulmi son of Rabieah.
Roast flesh, the glow of fieiy wine;
to speed on camel fleet and sure
As thy soul lists to urge her on
through all the hollow's breadth and length ;
White women statue-like that trail
rich robes of price with golden heni;
Wealth; easy lot; no dread of ill;
to hear the lyre's complaining string —
5 These are Lifers joys. Tor man is set
the prey of Time; and Time is change.
Life strait or large; great store or naught;
airs one to Time; all men to Death.
Death brought to naught Tasm long agO;
Ghafti of Bahni; and Du Judun,
The race of Jash and Marib, and
the House of Lucjman and et-Tuqum
Ham. jop. 506-7.
Notes.
The metre of this poem is unique, and does not occur among the
forms settled either by el-Khalil son of Ahmed, the founder of Arabic
prosody, or by Sa‘id son of Mas‘adeh el-Akhfash. Et-Tebrizi considers it
a species of JBesit. The following is its scheme : —
The author, Sulmi son of Kabbah, belonged to the family of the
Benu-s-Sid (“ Sons of the Wolf”) of Dabbeh, a tribe descended from
Mudar by Tabikhah son of Ilyas. The men of Dabbeh were one of the
Bibdh , or live confederate tribes all descended from Tabikhah, and closely
136
C. J. Lyall — Translations from the Hamaseh .
[No. 2,
allied with Temim, among whom the}*- dwelt. There is another longer
poem by the same author, quite in the spirit of this, at pp. 274-6 of the
Hamaseh. I have not been able to ascertain when he lived, but it must have
been in the days of the Ignorance.
v. 1. “ Camel,” bdzil , properly a she-camel nine years old, when she
is strongest and fittest to bear fatigue. Khabab means a quick trot.
v. 3. “ Statue-like,” ka-d-clumd : this comparison is found more than
once in the poems of Imra’-el-Qeys. There is a strangeness about it in the
mouth of a Desert Arab. Imra’-el-Qeys was a prince who had travelled and
seen strange lands, and among them probably the sculptures of the Greeks.
The Dabbi, who had a taste for the pleasures of the town, may also have
seen Greek statues in Syria, though his poem at pp. 274-6 shews him as a
genuine Bedawi.
v. 7. Tasm was one of the old lost races of Arabia, who dwelt, with
a sister tribe named Jedis, in a valley called el-Jaww in el-Yemameh, in
southern Nejd. A quarrel broke out between Tasm and Jedis, in which
the latter tribe massacred the whole of the former, except one man named
Riyah, who escaped and invoked the aid of Hassan son of As‘ad, the Tubba‘
of el-Yemen. This king led an army against Jedis, and exterminated the
whole race (see the Ilimyerite Qasideh, vv. 79-80). Nothing certain is
known of the date of this event, and Tasm to an Arab was but the name of a
people that perished long ago. Of Ghafti of Bahm also nothing is known
but his name : he seems to have been a prince of Irem, of the race of ‘Ad,
another lost people, and is mentioned together with Luqman and Bu Jeden
in a verse cited by el- Jauhari :
Tau ’annani Jcuntu min eAdin wamin ’ Iremin
Ghadiyya Tahmin wa-Tucpndnan wa-T)d Jedeni.
“ If I had been a man of the race of ‘Ad and of Irem,
GhaSi of Bahm or Luqman or Bu Jeden.”
Bu Judun probably stands for Bu Jeden, the surname of a king of
Himyer whose name was ‘Alas son of el-Harith. The Arabs say that
Bu Jeden was so named from his beautiful voice, and that he was expert
in song. The name is however, like all the names of Himyer compounded
with T)d, a local one, Jeden being the city or fortress after which the
Prince was called. The name Bu Jeden is found in Halevy’s Ilimyerite
inscriptions : see Major Prideaux’s Edn. of the Himyerite Qasideh, p. 58.
There was another Bu Jeden called el-Akbar, the greater, whose name was
‘Alqameh, of much older date, a cousin of Bilqis the Queen of Seba, whom
Arab legend makes the contemporary of Solomon.
v. 8. Of the race of Jash we likewise know nothing, and the com¬
mentator does not help us. Freytag suggests that the right reading is
Hash, given in the Qamus as the name of a place in el-Yemen.
1881.]
C. J. Lyall — Translations from the Hamaseh.
137
Marib is the name of the famous dyke in el-Yemen, the bursting of
which caused the dispersion northwards of all the tribes who dwelt in its
neighbourhood. This dyke was built by Luqman, king of the second ‘Ad
(that is, the remnant which remained on the destruction of the first ‘Ad
with their city Irem of the Pillars), and on it depended for its irrigation
a vast tract of country. Its remains are still visible, and have been visited
by European travellers (C. de Perceval, Essai, i. p. 17). Luqman and his
family, after a rule which the Arabs say lasted a thousand years, was
overthrown by Ya‘rub, son of Qahtan, who founded a new empire which
afterwards became that of the Himyerite kings. ‘Abd-Shems Seba, father
of Himyer, made Marib his capital, and repaired and completed the dyke.
The bursting of the dyke is placed by C. de Perceval in 120 A. D., and
the dispersion which followed it is proverbial in Arab history. To this
event the dynasties of Ghassan and el-Hireh owed their origin, and by reason
of it the north and centre of Arabia became peopled by numerous tribes from
el-Yemen, quite distinct from the race of Nizar or Ma‘add.
Luqman is the king of the second ‘Ad just mentioned. Et-Tuqun is the
plural of et-Tiqn, a name borne by two men in old Arab legend, ‘Amr son
of Tiqn, a famous archer in the days of Luqman of ‘Ad, and Ka‘b son of
Tiqn, mentioned by el-Meydani. “ A better archer than ibn-Tiqn” is given
as an ancient proverb in the collection of the last named author (i. 278).
XIY.
Mali 7c son of Harim el-llemdcmi.
Yea, knowledge I have from Time, the best of all counsellors,
the passing of days that brings to light wealth of hidden lore :
I know how the Rich is served by riches, how fair the praise
they gather with cunning hands, whatso be the blame his due ;
138 C. J'. Lyall — Translations from the Hamaseh. [No. 2,
And how lacking wastes and wears a man though his heart he high
— yea, sharper the sting thereof than falling of untanned scourge !
He looks on the steps of Fame — the steps he can never tread —
and sits in the midst of men in silence without a word.
If am. pp. 520-1.
Notes.
Metre Tawtl , as in No. II. I have discovered nothing regarding the
author or his date. The tribe of Hemdan, to which he belonged, was a
branch of MecShij, a stock of el-Yemen.
XV.
s a st\ < QJ ss syj * s s ^
One unnamed.
I said to my fellow while our beasts were speeding
with us from el-Munifeh to ed-Dimar — •
f Drink deep the scent of the flowery Upland meadows,
f for after to-night no more shall we see 4 Avoir. *
Flow sweet the breezes that blow thence to us-ward,
when all its meads with rain besprinkled are !
Flow fair the days when there thy tribesmen halted,
and naught on thy spirit did that good time jar !
5 Months waxed and waned, and we in our heart's gladness
recked not if full- moon-tide were near or far.
Ham ,p. 548.
1S81.]
C. J. Lyall — Translations from the HamaseTi.
130
Notes.
The metre is Wqfir, as in No. III. The English only roughly imi¬
tates it, and does not attempt to keep up the equivalence of two short
syllables or one long in the third place of each foot : the second hemistich
of the English is also catalectic, the Arabic not.
v. 1. “Our beasts,” “ el-lzs” : ‘ is , plural of ‘ eysd , means a she-camel
almost white in colour, slightly tinged with yellow. This is one of the
colours most esteemed in camels among the Arabs.
El-Munifeh and ed-Dimar are evidently stages on the road out of
Nejd. The Marasid gives the former (iii, 167) as the name of a water
belonging to Temim towards Felj, where was fought one of their battles.
The Qamus says it is a water of Temim between Nejd and el-Yemameh.
Ed-Dimar in the Marasid (ii, 185) is likewise given as the name of a
place between Nejd and el-Yemameh. This locality does not however suit
very well here. El-Yemameh is as much part of Nejd as any other portion
of that region ; and a rider going from central to southern Nejd would
hardly speak of himself as quitting the upland for the plain. El-Munifeh
means merely “ the high place,” and ed-Dimar “ the valley that hides, by
enclosing him, the traveller therein” (or perhaps a hollow in the sand-sea
rather than a valley) ; and both may be the names of many other places
than those specified. I take it that the journey intended was rather
towards the north than the south.
v. 2. lArar is the name (in the collective form) of a sweet-smelling
yellow flower which in the spring season covers the uplands of Nejd.
El-Khalil says that it is el-baharet el-barriyyeh , Buphthalmum or ox-eye.
Others say that it is a bush ( Buplithalmum arbor esc ens) , and Ibn-Barri that
it is the wild narcissus. The complexion of a woman is compared to the
colour of its blossoms by el-’A‘sha in the line
beydadu dahwatalia was af¬
ro? it- l-ashiyyeta ka-l^ararah.
“ White in the noonday, and clear yellow in the even like the ‘ ararah .”
v. 5. More literally, “ Months passed away, and we marked neither
the full moons nor the new moons thereof.”
Nejd, “the Upland,” is the whole of that portion of Arabia which lies,
on the south, west, and east, inland from the mountain barrier which separa¬
tes it from the lowland by the coast (called Tihameh on the western shore) :
on the north the mountains of Tayyi’ are included in, and form the limit on
this side of Nejd. Though a great part of this area is desert during the
rainless season, in the spring it is covered with verdure, and affords excellent
pasture.
s
C. J. Lyall — Translations from the llamas eh.
[No. 2,
HO
J
XVI.
L'l , W
O o
' j» ' ^ ^
AAJ y / ads: ! ei Is1*** L-XxH
e/1* ■ c/ " l? wS
9 ' '
mj . ,y^~
*s — * r-
9 s * ' pi 9
*
y
y*>} ,>UjJI
u/
>
>» r
✓
o
C/
✓0
✓ *
C^>
Li)'
✓
*f'.
*S3^
L^Axslc\.mj t/« \.$J a^Ji
*
L-AlA-C f L A \Cr'\j
/ / / ✓
^ ^ -p *^oo r xy- ° '" ° ✓
Ijl J^£ L-51^^’ j
One unnamed.
Yea, take thy fill of joy with her wliat time she yields her love to thee,
and let no grieving stop thy breath wlienas she turns herself to flee.
Ah, sweet and soft her ways with thee : bethink thee well : the day
shall come
when some one favoured eAn as thou shall find her just as sweet and
free.
And if she swear that absence ne^er shall break her pact of plighted
troth,
— when did rose-tinted finger-tips and binding pledges e^er agree ?
Ham. p. 575,
Notes.
Metre Tawil, third form, as in No X.
v. 1. “ Grieving”: shejd is properly a bone or anything else that
sticks in the throat and chokes one.
v. 3. “Bose-tinted finger-tips/’ malchdub-el-benan. The Arab women
tinge the ends of their fingers with hinnd (Laivsonia inermis).
J
S9
9.
^
Ac
v / s
9 p .
UJ ' ' j,
XVII.
A.SJ] ^ hy JIS
° y\'? so,
3uUau| , .JLJ ..J J
•• Lr 5 ♦♦ J
r>s o o q o ^
^ ^ s s s J s s' y n ^
jJ a^LuaaJJ l
y ’ ✓
kvil,
9 9,'j s s
S'
. djJ ( _ _ _x>
• U5 •* Cl/
1881.]
0. J. Lyall — Translations from the Hamdseh. 141
Taubeh son of el -Homey yir.
Ah if hut Leyla once would send me a greeting1 down
of grace, though between us lay the dust and the flags of stone,
My greeting of joy should spring in answer, or there should cry
toward her an owl, ill bird that shrieks in the gloom of graves.
They envy me that from Leyla never was mine from her :
how slight be the cause of joy soever, how good it is !
Ham. jo. 576.
Notes.
Metre Tawil, as in No. II. The first line in both Arabic and English
is Mdkhrum , that is, deprived of its initial short syllable.
Much is told of this Taubeh in the Kitab-el-Aghani (x. 67 — 82). He
was a cousin of Leyla, a woman of great beauty, belonging to the family of
el-Akhyal (hence called Leyla-l-Akhjudiyyeh), of the tribe of ‘Amir son of
Sa‘sa‘ah. Taubeh loved her from her childhood, when they were children
in the desert together, but her father refused to give her to him in mar¬
riage. He led a stormy life, and met his death in fight in the reign of
Mo‘awiyeh, the first of the Umawi Khalifehs. Leyla long survived him,
but never forgot him and his love for her. She also was a renowned
poetess, and was alive at a great age in the reign of ‘Abd-el- Melik son of
Merwan. A tale is told of her death in which these verses figure (Agh. x. 82) .
She was making a journey with her husband, when they passed by the grave
of Taubeh. Leyla, who was travelling in a litter, cried “ By God ! I will not
depart hence till I greet Taubeh.” Her husband endeavoured to dissuade
her, but she would not hearken : so at last he allowed her. And she went
up the mound on which the tomb was, and said — “ Peace be to thee,
O Taubeh !” Then she turned her face to the people, and said — “ I never
knew him to speak falsely until this day.” “ What meanest thou ?”
said they : “ was it not he,” she answered, “ who said —
‘Ah, if but Leyla once would send me a greeting down
of grace, though between us lay the dust and the flags of stone,
My greeting of joy should spring in answer, or there should cry
toward her an owl,* ill bird that shrieks in the gloom of graves’ ?
Nay, but I have greeted him, and he has not answered me as he said.”
Now there was a she-owl crouching in the gloom by the side of the grave ;
and when it saw the litter and the crowd of people, it was frightened, and
flew in the face of the camel. And the camel was startled, and cast Leyla
down li’eadlong on the ground ; and she died that hour, and was buried by
the side of Taubeh.
v. 1. Safaih are the flags of stone set over a grave.
142
C. J. Lyall — Translations from the Hamaseh.
[No. 2,
v. 2. The pagan Arabs bad a strange and gloomy superstition, which
survived long after the days of el-Islam, though expressly denounced as
baseless by the Prophet himself, that the spirits of dead men became owls,
which dwelt in the graves where their bodies were laid. Sada or hameh,
the names for an owl, thus came to mean the ghost of a dead man ; and a
common proverbial saying in the mouth of an old man was “ I shall be an
owl to-day or to-morrow” (this was used even by so pious a Muslim as
Lebid in his old age under Mo‘awiyeh). Some say that only the souls of
those slain unavenged became owls, and that they flew at night about the
grave, crying usquni , usquni — “give me to drink!” When the blood of
vengeance was poured forth, they were appeased and ceased to cry. That
some such notion prevailed is clear from many passages, i. e., that the owl
or ghost was tormented by a perpetual thirst, which required to be assuaged
with blood or wine (see No. XVIII in the present series) : but it is
equally certain that it was not only those who were slain unavenged who
were believed to become owls, but that “owl” was the common word for all
ghosts.
v. 3. I. e., “they envy me Leyla’s love: but I never obtained it.
Nevertheless, that my name is coupled with hers is in itself a joy to me,
and good, however slight a thing it be.” Kulluma qarret hihi-l-eyn ,
literally: “everything which brings coolness to the eye.” Qarrat el-eyn ,
“coolness to the eye,” is a common expression for gladness.
XVIII.
>T Ji
S>
/ o
o ^ o x >>
0 , L 0 ^
& (*J4 Jl ^
's' '
* s'*, 0 ^ / O _
j d* ^ '—r
jhd\ ^
Another , unknown.
O God, if I die, and Thou give not to mine owl to drink
of Leyla, I die, no grave lies thirstier than my grave !
And if I forget my pain though Leyla be not for me,
my Comforter is Despair : no comfort does Patience bring.
And if I suffice myself without her, seem strong and stern
— ah many the strength of soul that lies near to lacking sore !
Ham. pp. 541-2.
1881.]
C. J. Lyall — Translations from the Hamdseh.
113
Notes.
The first form of the Taivil , as in No. YI.
One would gladly know the author of these passionate lines : but too
many of the fragments in this Book of the Hamaseh (No. IV, “Love
pieces,”) are anonymous. It seems probable that he lived in the days of
paganism, although, as just mentioned (Notes to No. XVII), the supersti¬
tion to which reference is made in v. 1 was by no means extinct under
el- Islam. The translation is as nearly as possible word for word.
v. 1. See note to v. 2 of No. XVII. Here the poet, looking forward
to his own death of love for Leyla, prays that his owl’s thirst may be
appeased by her blood.
v. 3. The play upon ghind, “ wealth,” “ strength,” and faqr, “ poverty,
lacking,” is difficult to render in English.
XIX.
y) JO
*-
/ • i
$9
V s
s
9 s s
£1jJ fS Ui
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y o
Abu AaJrfir el-TIudtali.
By Him who brings weeping and laughter,
Who deals Death and Life as He wills — -
She left me to envy the wild deer
that graze twain and twain without fear !
O Love of her, heighten my hearths pain,
and strengthen the pang every night !
O Comfort that days bring, forgetting — •
the Last of all days be thy tryst !
I marvelled how busy the World wrought
to sunder us whiles we were one :
But when that which bound us was broken,
then did the World rest, his work done.
Ham. jo. 544.
[No. 2,
111 C. J. Ly all — Translations from the Hamaseh .
Notes.
Metro Tawil, first form, as in No. VI.
Abu Sakhr of HuSeyl, the author, was a poet of the early clays of
el- Islam, chiefly renowned as a writer of erotic poetry.
v. 1. The force which the repetition of allacti here gives to the origi¬
nal can hardly he adequately rendered in English. I have attempted to
represent it hy extreme concision, and thus, while the last two verses of
the poem are rendered hy four short lines each, the first two have only two
lines apiece. The following is a literal translation of the latter
“ Yea, by Him who brings weeping and laughter — hy Him
who slays and brings to life — hy Him whose command is the only power !
Verily she left me to envy the wild creatures of the field, when I see
a pair of them wandering together, with no fear to terrify them !”
v. 3. Here the translation is as nearly as possible literal. “ The last
of all days,” el-Hashr, is the Hay of the Resurrection.
v. 4. This verse is susceptible of two interpretations, depending on
the various meanings of ed-dahr and sala. The former may either mean
“the World,” that is, the people of the World, the worldlings, or it may
be rendered “ Time” ; and the latter may mean “ to be busy, to work
actively,” or “ to run.” If the former interpretation be chosen, the render¬
ing I have given above will express the sense — “ I wondered how
actively those unkindly ones about us worked to part us : but when they
succeeded, then their activity ceased.” If the latter, the moaning is — “I
wondered how swiftly the time sped between me and her while we were
united : but when the space of our union came to an end, then Time
seemed to have ceased to move at all” 5 or, metrically —
“ I marvelled how swiftly the time sped
between us the moment we met :
But when that brief moment was ended,
how wearily dragged he his feet !”
NX.
1831.]
C. J. Lvall — Translations from the Hamaseh.
t j t/ •
145
One unnamed .
Love's master was I once and free : but evermore his strength be bent
to bind me fash, and I to loose, till in the end he mastered me.
And never saw I like us twain two lovers sundered, she from me,
and 1 from her, true-hearted still and faithful, spite of all men's hate
— Two friends that have no hope of converse, meeting never face to face :
where hast thou seen two loving hearts that looked not for the day of
j°y?
Ham. p. 551.
Notes.
Metre Taivil, second form, as in No. II.
The first line of this poem is not rendered by Ituckert in his version
of the Hamaseh, as being impossible to express fully in German. The
difficulty lies in the words en-naqd and el-ihrdm , the former of which
means the untwisting of the strands of a rope, and the latter the twisting
of them tight. The verse therefore means — “ Love strove with me to
twist tight my bonds, while I strove with him to untwist and relax them.
I was his master at the beginning, but in the end he prevailed over me.”
v. 3. I. e. “We are lovers who have no hope of delight one in the
other : and hardly shalt thou see two lovers who look not some day to be
joined together. Yet we are firm and faithful in our love, though we
have no hojoe.”
XXI.
f s O'
S O $
Belcr son of en-Nattdh.
A white one : she rises slow, and sweeps with her hair the ground :
it hides her within its coils, a billow of blackest black.
She shines in its midst like Dawn that breaks from the farthest East :
it bends like the darkest Night and veils her above, around.
Ham. p. 566.
146 C. J. Lyall — Translations from the Hamaseh. [No. 2,
Notes.
The metre is the Kamil, as in No. IX. The English, however, follows
the Tawil, of the second form.
Bekr son of en-Nattah was a man of Hanifeh, and a native of el-Yema-
meh. For some time he robbed on the highway, but was induced by Abu
Dulaf, a minister of the ‘Abbas! Khalifehs, to enter the army, where he
shewed great valour. He was thus a late poet, and when he died, says
Abu Hiffan, poesy came to an end for ever. Abu Dulaf, his patron, died in
A. H. 226.
XXII.
Nuseyb.
They said last night — e To-morrow at first of dawning
or may be at eventide Ley la must go/
My heart at the word lay helpless, as lies a Qata
in net night-long, and struggles with fast-bound wing.
Two nestlings she left alone in a nest far distant,
a nest which the winds smite, tossing it to and fro.
They hear but the whistling wind, and stretch necks to greet her :
but she they await — the end of her days is come !
So lies she, and neither gains in the night her longing,
nor brings her the morning any release from pain.
Ham. jop. 577-8.
1881.] E. Thomas — The revenues of the Mughal Empire in India. 117
Notes.
Metre TVdfr , as in No. III. The English follows the original measure,
save in making the second hemistich catalectic.
Nuseyb was a negro slave, the property of a man who lived in
Wadi-l-Qura, not far to the East of el-Medineh. He covenanted with his
master to buy his freedom (in Freytag’s text, for Jcdnet (ald nefsihi , read
Teat aha lala nefsihi ), and having done so, repaired to the Khalifeh ‘Abd-el-
£Aziz ibn Merwan, whom he praised in an ode. In requital therefor
£Abd-el-‘Aziz gave him the purchase money wherewith to redeem himself,
and gifts besides. He excelled in erotic and laudatory poetry.
v. 2. “ A Qata.” The Qata is the sand-grouse, a well-known bird
of the Arabian Deserts, constantly recurring in old Arab poetry, and the
subject of innumerable proverbial sayings.
The revenues of the Mughal Empire in India. — Eg Edward
Thomas, E. R. S., late Bengal 0. IS,
Indian Numismatists are greatly indebted to Mr. C. J. Rodgers of
Amritsar for his contributions of coins “ supplementary to the Chronicles
of the Pathan Kings of Dehli,’’* and for the careful illustration of the
new specimens, by his own hand, which have lately appeared in our
Journal.
In his last paper in Part I, Yol. XLIX, 1880, p. 213, on the “ Copper
coins of Akbar,” Mr. Rodgers has entered into some speculations on the
amount of the State Revenue of that monarch, based upon novel inter¬
pretations of the legends on the coins he describes, which seem to me to
be open to criticism. I am the more bound to notice these readings and
the deductions involved, as they touch a subject of much importance in
the Fiscal history of India, which I have endeavoured to elucidate in a
separate publication on the “ Revenue resources of the Mughal Empire.” t
I cannot claim that this work was received with much favour, on its
first appearance, the returns contrasted so strikingly with the lesser totals
obtained from the land in our day, that there was an intuitive tendency
to suspect errors in my figures and calculations. J However, as Mr. W. W.
* Triibner, London, 1871, 8vo., pp. xxiv. 467.
f Triibner, London, 1871, 8vo., pp. 54.
X Sir H. Elliot, one of our most experienced Settlement Officers under Martin
Bird, in his investigation into the revenues past and recent of the province of Sind,
was equally startled to find how little the British Government obtained from that
fertile land, in comparison with the income of their Native predecessors. He remarks
(p. 473, Yol. I, Dowson’s Edit. Historians of India) “ Under the Talpurs * * Sind is
said to have occasionally yielded £400,000 ; and under the Kalhoras, tradition re¬
presents the revenue at the exaggerated amount of £800,000. At present (A. D. 1855),
with security on all its borders, and tranquililty within them, it does not pay to the
British Government more than £300,000, and the expenses have hitherto been double
that sum.”
148 E. Thomas — The revenues of the Mughal Empire in India. [No. 2 ,
Hunter remarked in 1872. # “ Several attempts have been made in India
to controvert Mr. Thomas’s figures, but so far without success.” And in
bis latest Lectures on “ England’s work in India, ”f the “ Director-General
of Statistics to the Government of India,” embodies them without question
in his text, as a basis of comparison with the existing revenues of British
India, and adds “ indeed, the difficulty of a comparison has arisen not
from the absence of information in respect to the Mughal revenues, but
for want of exact statements regarding our own.”
Mr. Clements Markham, to whom H. M.’s Indian Government en¬
trusted the task of compiling the successive Reports on the Indian Surveys,
in like manner, seems to have fully satisfied himself as to the soundness
of my data, which he quotes, in all faith, in his special notice of Akbar’s
fiscal policy. J
On the other hand, there have been criticisms and contentions enough,
none of which seem to me to go so thoroughly into the details of a
complicated subject, as to require more than a passing notice. §
I reproduce the general summary of the results obtained by me in
1871, from various and completely independent sources.
I have no wish whatever to claim for them finality, but they fall in
epochally with probabilities, and I shall be the first to welcome any new
lights, by whomsoever discovered.
* Orissa. Smith, Elder and Co., 1872, Yol. II, p. 275. .
f Smith, Elder, 1880, p. 104.
X Akbar, an Eastern Romance * * * § * with notes and an introductory life of the
Emperor Akbar by C. R. Markham, C. B., F. R. S. W. H. Allen and Co., 1879, pp.
xx vi, xxxiii, and 106.
§ I scarcely know how to reply within reasonable space to Mr. H. G. Keene’s
criticisms in his “ Turks in India” (Allen, 1879), they are so discursive ; hut, the main
point of difference between us seems to be the relative reliance to be placed on the
returns of the Afn-i-Akbarf, as against those of Nizam-ud-dm Ahmad. The former
were avowedly progressive as new official details came in, and the grand total (in the
case I examined) did not accord-with, or come-up-to the divisional totals embodied
in the same schedule ; the method of reckoning was also, to a certain extent, arbitrary,
i. e., by 40 dams to the rupee, the latter a coin only recently introduced, and whose
absolute divisional money representative, or J^th in copper , is still a doubtful quantity.
I may add, with reference to the dam of account, that Prof. Wilson in his Glossary of
Indian terms, informs us that, the 40 dams to the Rupee of Akbar’s time, came to be
46jrd under ’Alamgfr and even 80 to 90, at later periods. Whereas, on the other hand,
Nizam-ud-dm, a master of finance, defined his returns in Sikandari Tankas , the current
coin in which the Settlement of Sikandar Lodi had been framed. Mr. Keene, at
p. ix, takes objection to my estimating the rupee at 2 shillings, this was merely done for
facility of conversion, but every available testimony goes to prove that the exchange
value of the fine silver rupee was, in those days, far higher than 2/.
1881.] E. Thomas The revenues of the 21 u ghal Empire in India. 149
Recapitulation- of the Amount of the Revenues of the Mughal
Empire at Various Periods, with the authorities
FOR THE RETURNS.
Mughal Emperors.
Authority.
Land
Revenue.
1. Akbar, a.d. 1593
2. „ a.d. 1594
3. ,, ,, /
4. ,, a.d. 1605 ..
5. Jahangir, a.d. 1609-
11 ....
6. ,, a.d. 1628 ..
7. Shah Jahan, a.d.
1648-9 .
Nizam-ud-dm Ahmad . .
Abul Fazl, MSS . . £
Official documents ....
Indian authorities quo¬
ted by De Laet ....
Captain W. Hawkins . ,
Abd ul Hamid Lahori . .
Ditto . . . .
16,574,388
16,582,440
17,450,000
17,500,000
22,000,000
26,743 970
24,056,114
35,641,431
34,505,890
38,719,400
30,179,692
(x
Revenue from
all sources.
£32,000,000
50,000,000
80,000,000
2 =) 77,438,800
Mr. Rodgers proposes to reduce bj a summary process my total No. 1,
of Nizam-ud-dm, from £32,000,000 to £3,200,000. The data for this
alteration are, unfortunately for his argument, fundamentally erroneous.
He has figured two coins of Akbar, in his Plates, bearing upon this division
of his proofs.
No. 27 weighing 40 grains of copper, which he reads correctly as
iSy0* (one) damri. A second coin of a similar character No. 4, weigh¬
ing 76 grains of copper, he reads incorrectly as dam , and he proposes
to identify the coin as the representative of the dam or -^-th of the rupee
of Akbar’s revenue system.
1 need scarcely follow his method of calculation whereby he seeks to
justify the reduction above-named, as there is a much more simple way of
disposing of the question. Tested by his own interpretation of the legend
on No. 27, the letters on No. 4 can only be read as damrct, f i. e., a
double damri, % and have nothing whatever to do with the long- sought
piece of the money of account.
His second basis of calculation depends on the import of the word
he transcribes as tdnice , inscribed on his coins Nos. 1, 2, 3. The definitions
* 5 per cent., allowed for collection.
f The final f* mim, on the Mughal coins is marked in its down stroke. This sup¬
posed C* has a subjunct e.
X L SJ** damri from dramma , | of a paisa, — damra gold, silver, riches,
Jim dramma , Gr. Spax M-
150 E. Thomas — The revenues of the Mughal Empire in India. [No. 2.
of value on these pieces result in an average weight, in copper, of some¬
thing over 55 grains. Mr. Rodgers thereupon proceeds to infer that
as “ the total revenues of Akbar are put down by Nizam-ud-din at
640,00,00,000 tankes. This at the rate of 200 to the rupee would be
equal to 3,20,00,000 rupees or £3,200,000.”
In this instance, also, the argument is founded on a palpable fallacy.
There were both gold and silver *£3 tanJcahs* which constituted the
early currency of the Pathans, each of which were of the identical weight
of 175 grains. But the TdnJc (or dang), as I was careful to point out
(p. 408, my Pathan Kings), had nothing to do with the Tankah . I was
also able to determine that the former was the surviving equivalent of the
Bur ana of Manu, weighing 32 Batis or 56 grains ; in short the u&U
(Arabic ddng, which Babar himself remarked, was still used, in his
days, to weigh “ jewels and precious stones,” and which he enters in his
own Table of weights as equivalent to 32 Batis. f
* The Persian Historians designate the coins in these two metals as Tankahs. The
word on the gold pieces is Sikkah in its generic sense.
f Leyden’s Memoirs of Babar, p. 332, My Pathans, p. 222.
Journal, As. Soc Bengal, Vol. L, Pt.l, 1881.
PL: X.
Dvcmavto , _Litb': % Printed* by W. Newt rum OP
PRIDEAUX: ON THE
COINS OF CHARI BAEL.
CxxLcsUtta.
I
I
%
Journal, As. Soc. Bengal, Vol.XLIX, Pt. 1.1880. VlJCVJKci
’ C.J.*od*er5.del. ' " ' " WNbw'
coins supplementary to "Thomas' chronicles of fathan kings.
*
I
4
l
t
/
4
*
'i
JOURNAL
OE THE
ASIATIC SOCIETY OF BENGAL
Part I —HISTORY, LITERATURE, &e.
Nos. Ill & IV.— 1881.
Belies from Ancient Persia in Gold , Silver , and Copper. — By Major
General A. Cunningham, c. s. i., c. i. e., Director General Archaeolo¬
gical Survey.
(With nine Plates.)
In the year 1877, on the north bank of the Oxus, near the town of
Takht-i-Kuwat, opposite Khulm and two days’ journey from Kunduz, there
was found a large treasure of gold and silver figures, ornaments and coins,
most of which have been brought to India for sale. The site is also called
Kawat and Kawadian, and I have no doubt that it is the Kobadian. The
finders quarrelled about the division of the spoil, and several of the larger
objects were cut to pieces for the sake of a ready settlement of accounts on
the spot. Two of the most interesting objects, a horseman and a chariot,
both of gold, were presented to Lord Lytton by Sir Louis Cavagnari. Most,
if not all, of the remaining objects of the first find have come into my
possession. The coins have been scattered. Several have gone to the
British Museum, and many have passed into the hands of various collectors ;
but a large number have come to Mr. A. Grant and myself. I believe that
I have seen most of them, as both dealers and owners have sent to me either
the coins themselves or impressions of them for identification. The coins,
so far as I have seen of them, range over a period of about three hundred
years, from the time of Darius to that of Antiochus the Great and Euthy-
demus of Bactria. The gold and silver figures seem also to belong to
different ages, as some are decidedly very archaic ; more particularly the
small statuette of a king in silver, which I think may be as old as the time
of Darius.
T
152
A. Cunningham — Relics from Ancient Persia.
[No. 3,
It is perhaps rather bold to speculate as to how this large treasure
came to be hidden. It was not found all in one spot ; but scattered about
in the sands of the river. One may therefore conjecture that it may have
been concealed in the bank either in wooden boxes, or in vessels of earthen¬
ware, which fell to pieces when the swollen stream cut away the bank and
scattered their contents over the sands.
If I am right as to the age of the latest coins, the treasure must have
been buried about the time of Antiochus the Great and his contemporary
Euthydemus of Bactria, as not even a single specimen of either Demetrius
or Eukratides has jet turned up. Now we know that Bactria was invaded
by Antiochus in B. C. 208. Euthjulemus took up a position near Tagouria
with an advanced post on the River Arius defended by ten thousand caval¬
ry. In the battle which followed, Euthydemus was defeated, and being
disheartened he “ retreated to Zariaspa, a city of Bactriana, with all his
army.” I quote the following from my account of this campaign in the
Numismatic Chronicle.
11 In marching from Hyrkania to Bactria, Antiochus must have follow¬
ed the high road along the valley of Meshed to the fort of Muzdaran,
which stands on an isolated spur of table-land at the entrance of the
Darband Pass.*5 This is the place which I suppose that Antiochus was be¬
sieging when he heard that Euthydemus was encamped at Tagouria, only
three days’ march distant, and that a body of cavalry was prepared to dispute
the passage of the Arius River. Antiochus at once raised the siege, and
resolved to cross the river, and advance against the enemy. For the first
two days he moved slowly, but on the evening of the third day, leaving the
main body behind, he made a forced march with all his cavalry and light¬
armed troops. As the country was level, and easy for the march of cavalry,
he reached the banks of the River Arius and crossed it before dawn. Now
the road through the Darband Pass leads direct upon the town of Sarakhs,
which lies to the east of the Tejend, or Arius River, at forty-five miles
distance from Muzdaran. The nature of this road also corresponds exactly
with the account of Polybius ; as Burnes describes the route for the
eighteen miles to the south-west of Sarakhs, as lying “ over a level country,
broken in some places by gravelly hillocks. ”f Sarakhs itself must there¬
fore be the city to which the Bactrian cavalry retired at night ; and Ta¬
gouria, where Euthydemus was encamped, may be looked for somewhere
along the line of the Murghab, or Margus River, in the neighbourhood of
Maru-ur-Rud, or Alexandria Margiane.”
“ Wilson thinks that Euthydemus showed little courage or conduct!
in retiring at once so far back as Balkh, and he therefore infers that Zarias-
* Burnes’ Travels, iii, 59. f Burnes’ Travels, iii, 58.
X Ariana Antiqua, p. 221, note.
1881.]
A. Cunningham — Relics from Ancient Persia.
153
pa should rather be in the situation of Maru and Andkoh. But the identi¬
fication of Zariaspa with Bactria or Balkh seems to me to be too well
established by the direct testimony of Ptolemy, as well as by the coincidence
of its name with Azergashasp or Azerasp, the famous fire-temple of Balkh,
to be set aside by any reasoning founded on mere opinion. I disagree also
with Wilson in thinking that Euthydemus would have shown good judg¬
ment in retiring upon Maru ; for Maru stands on the edge of the desert, so
that his further retreat would have been cut off, and he would have been
compelled either to fight or to submit, and in such a position a defeat would
have been fatal. By retiring upon Balkh there were two lines of retreat
open to him ; either northward into the mountains of Sogdiana, or east¬
ward up the valley of the Oxus. By taking up this commanding position
in front of his capital, EuthyMemus forced his antagonist to come to terms.”
Zariaspa has been generally accepted as only another name for the old
capital of Balkh, which was derived from its famous fire-temple of Azer-
gashasp, or Azer-i-asp. I conclude that the treasure may have been hidden
shortly before the defeat of Euthydemus, by some one who went to join the
army on the Arius Biver and did not return to recover it. And there it
has lain on the bank of the Oxus for upwards of two thousand years, whilst
Parthians and Scythians, Sassanians and Arabs, Turks and Mughals have
in turn swept over the country and crossed the river within a few miles of
the hidden treasure.
I have arranged the principal objects of this curious discovery in six
Plates according to their subjects, followed by two Plates of coins,
and a single Plate of bronze objects from Sistan, or Drangiana, which also
formed a part of the Ancient Persian empire of the Achsemenkhe. Before
discussing the varieties of dress and arms and ornaments brought to light in
these curious relics, I think it best to give a brief description of the objects
represented in the different Plates.
Plate XL Royal Statuette. Solid silver, full size, weight 5,791 grains.
In my own possession. The figure is represented in two views, both front
and back. The upper part of the dress is bordered with broad bands of
gold ornament let into the silver, with a similar gold band down the front
of the long tunic. The diadem is fastened near the top of the head dress
or tiara, with its broad ends hanging conspicuously at the back of the head.
Plate XII. Royal Figures. Thin gold, full size, weight 81 grains.
Author.
No. 1. Standing figure with crown on head, right hand up-raised and
left hand carrying a flower. Author.
No. 2. Gold Bing, weighing 272 grains. Author. Crowned figure
of king seated on a chair — holding a bird on his right hand and a flower in
his left.
154
A. Cunningham — Holies from Ancient Persia.
[No. 3,
No. 3. Double Daric, gold. Author. The type is the same as that
which is so wTell known on the single Darics. The king, crowned and resting
on his right, knee carries a bow in his outstretched left hand, and an arrow
in his right.
No. 4. Silver coin. Author. This rare coin is of the same type as
the gold Darics and silver Darics, hut its weight is only two-thirds of that
of the silver Daric or Siglos. This proves that the silver Siglos was divided
into six parts, which as I will hereafter show were called danalce , in Greek
No. 5. Silver coin. Author. The king crowned and kneeling as on
the coin just described. In his left hand the usual how, and in his right
a long spear, with a heavy knob at the end. In the field the Greek
letters A H.
No. 6. Large silver coin, weighing 407| grains. Author. Archaic
type ; crowned king in chariot drawn by four horses.
No. 7. Large silver coin weighing 400 grains. Author. Similar
types.
I have seen four specimens of the former, and six of the latter type,
brought from the Oxus find. These coins are usually named Persian octo-
drachms, hut I believe that they should rather be called Pentasiglons, or
Quarter Darics, as I will show hereafter. I have placed them here for the
purpose of illustrating the following figure.
No. 8. Gold ; full size ; king and driver in chariot. Weight 368
grains. Lord Lytton. Horse gold, 96 grains. Author.
In the plate the wheel has been added from that shown on the large
silver coins. The driver in spite of his shortness is standing, while the
tall king is sitting, with a spear in his hand, on a seat running from front
to rear, and not across the chariot. The reins of thin gold wire still cling
to the driver’s hands, while a similar gold wire forms the head-gear
of the horse. The figures are all hollow, having been formed in two pieces,
and afterwards joined rather roughly.
I understand that a much larger chariot with wheels and horses com¬
plete, including also a king and a charioteer, was found last year and sent
to England, where it was sold for a large sum. I was not allowed even to
see it.
Plate XIII. Statuettes.
No. 1, front view, and No. 2, side view, of a gold figure, full size,
weighing 1063 grains. Lord Lytton. The figure is nearly solid, and must
have been originally mounted on horseback, as shown by the position of the
legs and hands. I take it to be a royal personage partly from the em¬
broidered tunic, and partly from the tall head-dress, which was peculiar to
the kings of Persia.
A. Cunningham — Relics from Ancient Persia.
155
1881.]
No. 8, solid silver statuette, half size, weighing 28,282 grains, or
nearly 59 ounces. Author. The figure is naked, with the exception of the
head which is covered with a tall flat -sided cap, very like that of the rider
shown in No. 1, but without the flaps.
No. 4, head of a horse nearly solid, in gold, full size, weighing 678
trains. Author. This statuette was entire when found ; but the finders
having quarrelled about the division of their treasure, the horse was cut in
pieces with a chisel, some marks of which may be seen both on the neck
and the cheek. It is said to have been nearly 6 inches long.
Nos. 5 and 6. Side and front views of the head dress of the last
Baja of Ladak, to illustrate the tall cap of the naked silver figure. The
■upper part of the cap was of black velvet, rimmed with a band of sky blue
silk, embroidered with gold.
Plate NIY. A Magus or Priest.
Gold Plaque, full size, weighing 624 grains. Author. The figure will
be described presently.
Plate XY. Animals.
No. 1. Winged bull, full size, weighing 134 grains. Author. At the
back of the Plate there are several small eyelet holes for securing it to some
back ground.
No. 2. Small eagle, full size, in solid gold, weighing 13 grains. Au¬
thor.
No. 3. Small pigeon, full size, in hollow gold, weighing 24 grains.
Author. This figure has small eyelet holes below.
No. 4. Small square gold plaque, full size, weighing 26 grains. Au¬
thor. Figures of man and lion in archaic style.
No. 5. Gold ring, weighing 60 grains. Horse running to left.
Author.
No. 6. Gold stag, full size, weighing 385 grains. Author. The stag
had branching antlers, of which one is altogether gone, and the other broken
off just above the lowermost tire. From some marks about the feet it
would appear to have been fastened to a flat plate, like the sheep in the
next figure.
No. 7. Gold sheep, full size, weighing 924 grains. Author. The
figure is fixed to an oblong plate which is pierced with small holes all round
the four sides for the purpose of securing it firmly, either by rivets to the
crest of a metal helmet, or by sewing it to the top of a felt head-dress.
Or, perhaps both the stag and the sheep may have been the crowning figures
of military or royal standards.
No. 8. Gold fish, half size, weighing 5,6S7 grains or nearly 12 ounces.
Author. This figure is 9^ inches in length, and was most probably the
156 A. Cunningham — Relics from Ancient Persia. [No. 3,
crest o£ a royal standard, as the Mahi Mardtib or u Fish standard” has
come dawn even to our own times as one of the symbols of high position,
if not of royal rank. Thus the king of Oudh had two fishes carved on the
gateways of his palace, and also placed a fish on his coins. One of the
privileges said to have been granted by Kutb-uddin, the first Muhammadan
king, to the Hindu Princes was the right of hoisting the royal fish standard
or Main Marat ib-lcino, as it is expressed in the books of Mukji the famous
bard of the Khichi Chauhans.
Plate XVI. Ornaments.
No. 1. Earring of solid gold, full size, 48 grains. Author. The pin
which passed from the back of the head to the feet has been lost. The
execution of this little figure is much superior in finish to most of the other
No. 2. Large finger ring in shape of a coiled snake, 176 grains.
Author.
No. 3. Small finger ring of similar design, 77 grains. Author.
Both of these rings are of pale gold.
No. 4. Gold belt clasp, full size, weighing 486 grains. Author.
There are two flat loops at the back for the belt to pass through. The
youthful male head, crowned with a chaplet of ivy leaves, stands out in
very bold relief. It differs, however, in its workmanship from most of the
other objects, having been beaten up from behind, instead of being cast in
a mould. It is therefore a very ancient specimen of repousee work. I
take the head to be that of Dionysos Kissophoros , or the “ Ivy-crowned
Dionysus,” and that it must have been the work of some Oriental Greek
about the time of Alexander the Great.
Bracelets.
All the specimens that I have seen were cut up by the finders, the
plain middle pieces being consigned at once to the melting-pot, and only
the ornamented ones kept for sale. The specimens in the Plate are all
from my own collection.
No. 5. Gold bracelet, full size, ending in ram’s head.
No. 6. ditto, full size, ending in dog’s head (?)
No. 7. Spiral gold bracelet, full size, ending in lion’s head. Some
portions of the spiral coil being left attached to each end, I had the bracelet
completed by a Simla goldsmith.
No. 8. Gold bracelet, full size, ending in lion’s head.
No. 9. Gold bracelet, full size, ending in wild goat’s head. The
top view of the head is also shown, where it will be seen that the tips of
the horns are made to join so as not to offer any points for catching in the
dress.
188].]
A. Cunningham — Relics from Ancient Persia.
157
No. 10. Gold bracelet, full size, ending in head of horned lion (?)
The top view of this bracelet is also given.
Torques or Collars.
No. 11. Two hull’s heads in gold, set upright, full size.
No. 12. Lion’s head in solid gold, full size, weighing 336 grains. All
my enquiries have failed to discover the companion piece. When complete
this collar must have weighed about seven ounces. I understand that it
was cut into several small pieces.
Tress of the Ancient Persians.
The king was distinguished from all his subjects by wearing an upright
head dress, called Kiclaris or Kitaris , an oriental name which still survives
in the Hebrew Tether. Curtius says “ Cidarim Persm regium capitis vocabant
insigne.” Plutarch also relates that Artaxerxes allowed his eldest son Darius,
when he declared him his successor, to wear “ the point of his Kitaris erect,
as a mark of royalty.” It was bound with a fillet called JSPitra , which like
the Greek diadema , had the two ends hanging down behind the head. The
Greek word itself was also introduced into Persia, most probably during the
time of the Seleukidae, and it still exists in Persian under the contracted form
of dehim , by the simple elision of the second d. All head dresses were
called by the general name of tiara , that of the king being distinguished
by its upright form. Another term was Kurbasia , which would rather
seem to be a foreign name, if, as I suppose, it contains the Turki word
bash, or “ head,” the whole word meaning perhaps only “ head covering.”
A specimen of the upright tiara, with the diadem is seen in the silver
statuette in Plate XI. The same tiara is apparently represented on the most
ancient Persian coins, both of gold and silver, as seen on the different speci¬
mens in Plate II. But the head dress on the coins is almost invariably
represented with a radiated crown on the top, which in figure 1 of Plate XII
would seem almost to be separate from the tiara, or head-dress proper.
But perhaps the finest specimens of the Kidaris , or upright tiara, are seen
on the larger silver coins of Tigranes king of Armenia, on which the tiara
is formed with a radiated upper edge. The Kidaris itself was made of
crimson cloth, with a diadem of sky blue spotted with a white star. So
Curtius says “ Cserulea fascia albo distincta circumibat.” So also the tall
cap mentioned above as worn by the Raja of Ladak has a sky-blue border.
The common tiara was a soft felt cap, called pilos by the Greeks ; but
it differed from the Greek pilos in having long lappets which could be tied
under the chin.* This is the cap worn by the drivers in the chariots in
Plate XII ; by the Satrap Tiridames on No. 5 coin of Plate XVII ; by the
Magus in Plate XIV, and apparently also by the king himself when out riding
* This fact is specially referred to by Juvenal, VI, 516.
c
158 A. Cunningham — Relics from Ancient Persia. [No. 3,
or hunting, as shown in Plate XIII. But the caps worn by the Magus and
the king are tall, the former only differing from the royal cap in the upper
part being pressed downwards and backwards. The Satrap head-dress with
its side lappets is fully displayed on the beautiful coin of Pharnahazus pub¬
lished by the Due de Luynes.#
The outer dress consisted of a sleeved tunic, a pair of light fitting
trowsers, and boots.
The tunic worn by all classes of Persians was a sleeved coat called
Kanclus or Kandulce , a name which appears to contain the Persian word
Kum, or Kam , “ a sleeve.” It was also called Sardpis, which may
perhaps be only the Persian word Sarapd “ from head to foot,” and
if so, this term would rather apply to the Median robe, which reached
down to the ground, than to the later Persian tunic. According
to some the sardpis was a striped tunic of crimson and white, purpurece
tunic ce medium album intextumf But judging from the coloured dress of
Darius in the Pompeian Mosaic, and from the dress of the golden statuette
horseman in Lord Lytton’s possession, the main part of the tunic was of
scarlet, with a broad band of white down the front, and narrow bands along
the edges of the sleeves and of the skirts.
The Persian trowsers were of two kinds, “ loose” and “ tight.” The
former were called sarabdra or saraballa , a name which is still in use as
sarawil and sarawdl for the very same garment. The light trowsers were
called anaxurides, in the plural. Xenophon calls them TvoiAXai dva&pvSe s
which may mean either “ embroidered” or “ parti-coloured.” The tight-
fitting trowsers or anaxurides are worn by Darius and most of the Persian
chiefs, in the famous Pompeian mosaic representing the battle of Issus.
They are also worn by the horseman in Plate XIII and by the seated
Satrap Datames or Tiridames on the coin No. 5 of Plate XVII. I can find
nothing about either their material or their colour, as I have not access to
any coloured copy of the Pompeian mosaic.
The boots were of soft leather, and sometimes ended in long points, as
seen in the gold statuette of Plate XII. But these long points were most
probably confined to riding boots, as the king in Plate XI has square-toed
boots, much like those of the present day, excepting only that they are
highly ornamented.
Magus or Priest.
In Plate XIV we have a representation of the Magus or Priest as he
stood in front of the fire altar for daily worship. The most minute account
* Essai sur la Numismatique des Satrapies et de la Phcnicie sous les Eois AchEemo-
nides. Plate I, fig. 5.
f Curtius, Yit. Alexand. III. 3-7. The medium intextum agrees with the [x^aoAevnos
of the Greek writers. See also Xenoph., Cyrop. I. 3.2,
1881.] A. Cunningham — Relics from Ancient Persia. 159
of the ancient Magi that has come down to ns is that of Strabo, who had
no doubt frequently witnessed the Magian worship. “ The Persians” he says
“ have also certain large shrines, called Pyrcetheia. In the middle of these
is an altar, on which is a great quantity of ashes where the Magi maintain
an unextinguished fire. They enter daily and continue their incantation
for nearly an hour holding before the fire a bundle of rods, and wear round
their heads high turbans of felt, reaching down on each side, so as to
cover the lips and the sides of the cheeks.” Here I think there must have
been some mistake of the copyist, as Herodotus mentions that when all was
ready, the Magus “chanted a hymn,” which he could hardly do when his
mouth was covered with the lappets of his head-dress.^ The figure in
Plate XIV certainly has his lips quite free. I think therefore that we
might venture to change to, yeiAea the “lips” to rpdyrjXov the “throat.”
Strabo’s description would then tally exactly with the representation of the
Magus on the gold plate, having both his throat and the sides of his cheeks
covered by the lappets of his head-dress. The dress of the Magus was
white according to Diogenes Laertius, f but nothing is said about its orna¬
mentation, which is conspicuous in the Plate, both on the shoulders and
round the edges of the tunic, which reaches only to the knees. He has a
short sword on his right side, and holds the barsom , or “ holy wand of
twigs,” in his right hand before him.
Strabo describes the sacrifices of the Magi in another place, where he
says that “ they continue their incantations for a long time, holding in their
hands a bundle of slender myrtle rods.” But in neither place does he men¬
tion in which hand the Magus held the barsom, or wand of twigs. This
omission is very unfortunate, as the Parsi priests of the present day hold
the sacred wand in the left hand, in utter disagreement with the ancient
custom as represented on the gold plate. At first I thought it possible
that the artist might have made a blunder in placing both the barsom and
the sword on the right. But I see that the Persian soldiers given in Raw-
linson’s ancient monarchies wear exactly the same short swords on the right
side. J It is clear therefore that the present practice of the Parsis is an
actual departure from the custom of the Magi of old.
In Yusna 57, as published by Haug, I find the following passage
regarding the barsom, or holy wand of twigs. § “ He who first arranged
the bundle of sacred twigs (barsom), that with 3, that with 5, that with 7,
and that with 9 stalks, those which were so long as to go up to the knees,
* Herodot. I. 132. Curtius also speaks of the Magi singing, HI. 3.7.
f ’ EcrO^s Av Xevicfi quoted by Rawlinson, Anct. Monarchies, Vol. II, 347-
2nd edition.
t Ancient Monarchies, 2nd edition, Vol. Ill, pp. 172-174, 176.
§ Haug’s Essays, by West, p. 189.
U
160 A. Cunningham — Relics from Ancient Rersia. [No. 3,
and those which went as far as the middle of the breast, (he arranged them)
to worship, to praise, to satisfy and to extol the archangels.”
In his notes descriptive of Parsi ceremonies Ilaug gives the following
detailed description of the holy wand. a The barsom consists of a number
of slender rods or tdi, formerly twigs of some particular trees, hut now thin
metal wires are generally used. The number of these tdi depends upon the
nature of the ceremony to be celebrated. For Ijashne (yazishn ) alone 21
tdi are required, for Ijashne with Yendidad and Visparad 33 tdi, for Yasht-
i-Rapithwin 13 tdi, for Damn Baj 5 tdi, or 7 when a priest becomes
a herhadA In a footnote Dr. Haug adds — “ According to other informa¬
tion the Damn Baj requires 7 tdi of double thickness, or 9 if per¬
formed in the house of a king or chief highpriest. In the Nirangistan it
is stated that the barsom twigs may be cut from any tree whose trunk is
sound, and that they should be from one to three spans in length and a
barley-corn in thickness, and their number either 3, 5, 7, 9, 12, 15, 21, 33,
69, or 551, according to the circumstances of the ceremony.”
The barsom carried by the Magus on the gold plate has only 5
twigs or rods, but I can nowhere find any statement as to the particular
ceremony for which a wand of 5 twigs is required. All the authorities,
from Anquetil clu Perron downwards, are content with stating the fact that
the number varies according to the character of the sacrifice performed.
Gerson da Cunha, the latest writer, simply says that “ in the ordinary
Damn ceremony only 5 wires are used.”*
Arms and Ornaments.
Both Medes and Persians were fond of gold ornaments ; and in the
sculptures of Persepolis and Nakshi Rustam w$ see a profusion of ear-rings,
finger-rings, bracelets, armlets, and collars or torques, of which numerous
examples are found in the present collection. The only arms represented
are the short Persian sword called A hinalces, on the Magus, in Plate XIY ;
and a spear in the hands of the king in the chariot, in Plate XII. On the
coins, however, are seen both the bow and the shield.
Ear-rings are represented by a single specimen, Plate XYI, fig. 1, which
I have already noticed as being of superior workmanship. It represents a
naked male figure with his hands on his hips, and his body bent double.
The figure is well proportioned and beautifully made. Arrian mentions
gold ear rings set with precious stones as part of the treasures in the tomb
of Cyrus at Pasargadse : evcoria ypwou re kcu XlOojv KoWrjrd, Arrian,
Anabasis, YI, 29.
Finger-rings are of two kinds, the coiled snaice pattern and the seal
ring pattern. Of the former there are two specimens in Plate XVI, the
* See Gerson da Cunha, in Bombay Asiatic Society’s Journal, XIY, 6.
1881.]
A. Cunningham — Relies from Ancient Persia.
161
larger one weighing 176 grains, and the smaller one only 77 grains. Of the
seal rings there are three specimens. 1st, A king seated on a chair, Plate
XII, fig. 2, weighing 272 grains in my possession. 2nd, An animal run¬
ning to left, Plate XV, fig. 5, weighing 60 grains, also in my possession.
3rd, Human -headed and winged bull walking to left, with an inscription of
4 letters, which will be discussed when I come to describe the coins. This
seal is in the British Museum.
Bracelets and Armlets are by far the most numerous of the ornaments
found on the Oxus. There are no less than six specimens in Plate XVI, and
I have seen several others. They are all of gold from one-eighth to one-sixth
of an inch in thickness, and invariably terminate in animal’s heads, such as
goats, rams, lions and griffins. See Plate XVI, figs. 5 to 10. The horned
heads are very skilfully arranged for actual wear, the horns being always
thrown on the back of the head, or joined together behind the head so as
not to catch in the dress. Bracelets are mentioned by both Herodotus and
Xenophon as parts of the usual ornaments of the Persians.
Torques, or Collars are represented by only two specimens. All the
principal figures in the sculptures at Persepolis are represented wearing
neck-chains or collars. They formed part of the royal ornaments deposited
in the tomb of Cyrus, # and they formed part of the spoil which the Greeks
stripped from the dead Persians after the battle of Platsea.f The larger
specimen, fig. 12, Plate XVI, is nearly one quarter of an inch in diameter.
When complete it must have weighed about 7 ounces, as this fragment
weighs 336 grains. It is of excellent workmanship.
The throne of the king would appear to have been a single high-backed-
chair. The only representation amongst the Oxus find is on the gold ring
Plate XII, fig. 2. But other seats of a similar kind are found on the coins
of the Satrap Datames or Tiridames. Plate XVII, fig. 5.
The Boyal Chariot is well represented in Plate XII, both on the coins*
and in an actual model chariot from the Oxus find. In this example there
are two shafts or poles, each with a cross bar for two horses. The Koyal
chariot must therefore have had four horses as shown on the coins. The
king is sitting in the chariot on a seat running fore and aft, and not across,
while the charioteer is standing.
I have lately seen a small silver horse, which, from a hole on one side,
would appear to have been attached to a chariot. It was solid, and came
from the Oxus. It was a little larger than the horse in the Plate.
Animals.
The animals represented amongst the Oxus relics are the horse, the
lion, the stag, a fish, a pigeon, a small bird like an eagle, and two snakes.
* Arrian, Exped. Alexandri, VI, 21. f Herodot. IX, 80.
1G2 A. Cunningham — Relics from Ancient Persia. [No. 3,
Also amongst the bracelets and collars there are heads of lions, dogs,
goats, and bulls.
The principal figures are the stag, the sheep and the fish, the two
former being represented in Plate NY, of full size, and the last only half
size. The winged bull in the same Plate is also of full size, A first view
recalls that of the Assyrian sculptures, both in subject and in style. The
strongly displayed and exaggerated ribs and muscles of the bull, the stag,
and the sheep suggest the possibility that they may even be real speci¬
mens of Assyrian art which had found their way to Bactria.
The most puzzling thing about these relics is their use. Many of
them were certainly simple ornaments ; such as the winged bull in Plate
XY, which has eyelet holes for fastening it to some wooden or metal ground,
such as the sheath of a sword. Professor Rawlinson supposes that the
scabbard described by Curtius as ex gemma erat vagina , was formed “ of a
single piece of jasper, agate, lapis lazuli. But as such a scabbard would
have been fatal to the sharp edge of the sword, I have no doubt that the
stones were only very thin slices fastened to a wmoden sheath. In fact the
scymitars found on the bodies of the dead Persians after the battle of
Platsea are described by Herodotus as covered with “ ornaments of goldd’f
But as the stag, the sheep, and the fish of my collection could not
possibly have been used for overlaying any flat surface, it has struck me
that they may have been used as crests for helmets, or standards. The
first two were certainly either nailed or possibly sewn with stout thread, to
some larger object ; but the fish must, I think, have been slung from the
top of a standard as it has a stout ring or eyelet hole, on its left side, close
to the end of the fin. It must therefore have been suspended perpendicu¬
larly with the mouth up.
Goins found on the Oxus.
In treating of the ancient coinage of Lydia and Persia it is necessary
to remember that the former derived its monetary standard from Assyria
and the latter from Babylonia. The value of the Lydian standard is placed
beyond all doubt by the statement of Herodotus about the ingots of gold
and electrum which Croesus presented to the temple at Delphi. J According
to his account the ingots were all of the same size, 6 palms long by 3 palms
broad and 1 palm thick. Taking the Greek palm at 3031375 inches, each
ingot would have contained 502*898 cubic inches. Of these ingots 4 only
were of pure gold weighing 2^ talents, the remaining 113 being of pale
gold, or electrum, and weighing only 2 talents each. Then taking the
* Ancient Monarchies, III, 208, 2nd edition,
f Herodotus, IX, 80.
f Herodot., Hist. I, 50,
1881.]
A. Cunningham — Relics from Ancient Persia.
163
specific gravity of water at 252 45 grains per cubic inch and that of pure
gold at 19‘258 times that of water, the weight of each of the 4 ingots of
refined gold would have been 350 76 lbs., which makes the Lydian talent just
1403 tbs. Now this was also the Assyrian talent, as we learn from the
weights of the lions and ducks preserved in the British Museum, which
give an Assyrian mina of 15,368 grains, and a Babylonian mina of 7,747
grains, or just one half of the other. The same difference is still preserved
at the present day as the man of Shiraz and Bagdad is just double that of
Tabrez and Bushir, the average of the former being 1406 lbs. and that of
the latter being only 6’985.# The weight corresponding to the ancient
talent is the toman , or dah-man , that is 10 mans , of which the Bagdad!
toman averages 140 6 lbs., and the Tabrezi toman 69'85 lbs., the former being
the modern representative of the Assyrian, and the latter of the Babylonian
talent.
But these values are only approximations, as it is very unlikely that
the Lydian ingots were made in exact whole numbers of Greek measures,
and we know that all measures of weight suffer degradation in the lapse of
time. To obtain more exact values we must refer to the statements of
ancient authors, and compare them with the weights of the actual coins
which have come down to us.
The earliest fact bearing on this subject is the statement of Herodotus,
in his account of the satrapies of Darius, that the value of gold in Persia
was 13 times that of silver. But this is directly at variance with another
statement that the Babylonian talent was equal to 70 Euboic minae, because
as the silver payments were made in the Babylonian standard and the gold
payments in the Euboic, this would reduce the rate of silver to gold from
13 down to Ilf. The true number of mince in the Babylonian talent was
78, and not 70, as we may deduce from the difference of the rates between
silver and gold which prevailed in Eubaea and Persia. Thus, as the rate of
10 is to 13, so are 60 minae to 78 minae. By applying this corrected value
of the Babylonian talent to the text of Herodotus, all the discrepancies,
which have hitherto puzzled commentators, disappear at once. He gives the
total amount of the nineteen silver paying satrapies at 7,600 Babylonian
talents, which his text says are equal to 9,540 Euboic talents, instead of
9,8S0 which is the true value at 13 rates. And that this was the actual
rate that he used in the reduction is proved by his final total, which after
adding the quota of the 20th satrapy, namely, 360 talents of gold, or 360 x
13 = 4,680 talents of silver, he makes 14,560 talents. f The sum of these
* — Kelly’s Cambist — Prinsep’s Useful Tables.
f Herodot., Hist., Ill, 96. I made this correction so long ago as 1858. The total
of silver payments is said by Mr. Rawlinson (Herodotus, Yol. II, 486) to be 7,7401
talents, but he has overlooked the fact that 140 talents of the 4th satrapy were not
[No. 3,
161 A. Cunningham — Belies from Ancient Persia.
two, 9,880 plus 4,680, is exactly 14,560 talents as stated by Herodotus.
As it is important to establish the correctness of the rate of 13
silver to 1 gold as noted by Herodotus, I append here the details of the
sums actually paid into the Persian treasury .
Satrapies — Talents.
No. I.— 400
II.— 500
III— 360
IV. — 360 — (500 less 140 for cavalry not paid into Treasury.)
V.— 350
VI.— 700
VII.— 170
VIII.— 300
IX.— 1000
X. — 450
XI.— 200
XII.— 360
XIII. — 400
XIV. — 600
XV.— 250
XVI.— 300
XVII.— 400
XVIII.— 200
XIX.— 300
7,600 Babylonian talents of 78 Attic mime
equal to 9.880 Euboic talents, of 60 Attic minse
at 13 to 10 — • — so 7,600 x Ar — 9,880 Euboic talents of silver
Add XXth satrapy 360 gold x 13 = silver 4,680
which gives a total of 14,560 Euboic talents of silver
exactly as stated by Herodotus.
The next fact regarding Persian money we get from Xenophon, who
states that the talent was equal to 300 Darics, and the siglos was equal to
7i Attic oboli.# Taking the Attic drachma at 6 7 *2 English grains and the
obolus at 11 ‘2 grains, the weight of the siglos , or Persian silver coin, would
received by Darius. The actual total of silver payments was therefore only 7,6C0
talents, as I have stated above.
* Xenoph., Anab., I — 'O 5e JUiyAos dvyarai inra ofioAovs nui r)y.iofi6Aiov,
165
1881.] A. Cunningham — Relics from Ancient Persia.
have been exactly 84 grains. But this value we know from numbers of
existing coins to he too low, as the average of 10 good specimens, which I
have recorded is 85 T9 grains, of which 6 are of 86 grains and upwards, the
heaviest reaching 87‘9 grains. Accordingly I find that Hesychius fixes the
value of the siglos at 8 Attic oboli, which would make it 1L2 x 8 = 89*6
grains in weight. His words are ^lyXos vo/xicrfia UepcnKov Svvdfxe vov oktoj
6J3oXov<5 ’Attlkovs. The siglos is also mentioned in Attic inscriptions, according
to Lenormant.* It seems probable therefore that the true value may have
been between and 8 oboli. Now several ancient writers state that the
Persian Daric was equal to 20 Attic drachms ; and as we gather from
Xenophon that it was also equal to 20 Persian sigli, I conclude that this
difference in value must have been due solely to the difference of rate of
silver to gold in the two countries. In Greece, owing to the successful
working of the gold mines in Thrace, the rate was only 10 to 1, while in
Persia it was 13 to 1. That this value of 13 to 1 was not a fluctuating
rate is proved by the fact that Sim, the Persian word for silver, has also
the meaning of “ one thirteenthP I believe therefore that the weight of the
siglos was to that of the Attic drachma exactly in the ratio of 13 to 10,
which would make the siglos just 87'36 grains, or as nearly as possible
intermediate between the two values given by Xenophon and Hesychius.
Accepting this as the true weight of the siglos, the value of 1 Dario ,
or 20 sigli, will be 1747*2 grains of silver, and the Persian talent, which
was equal to 300 gold Darics in value , and to 300 x 20 = 6000 silver
sigli in weight, will be 524,160 grains, or 74*88 lbs. At 84 grains to the
siglos, the Persian talent would have been exactly 72 English pounds avoir¬
dupois. Having thus established the normal weight of the siglos at 87*36
grains, I will now proceed to fix the weights of other Persian coins begin¬
ning with the Daric.
The Daric was the common coin of the ancient Persian empire, just
as the sovereign or pound is the common coin of England at the present
time. In value it was equal to 20 sigli ; and as the rate of silver to gold
was 13 to 1, the gold Daric must have been exactly one-thirteenth of the
weight of 20 sigli, or 87*36 X = 134*4 grains, which is the full weight
of the Attic stater. I am aware that many numismatists consider the
Daric to have been a lighter coin than the Attic stater. But I believe that
this opinion has been created by simply ignoring the fact that the Darics
were much longer in circulation than the Attic staters of Philip and
Alexander, and by comparing Attic staters of full weight with the averages
of a number of worn Darics. For instance Mr. Head makes the normal
weight of the Darics only 130 grains. f But as he makes the normal
* Revue Numismatique, 1867, p. 362.
f Coinage of Lydia and Persia, pp. 29-30.
1G6 A. Cunningham — Relics from Ancient Persia. [No. 3,
weight of the siglos to be 86*45 grains, the Daric should be 86* '5 x -f-f =
331 grains exactly. He gets the lower weight by taking the rate of silver
at 13*3 instead of 13 as distinctly stated by Herodotus, and as actually
used by the historian in his reductions.
I have taken the normal weight of the Daric as 134*4 grains, or exactly
equal to the Attic stater by raising it from the ascertained weight of the
Persian siglos of silver. I will now compare the actual Darics that have
come down to us with a number of Attic staters. For this purpose I have
examined the catalogues and descriptions of nine different collections, from
which I find that 21 staters of Philip, 42 of Alexander, 3 of Arrhidseus and
12 of Lysimachus, or altogether 78 Attic staters give an average weight of
132*11 grains. Taking the normal Attic stater at 134*4 grains, the average
loss of these 78 staters is 2*29 grains. With these staters we may compare
125 Darics, which formed part of a hoard of 300 found in the canal of
Xerxes. The average weight of these 125, as ascertained by H. P. Borrell,
was 123*4 grains, while many of the heavier pieces reached 132 grains.*
Now adding a loss of 2 23 grains to 129 4, we get 131*69 as the approxi¬
mate normal weight of the Daric. But as many of the best pieces actually
weighed 132 grains I think that the normal weight of the Daric may fairly
be placed as high as 133 grains. It appears also from Hussey’s examina¬
tion of the gold staters in the British Museum and other collections that
the average weight of 71 staters of Philip, Alexander and Lysimachus was
a little over 132 grains, the heaviest only reaching 133 grains. f It must
be remembered also that the Museum coins are selected specimens, chosen
specially for the goodness of their preservation. I believe therefore that if
a similar selection of the choicest specimens had been made from the 300
Darics found in the canal of Xerxes, their average weight would most pro¬
bably have also reached 132 grains.
The Daric was divided into 20 silver shekels, or sigli , just as the Eng¬
lish sovereign is divided into 20 shillings. The weight of the siglos itself
has already been discussed. But the multiples and divisions of the siglos
have hitherto received but little attention from numismatists with reference
to their value. For the sake of mere convenience it seems almost certain
that there must have been a quarter Daric piece either of gold or of silver.
No gold coin of this value has yet been found, but there is a considerable
number of large silver pieces weighing from 396 up to 438*5 grains which
are certainly quarter Darics in value, whatever their name may have been.
I have a record of the weights of 22 of these coins, of which the five heaviest
average 426*66 grains, the maximum weight being 433 5 grains. Now
* H. P. Borrell in Numismatic Chronicle, VI, 153, and Max. Borrell in personal
communication.
f Hussey’s Essay, p. 16.
1881.]
1G7
A. Cunningham — Belies from Ancient Persia.
taking the siglos at 87*36 grains, the normal weight of the pentasiglon or
quarter Daric, would have been 436*8 grains, or only a trifle more than the
actual weight of these large silver coins. The types of these coins are the
king in a chariot drawn by four horses, and a galley filled with rowers on
the reverse. There is also a quarter piece of the same types, or one-sixteenth
of a Daric.
The next silver coin in weight is the Aryandic of which Herodotus has
given a brief account. These coins range from 220 to 23G grains in weight
which is too heavy for the eighth of a Daric, or 218*4 grains at the rate of
13 to 1. It would, however, exactly agree with the required weight at 14
rates, as 134*4 X — 235*2 grains. But so far as I am aware there is
no authority for supposing that gold was scarce or silver common in Egypt
during the governorship of Aryandes.
The next coins in weight are those of the Satraps of Asia Minor, Tiri-
bazus, Pharnabazus, Tiridames-, and others. Mr. Head takes the normal
weight of their coins at 172*9 grains, or just twice that of the siglos , which
he fixes at 86*45 grains. According to my valuation of the siglos at 87*36
grains the full weight of the satrapal coins of Asia Minor would be 174*72
grains. The difference between these values is very little ; but 1 altogether
dissent from Mr. Head’s identification of the siglos with the Persian
drachm. This name I would assign to the double siglos of the Satraps on
the following grounds. At the present day the three smaller weights of
the Persian system are the Danik or Dang , the Mishkdl, and the Darm or
Diram , which I would identify with the Danake , the siglos, and the Drach¬
ma of ancient writers. As the Darm is equal to 2 Mishkals , it corresponds
exactly with the satrapal silver coins of Asia Minor, which are just double
the weight of the siglos. The Darm was therefore one-tenth of a Daric.
The ancient Persian siglos was divided into 6 Danakes, just as the
Mislikal is now divided into 6 Ddniks or Dangs ; and as the siglos was
•JL-th of the Daric, so the Danik was yi^-th, and its multiple of 4 Daniks
[Chahar-Danik] was .-^-th, of a Daric. A specimen of this last very rare
coin, weighing 55 grains, is given in Plate XVII fig. 4. The DLemisiklon is
mentioned by Josephus, and the Hemisiklion by Hesychius. The half-siglos ,
or qiiarter darm , is such an obviously useful division that one would have
expected the coin to have been very common. But so far as I am aware,
not a single specimen of this value has yet been found of the royal archer
type.
The Danik itself is mentioned by three different authors, Pollux,
Hesychius and Suidas. Pollux writes the name Danike or Danake , or Dani-
kon , and says that it was a Persian coin. Hesychius calls it Dame , and
says that it was worth more than an obolus.# But this form of Dame is
* A avv. vofua/jiarLtr ti fiapfiapiKbv bwap-zvov ttAzov ofioAov oAiycp rivi .
X
165
[No. 3,
A. Cunningham — j Relics from Ancient Persia .
certainly a mistake for Danake, as he names the half coin Hemidanakion.
Suiclas also writes the name Danalce , and repeats what was previously said
by Hesy chius, that this coin was placed in the mouths of the dead. Com¬
paring the statement of Hesychius, that the Danalce was worth more than
an obolus, with the present division of the mishkal or shekel into 6 Ddniksy
it results that the normal weight of the Danalce must have been upwards
of 14 grains, or more exactly 87 '3 6 divided by 6 = 14 56 grains. Coins
approaching this weight, that is from 12 to 13 grains, are not uncommon,
but they are all of later date than the incuse Darics and sigli. According
to Mr. Head these are obols of the Babylonian standard of 14 grains. The
name of Danalce at once suggests the Indian silver tanglca , which was of
exactly the same weight, that is the fourth part of the 56 grains Icarsha.
Specimens of the half -Danik , or JDemi-danakion of Hes}Tchius are
also known, but they are very rare. One of 6 grains with a city wall on
one side, and the kneeling archer on the other is noticed by Mr. Head.
I can find no mention in ancient authors of the copper coinage of
Persia ; but a few specimens have come down to us, three of which are noted
by Mr. Head. I possess a rather fine example of his Plate XIII, fig. 23,
weighing only 24 grains. If the old Indian rate of 40 copper to 1 silver
prevailed also in Persia, this coin would have been just one-twentieth of the
Danake, or Persian obolus. The relative values of the ancient Persian coins
just described will be best understood by arranging them in tabular form.
Gold grains Value in silver Sigli.
1 Double Daric, . 268*8 = 40 sigli or shekels. *
1 Daric, . . 134*4 = 20 „ „
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
2
Silver.
Pentasiglon = . 436*8 =
Disiglon or Darm = 174 72 =
Siglos or Shekel, . 87*36 =
Chahar Danik, . 58*24 =
Double Danik, . 29*12 =
Danik or Danake, ... 14*56 =
Danik, Hemidanakion, 7*28 =
1 siglos.
-| siglos — the Indian karsha.
i siglos — the Indian kona.
siglos— the Indian tangka.
Tt siglos.
In Sanskrit Dictionaries I find mention of a coin named Dopaka, whic 4
is said to he of the value of one-seventieth of the Indian Suvarna. As this
would be an extremely inconvenient sub-division, I think it almost certain
that the coin was one-sixtieth of the Persian Daric and Attic stater of
Bactria, which was just equal to six-sevenths of the Indian Suvarna. A
coin of this value certainly existed in India, but it was a half karsha in
value, and was usually called kona .
1881.]
A. Cunningham — Relic ? from Ancient Persia.
169
DESCRIPTION OF THE COINS.
Persian Kings.
No. X- Gold. Double Daric , 08 inch. PI. XVII, fig. 1. Author.
255 grains.
Obv. King to right with radiated tiara and long beard kneeling
on right knee, holding bow in left hand and arrow in right hand. Quiver
arrows at back.
Rev. Rude shapeless incuse.
No. 2. Gold. Daric, 0 7 inch. Author. 132-5 grains.
Obv. King as on No. 1, Mr. Head, PI. I, 16.
No. 3. Gold. Double Daric , 0 75 inch. Author. 256 grains.
Obv. King as on No. 1 ; but with lofty head-dress and holding a
javelin in right hand.
No. 4. Gold. Double Daric, 0*75 inch. Author. 256 grains.
Obv. King as on No. 3 ; but with radiated tiara. In the field to left
a wreath, and some indistinct object above.
No. 5. Gold. Double Daric, 0-75 inch. Author. 255 grains.
Obv. King as on No. 4. In the field to left the Greek letters <E>
and A.
Rev. Two ovals with rough marks inside incuse.
No. 6. Gold. Double Daric, 0-75 inch. Author. 255 grains.
Obv. King as on No. 4, but with short beard, and long points to his
crown. In the field to left the Greek letter <fi, and a Greek monogram
forming MHT.
Rev. A crescent on each side with three marks inside, the whole in a
symmetrical incuse, Mr. Head, PI. I, 15.
No. 7. Gold. Daric , 0 65 inch. Author. 129’5 grains.
Obv. Kins- as on No. 4.
o
No. 8. Silver. Pentasiglon or Quarter Daric, 1*3 inch. Author.
407-f grains.
Obv. King in four-horse chariot, with driver in front, and an atten¬
dant on foot behind the chariot. Plate XII, fig. 6.
Rev. Boat with rowers and sails, on zigzag waves, surrounded by a
circle.
No. 9. Silver. Pentasiglon or Quarter Daric, VI inch. Author.
400 grains. Plate XII, fig. 7. British Museum specimens.
Obv. Kino; in four-horse chariot as on No. 8.
Rev. Boat with rowers on zigzag waves.
No. 10. Silver. Ary andic or two and half sigli, 0 95 inch. Author.
219 grains. Plate XVII, fig. 2. See Mr. Head, Plate I, 20.
Obv. King bearded with radiated crown, kneeling on right knee, hold¬
ing a bow in left hand, and a javelin in right hand.
Rev. Large incuse with uncertain objects.
170 A. Cunningham — Relics from Ancient Persia. [No. 3,
No. 11. Silyer. Aryandic, 0 9 inch. Author. 2265 grains. Plate
XII. fig. 5.
Obv. King as on No. 10. In the field to left the Greek letters AH.
Rev. Large incuse as on the last.
No. 12. Silyer. Doric, 0*6 inch. Author. 82 grains. Mr. Head,
Plate I, fig. 25.
Obv. King as on No. 1, with arrow in right hand.
No. 13. Silyer. Dark, 0-6 inch. Author. 83 grains. Mr. Head,
PI. I, 25.
Obv. King as on No. 10.
No. 14. Silyer. Four Ddnilc piece or two thirds of a siglos, 0’55
inch. Author. 55’5 grains. Plate XII, fig. 4.
Obv. As on No. 10.
No. 15. Silyer. Dark , 06 inch. Author. 83 grains. Mr. Head
PI. I, 28.
Obv. King kneeling on right knee, and shooting an arrow.
Persian Satraps.
Tiribazus , B. C. 400 — 380.
No. 16. Silyer. Double Siglos, 09 inch. Author. 154 grains.
Plate XVII, fig. 3. Hue du Luynes, PI. I, 1, 2, 3.
Obv. Jupiter or Bal, standing to left, holding spear in left hand and
bird on right. Legend in Phoenician characters to right Tiribazu.
Rev. Ormazd ; a human body above the solar disc. ( In his left hand
a flower, in the right a wreath.
Pharnabazus, B. C. 400 — 380.
No. 17. No coin of this Satrap has come into my possession, but I
have received a bad impression of a single specimen of the same type as
the coin of Tiridames, Plate XVII, fig. 4.
Tiridames.
No. 18. Silyer. Double Siglos, 0-85 inch. Author. 150 grains.
Plate XVII, fig. 4. Hue de Luynes, PI. II, 9, 10.
Obv. Ilelmeted and bearded head of Satrap to right. Legend to right
in Phoenician characters Tiridamu. The Hue de Lirpies reads the name as
Dernes, and M. Waddington as Datames. I have adopted the reading of
M. Lenormant.
Rev. Female head to the front.
No. 19. Silyer. Double Siglos, 0 9 inch. Author. 160 grains.
Plate XVII, fig. 5. Hue de Luynes, PI. II, 5, 6, 7.
1881.]
A. Cunningham — Helios from Ancient Persia.
171
Obv. Jupiter seated to right. Legend in Phoenician characters to
left Pal Tars , “ the god Bal of Tarsus.”
Rev. Satrap seated to right, clad in the Kandy s or Persian tunic, the
Anaxyrides , or Persian trowsers, and the Persian felt tiara with lappets
tied under the chin. Legend to the left in Phoenician characters Tiridamu.
Pharaspes, or Pharnaspes.
Of this Satrap 3 gold coins and 1 gold ring are now known, of which
all but one of the coins came from the Oxus. Of the Oxus relics I received
impressions, from which the photograph of the ring, Plate XVII, fig. 6, was
taken. Figs. 7 and 8 are taken from the photographs of the coins in tho
British Museum. Of the third coin which is similar in type to fig. 9, I
have only an impression, the original having gone, I believe, to the British
Museum. The two coins figs. 7 and 8 have been published by Mr. Percy
Gardner in the Numismatic Chronicle.
No. 20. Gold-eustg. The only notice that I have seen of this ring
is the following — “ Society of Antiquaries : M. Franke exhibited a gold
ring engraved with a man-headed winged bull, wearing a Persian tiara, and
a caduceus without a handle, which is the zodiacal sign for Taurus. From a
Pehlavi inscription on the seal Mr. Percy Gardner identified it as belonging
to the Persian king Yahaspes , who reigned about 70 years after the death
of Alexander the Great.” I think that the second letter may be r, and
accordingly I read the name as PJiaraspa , or Pharnaspes. Arrian mentions
a Mede named Baryaxes who had put the royal tiara on his head and
called himself king of Media and of Persia. He was brought by Atropates
to Alexander at Pasargadae, where he was put to death. I think it not
impossible that these coins may belong to him, or perhaps he may be
identified with Pharasmanes, king of Chorasmia [Arrian, Anab. IV. 15],
who was also a contemporary of Alexander.
No. 21. Gold. Stater. British Museum, 0'75 inch, weight 1359
grains, from the Oxus. Plate XVII, fig, 7. See Numismatic Chronicle XIX?
Plate I, fig. 2.
Obv. Head of Satrap to right, bearded and clad in soft felt tiara with
long lappets tied under the chin. Legend to left in ancient Pehlavi
characters.
Rev. Satrap in four horse chariot to right. Legend below in ancient
Pehlavi characters.
No, 22. Gold. Stater, British Museum, 0 8 inch, weight 1329 grains,
from Payne Knight’s collection. Plate XVII, fig. 8. See Numismatic
Chronicle XIX, PI. 1, fig. 3.
Obv. Helmeted head of Pallas to right, nr under chin.
Rev. Victory to front, with palm over left shoulder and wreath in
172 A. Cunningham — Relics from Ancient Persia. [No. 3,
right hand. To right, legend in ancient Pehlavi characters, and one letter
to left.
As this piece is an undoubted copy of Alexander the Great’s gold coins,
it is possible that the letters Iir or 73, may stand for the date, which would
be 312—73 = 239 B. C.
No. 23. Gold. Rouble stater , only a paper impression seen. The
coin is similar to fig. 9, Plate XVII, but with the ancient Pehlavi legend of
the above seal and coins.
No. 24. Gold. Rouble stater, 0‘85 inch, weight 256 grains. Author.
Plate XVII, fig. 9.
Obv. Youthful head of Alexander the Great, covered with the skin
and tusks of an elephant’s head.
Rev. Victory winged, with palm branch and wreath to left. In the
field to left, head of Bukephalos, and below the Greek letters AI.
As these are the well known types of Alexander the Great’s gold money,
this piece was most probably issued from one of the Eastern mints some
time during his reign.
Alexander the Great.
No. 25. Of Alexander the Great about one hundred tetradraehms and
as many drachms were comprised in the Qxus find, the greater number of
them in very poor condition. I have kept one of the tetradraehms which
is in very good preservation on the reverse. It is of the usual type of the
seated Zeus, with the name only in small neat characters. In the field to
left is a three quarter horse feeding. Beneath the chair is a monogram
formed of the letters IIAAH and under the eagle a second monogram
No. 1351 of Muller, which with the horse is found on the coins of the
Larissa mint.
Andragoras.
Contemporary with Alexander are the coins of Andragoras in gold and
silver, which bear the name only without the title of king. Admitting the
correctness of the conclusion, the coins must belong to the person mention¬
ed by Justin as Andragoras, a Persian nobleman, who was made governor
of Parthia by Alexander, to whom the kings of the Parthians afterwards
traced their origin.* A second Andragoras, also a governor of the
Parthians, is afterwards mentioned by Justin, as having been slain by
Arsakes, the founder of the Parthian monarchy, in B. C. 248. If the
title of BA^IAEO^ had been upon these coins, I should have assigned
them to him at once, as one of the governors who followed the example of
Dioclotus and revolted against Antiochus II. of Syria. But the absence
* Justini, XII. 5. Parthis deinde domitis, praefectus his statuitur ex nobilibus
Persarum Andragoras ; unde postea originem Parthorum reges habuere.
1881.]
A. Cunningham — Relics from Ancient Persia.
173
of the title of King is, I believe, conclusive that the date cannot be later
than the time of Alexander the Great, as all his generals assumed the
title and placed it on their coins.
No. 26. Gold. Stater, 0 75 inch ; weighing 132 grains. Author.
Duplicate, British Museum. Triplicate, Author. There are numerous
forgeries of which I have seen seven specimens.
Obv. Bare and bearded head of J upiter to right, the hair very
formally arranged. Behind the head a monogram forming the letters
ATPOJIATH. See Numismatic Chronicle, Yol. XIX, p. I, and Plate I,
No. 1.
Rev. The king helmeted being driven by Victory in a four-horse
chariot. Three dots in the field below the fore-feet of the horses. In
the exergue (ANA) PATOPOY. The British Museum coin has the name
complete at the beginning, hut deficient at the end.
No. 27. Silyee. Tetradraclima, 0*95 inches, weight 253 grains.
Author. A duplicate in better preservation and larger has gone to the
British Museum, IT inch, weight 255*8 grains, see Numismatic Chro¬
nicle, Yol. I, 3rd Series, PI. II, fig. 1.
Obv. Turreted female head to right. Monogram behind the head?
the same as on the gold coins.
Rev. Pallas armed with helmet, spear and shield to left, holding a
bird in her right hand. Legend to right ANAPATOPOY.
The silver coins appear to me to be of much finer execution than the
gold coins.
Coens of Cities.
Alcanthus in Macedonia.
No. 28. Silvee. Tetradraclima , IT inch ; weight 253*5 grains.
Author. Duplicate 1*0 inch, weight 250*5 grains. Author.
Obv. Lion devouring a bull, surrounded by a circle of dots. Over
the Lion the Greek letter ©.
Rev. Four incuse squares.
The duplicate has the same Greek letter over the bull.
Aspendus in Ramphylia.
No. 29. Silyee. JDisiglon, 0*9 inch. I have seen six specimens
and have received impressions of others.
Obv. A slinger preparing his sling. In the field to right a triquetra
of three human legs ; and to the left the legend E2TFEAIIY2 Estwediius.
m
[No. 3,
A. Cunningham — Belies from Ancient Persia.
Athens.
No. 30. Silver. Tetradrachma, 0 95 inch. Weight 220 grains.
Author. Very much worn.
Ohv. Archaic helmeted head of Pallas to right with full elongated
eye.
Bev. Owl standing to right in indented square. To left, olive branch
and crescent. To right A©E.
No. 31. Silyer. Tetradrachma , 0 9 inch. Weight 266 grains.
Author. Duplicate, native dealer.
Ohv. Archaic head of Pallas, but with side eye.
Bev. Owl, olive twig, and crescent, with AOE as before ; but be
tween the owl and inscription the letter A surmounted with a sloping line,
perhaps intended for AI or IA.
No. 32. Silver. Tetradrachma , 0-9 inch. Weight 260 grains.
Author. Plate XVIII, fig 1. See Numismatic Chronicle, XIX, Plate 1, fig. 7.
Ohv. Helmeted head of Pallas to right, of later workmanship, with
earrings, and roll of hair under back of helmet. In field to left a Greek
monogram forming MOTY or TIMO.
Bev. A well formed owl to right, with olive twig and crescent, and
the usual legend A@E.
No. 33. Silver, Bidrachma , 07 inch. Weight 121 grains.
Author. Exactly similar to the last. The British Museum coin, Numisma¬
tic Chronicle, XIX, PI. I, fig. 7, appears to be a much worn duplicate of
this didrachma.
*
Uncertain.
No. 34. Tetradrachma , 0*85 inch. Weight 250 grains. Author.
Duplicate. British Museum, 2602 grains.
Ohv. Helmeted head of Pallas to right, as on the coins of Athens.
Bev. Owl standing with legs together. To left, olive twig and
crescent. To right, the Greek letters Air. See Numismatic Chronicle, XX,
PI. X, fig. 5.
In his notice of this coin Mr. Percy Gardner states his opinion that
this, like the others just described, is an “ imitation of Athenian coins
current in the far East about the time of Alexander.” The letters Air he
takes “ to begin the name of a Satrap, not of a city, for cities did not in
“ those regions place their names on their coin.” I confess myself that I
should rather prefer the name of some city, connected with Athens. In
my copy of Combe’s Description of the Hunter Collection which had pre¬
viously belonged to H. P. Borrell, I remember seeing a new attribution by
Borrell of a coin of this type to Aegium in the Troad. I write from
1881.] A.. Cunningham — Belies from Ancient Persia. 175
memory, as I have no books to refer to, all my Numismatic Books having
been burnt in the Pantechnicon.
No. 35. Silver. Drachma , 0*5 inch. Weight 54 grains. Author.
Obv. Helmeted head of Pallas, as on Nos. 32 and 33.
Bev. An eagle to left with head turned backward. Over the tail of
the bird a double sprig.
Byzantium .
No. 36. Silyer. Drachma (?), 0 65 inch. Weight 74 grains.
Author. I have seen a second coin.
Obv. Bull walking to left. Below a fish, and above the letters ITY.
Bev. Incuse cross, like the sails of a windmill.
Kelenderis.
No. 37. I have seen the impression of a single coin of the common
type.
Tarsus.
The coins of Tarsus that I have seen number about 25 ; but at least
an equal number of impressions has been sent to me of which I have taken
no account. They comprise several varieties, and probably range from
B. C. 400 to 250. I have given only one of the coins in the accompanying
Plates, as they can be referred to in other works, more especially in the
valuable work of the Due de Luynes.
No. 38. Silver. Disiglon , 0 95 inch. Weight 163*5 grains.
Author. See De Luynes, Satrapies, PI. IV, Gaos.
Obv. Jupiter of Tarsus sitting with spear in left hand and eagle
at right hand. Legend in Phoenician characters to right Bdl-Tars.
Bev . Lion devouring a bull. Legend in Phoenician letters in two
lines, as read by De Luynes, Gahosh Mazarka. The satrap Gaos ruled from
B. C. 386 to 384. I have not placed his coins with those of the satraps,
as I believe that the reading of his name is doubtful.
No. 39. Silver. Disiglon , 0*85 inch. Weight 150 grains. Author.
Also a duplicate. 158 grains.
Obv. Jupiter of Tarsus as on the last, but with a bunch of grapes in
his right hand. Phoenician legend, Bdl-Tars.
Bev. Lion devouring a stag. Phoenician legend over the lion Ma-
zarka. In the field O.
No. 40. Silver. Disiglon , 0-78 inch. Weight 162*5 grains. Au¬
thor. See De Luynes, Satrapies, PI. IX, 13.
Obv. Jupiter of Tarsus seated Phoenician legend Bdl-Tars.
y
176 A. Cunningham — Relics from Ancient Persia. [No. 3,
Rev. Lion walking to left, tail undulated behind. Phoenician legend
MazarJca.
No. 41. Silver. Tetra drachma , 09 inch. Weight 250 grains.
Author. See De Luynes, Satrapies, PI. IX, 18.
Obv. Jupiter seated, no legend.
Rev. Lion walking to left with tail between legs, over his back the
Greek letter P.
No 42. Silver. Tetradrachma , 095 inch. Weight 259 grains.
Author. See De Luynes, Satrapies, PI. X, 26.
Obv. Jupiter of Tarsus seated : no legend.
Rev. Lion walking to left with tail between his legs. Over his back
the anchor of Seleukus I. with the Greek letter II. Below a crescent with
a Greek monogram forming SAMO^AT. See Mon. 9 of Syrian coins in my
List in Numismatic Chronicle.
No. 43. Silver. Tetradrachma , 095 inch. Weight 256 grains.
Author. Plate XVII, fig. 10.
Obv. Jupiter of Tarsus seated to left. In front the head of Buke-
phalos.
Rev. Lion as on No. 42 with anchor of Seleukus I. above. Below
the Greek letters A I.
No. 44. Silver. Hemidrachma , 0*5 inch. Weight 81 grains.
Author.
Types of both sides the same as the last, including the head of Buke-
phalos and the letters AI.
Coins of Kings.
Pixodarus , King of Caria.
No. 45. Gold. Quarter stater , 04 inch. Weight 29 grains.
Mr. Gibbs.
Obv. Female head.
Rev. Zeus of Labranda carrying the double-headed axe. Legend to
right IHHOAapou.
Lysimachus , King of Thrace .
No 46. Silver. Tetradrachma , of the usual size and in good con¬
dition. Native dealer.
Tins is one of the common coins of Lysimachus, which has remained
in the native owner’s hand as he wanted IOO £ for it !
Seleulcus I. NiJcator.
No. 47. Silver. Tetradrachma. See British Museum Catalogue
of Greek coins, Seleucid kings of Syria, Pl. I, figs. 3 and 4.
Obv. Head of Alexander as Herakles clad in lion’s skin.
1881.] A. Cunningham — Relics from Ancient Persia. 177
Rev. Zeus seated with spear in left hand and eagle in right hand —
BA2IAE02 2EAEYK0Y.
I have seen three specimens of this coin, and impressions of several
others.
No. 18. Silver. Tetradrachma , 095 inch. Weight 260 grains.
Author. Two fine specimens. Three others seen.
Obv. Laurelled head of Zeus to right, in fine preservation.
Rev. Pallas with thunderbolt in hand, driving a chariot drawn by-
four horned elephants. Anchor above. Belows 2EAEYK0Y BAiSlAEO^.
Greek monogram over the elephants forming SEAEYKEIAiS.
No. 49. Silver. Tetradrachma , POO inch. Weight 259 grains.
Author.
Obv. Laurelled head of Zeus to right ; very bold relief and very fine
preservation. Monogram behind forming AP.
Rev. Type same as the last.
Nos. 50, 5l. Drachmas, same types and with the same legend, but
monogram same as No. 32, British Museum Catalogue. Weights 63*5 and
63 grains, and both 0*60 inch in size.
No. 52. Semidrachma , 050 inch. Weight 26 grains. Author. Same
types, but with only 2 elephants to the chariot. Legend BA2UAEYQNT0S
only. Above is the letter A in a circle over the elephants.
This is the only coin that I have seen with this title amongst some 30
specimens of the small money.
Seleukus and Antiochus.
Nos. 53,51. Silver. Tetradrachmas of Phoenician standard, 1 'GO and
0 90 inch, weighing 215 and 206 grains. Author. Mr. Gardner suspects a
similar coin in the British Museum, weighing 212*6 grains, to be plated:
but my 2 coins are good silver. See Plate XVIII, fig. 2.
Obv. Laurelled head of Zeus to right. On No. 51 the letter E below.
Rev. Pallas with thunderbolt in chariot drawn by four horned ele¬
phants. Legend in 3 lines BA2IAEQ2 SEAEYKOY ANTIOXOY. Mono¬
gram above elephants forming AO in a circle.
On the peculiar legend of these coins Mr. Gardner has the following
note* : “ The meaning which one would naturally attach to it is that the
“ coin was issued, while Seleukus was king, by his son Antiochus, who was
“ viceroy of the Eastern provinces of the empire. The type belonging to
“Seleukus rather than to his son would tend to support this view.” That
this is the true meaning of the legend is decisively proved by the smaller
coins of this type which follow :
Nos. 55, 56, 57, 53. Silver. Drachmas, 0*60 and 0*65 inch.
* Numismatic Chronicle, XIX, 10.
178 A. Cunningham — Relics from Ancient Persia. [No. 3,
Weights 505, 48*0, 430, 500 grains. Author. Plate XVIII, figs. 5, 6.
Obv. Laurelled head of Zeus to right.
Rev. Pallas with thunderbolt in chariot drawn by 2 elephants.
Inscription in three lines BA SI AEON SEAEYKOY KAI ANTIOXOY.
Above the elephants the letter A in a circle.
This curious legend shows most conclusively that the coins belong to
the two “ Kings Seleukus and Antiochus.” Now we know from Plutarch*
and Appian that when Seleukus gave up Stratonike to his son, he at the
same time granted him the title of king and made over to him the whole
of the Eastern half of his kingdom from the Euphrates to the Indus. As
his marriage with Stratonike took place either in B. C. 294 or 293, I think
that Antiochus may have issued these coins about the same time to com¬
memorate his acquisition of the royal title.
Nos. 59, 60. Silver. Oboli, 035 and 0*30 inch. Weight 8*5 and
8*0 grains. Types as on the preceding coins, including monogram A in
circle, but without any inscription. Plate XVIII, figs. 3, 4.
Antiochus I.
Nos. 61, 62. Gold. Slater, 0*75 and 0*72 inch. Weight of each
130 grains. Author. I have seen several others.
Obv. Diademed head of king to right. No. 61 of middle age, No.
62 of old age.
Rev. Apollo seated an the Cortina, resting left hand on bow and
holding arrow in right hand. In the field A. Inscription in two lines
BA2IAEOS ANTIOXOY.
No. 63. Gold. Stater , 0‘70 inch. Weight 129 5 grains. Author.
Obv. Diademed head of king to right, old portrait.
Rev. Apollo as on No. 61, star above, and lyre in field below, with
monogram forming AI or AIT. Inscription as before.
Nos. 64, 65. Silver. Tetradrachma and drachma of same type as the
gold coins just described.
No. 66. Silver. Drachma, 0 65 inch. Weight 61 grains. Author.
Plate XVIII, fig. 13. See gold coin of Seleukus of same type in British
Museum Catalogue of Seleucid kings, Plate I, fig. 6.
Obv. Diademed head of Antiochus to right with bull’s horn above
ear.
Rev. Horned horse’s head (Bukephalus P) to right, monogram to
right forming AIIA. Monogram below indistinct. Inscription BAi§IAEI2i£
ANTIOXOY.
No. 67. Gold. Stater, 0*6 inch. Weight 131*5 grains. Author.
Plate XVIII, fig. 8. Duplicates, Mr. A. Grant and Author.
* Plutarch, in vita Demetrii.
1881.]
179
A. Cunningham — Belies from Ancient Persia.
Obv. Diademed head o£ king to right in bold relief. Duplicate very
flat relief.
Rev. Head of Bukephalus to right, horned and bridled, with twisted
forelock between the horns. In field AI. Inscription as on No. 66.
Nos. 68, 69, 70. Silver. Tetradrachmas, 105 inch. Weights
258, 259, 261 grains. Author. See Plate XVIII, fig. 9.
Obv. Diademed head of the king to right. The head on the heaviest
coin is younger, and of much finer execution than the others.
Rev. Horned and bridled head of Bukephalus, with three tufts of
hair between the ears. In the field to right the letter A in a circle.
Inscription as before.
Nos. 71, 72. Silver. Tetradrachmas , 1*0 and 0'93 inch. Weights
256 and 260 grains. Author.
Types as on the last, but the head of Bukephalus much larger, and
with only one tuft of hair between the ears. Monogram and inscription as
before.
No. 73. Silver. Tetradrachma , 1-00 inch. Weight 251 grains.
Author. Duplicate, Mr. A. Grant. See Plate XVIII, fig. 10.
Types the same as on the last, but with the addition of the letters
ABIA above the name of Antiochus. See Numismatic Chronicle, XX,
Plate X, fig. 1, for Mr. Grant’s coin.
Mr. Percy Gardner has suggested that ABIA may probably be “ the
beginning of the name of some Satrap, or semi-independent ruler of a
district in Bactria, or the Paropamisus.” The horned horse’s head, he notes,
is “a type belonging specially to those regions.”
Nos 71, 75, 76. Silver. Drachmas , 0’65 inch. Weight 65 grains.
Author. Duplicates 61’5 and 63 grains.
Types exactly the same as the Tetradrachmas , Nos. 68 to 70.
Nos. 77, 78. Silver. Hemidrachmas, 053 inch. Weight 31*5
grains. Author. Plate XVIII, fig. 12.
Types the same as the Tetradrachmas, Nos. 68 to 70.
No. 79. Silver. Drachma, 065 inch. Weight 61 grains. Author.
A remarkably fine coin, Plate XVIII, fig. 11.
Obv. Youthful head of king to right in bold relief.
Rev. Head of Bukephalus horned and bridled, with one tuft between
horns. Inscription as on No. 66. No monogram.
No. 80. Silver. Tetradrachma, 1Y0 inch. Weight 253 grains.
Author. Duplicate, POO inch, 252 grains. Plate XVIII, figs. 11, 15.
Obv. Middle-aged head of king to right.
Rev. Apollo seated on Cortina with 2 arrows in right hand. Inscrip¬
tion as on No. 66. In the field to left the letter A in a circle.
180
A Cunningham — Relics from Ancient Persia.
[No. 3,
Ant io elms II.
No. 81. Gold. Stater , 08 inch. Weight 129 grains. Author.
Duplicate, Mr. A. Grant.
Obv. Diademed head of the king to the right.
Rev. Zeus naked, with aegis on his left arm, and thunderbolt in his
upraised right hand, moving to left ; his feet wide apart. In the field
eagle and wreath. Inscription as on No. 66.
No. 82. Gold. Stater , 075 inch. Weight 127 grains. Author.
Obv. Diademed head of king to right, somewhat smaller than on the
last.
Rev. Zeus as on No. 81, but legs not so wide apart. In the field
eagle with the letter N. Inscription as on No. 81.
No. 83. Silver. Tetradrachma , l’OO inch. Weight 257 grains.
Author. Several Duplicates.
Obv. Diademed head of king to right.
Rev. Zeus combatting as on the gold coins. Eagle and monogram
No. 29 of my list of Syrian monograms in Numismatic Chronicle. In¬
scription as on No. 81.
No. 81. Silver. Tetradrachma , 1-05 inch. Weight 251 grains.
Author.
Obv. Diademed head of king to right.
Rev. Zeus combatting as before. In the field an eagle with the
letter N. Inscription as on No. 81.
No. 85. Silver. Drachma , 07 inch. Weight 60 grains. Author.
Both types as on No. 81.
No. 86. Silver. Drachma , 07 inch. Weight 61 grains. Author.
Both types as on No. 81, but instead of the wreath, a monogram forming
the letters YA. Inscription as on No. 81.
Antiochus III.
No. 87. Gold. Stater , 0*75. Weight 130 grains. Author. Du¬
plicate, 130 grains.
Obv. Youthful diademed head of king.
Rev. Apollo seated on Cortina. Star above, and lyre in field below,
monogram forming AT or AIT. Inscription as on No. 66.
No. 88. Gold. Stater , 072 inch. Weight 131 grains. Author.
Obv. Youthful laureated head of king to right.
Rev. Apollo seated on Cortina. In field to left A only. Inscription
as before.
I am aware that these gold coins with the- youthful face have been
attributed to Antiochus ITierax by Mr. Percy Gardner. But I find it
difficult to believe that any coins of Hierax, whose rule was confined to
A. Cunningham — Belies from Ancient Persia.
1S1
1881.]
Asia Minor, could have found their way to Bactria. I think also that the
well known tetradrachmas with the hawk’s wing over the ear belong to
Hierax ; and that he received his nickname of Hierax , or the “ Hawk,”
from the wing on the coins, just as Alexander the Great received his title
0f Dhulkarnain or “Lord of Horns” from his portrait on the coins
with the horn of Ammon. For these reasons I am inclined to assign the
gold coins with the youthful portrait to Antiochus III. The occurrence of
the monogram A on these coins is strongly in favour of this attribution,
as it is found on so many others of the Oxus hoard, which are admittedly
the mintage of. the Eastern provinces, where the power of Hierax was
unknown. On the other hand the coins with the hawk’s wing seem to me
te be from some of the well-known mints of Asia Minor where Hierax
actual^ ruled. Thus the feeding horse, which occurs on all the hawks
wing coins, is assigned by Muller to Alexandria in the Troad, while one of
the British Museum coins with a double monogram is referred by
Mr. Gardner himself to Alexandria in the Troad.# The other two British
Museum coins I would refer to Metropolis or the Kayster. The first coin
I should prefer giving to Magnesia on the Hermus. A fourth coin pub¬
lished by Leake was probably minted at Apameia on the Kibotus.
Diodotus.
No. 89. Gold. Stater , 075 inch. Weight 131 5 grains. Author.
Several duplicates.
Obv. Diademed head of king to right, very like the portrait on
the coins of Antiochus II. of the same types. I agree with Mr. Gardner
in thinking that both are the portraits of Diodotus.
Bev. Zeus combatting. To left eagle and wreath as on the coins of
Antiochus II. Inscription BA^IAEO^ AIOAOTOY.
No. 90. Gold. Stater, 0 70 inch. Weight 127 grains. Author.
Obv. Diademed head of king to right, different from the last.
Bev. Zeus combatting. To left eagle and wreath as before, but with
a spear-head in the field to right. Inscription as on No. 89.
No. 91. Gold. Stater , 072 inch. Weight 128 grains. Author.
Obv. Diademed head of king to right, different face.
Bev. Zeus combatting. In the field to left an eagle and the letter
N. Inscription as on No. 89.
No. 92. Gold. Stater , 073 inch. Weight 129 grains. Author.
Obv. Diademed head of king to right, like No. 89.
Bev. Zeus combatting. In field eagle and wreath with star above
them. Inscription as on No. 89.
No. 93. Silted. Tetradrachma , LOO inch. Weight 259 grains.
Author. Duplicate 259 grains.
* Seleucid kings of Syria, Antiochus II, No. 5 coin.
182
A. Cunningham — Belies from Ancient Persia.
[No. 3,
Obv. Diademed head of king to right.
Bev. Zeus combatting as on the gold coins, eagle at foot. In¬
scription as on No. 89.
No. 94. Silver Drachma , 065 inch. Weight 53 grains. Author.
Both types as on No. 92.
No. 95. Silver Tetradrachma , l’lO inch. Weight 259 grains.
Author. Duplicate 249 grains.
Both types as on No. 92, but with the addition of wreath over the
eagle.
No. 96. Silver. Drachma , 0’7 inch. Weight 61 grains. Author.
Similar to No. 94. A duplicate, 62 grains, has a monogram forming IIYPH
with the letter T below.
No. 97. Silver. Drachma, 0-68 inch. Weight 61 grains. Author.
Obv. Diademed head of king to right.
Bev. Zeus combatting. In field eagle and crescent. Inscription as
before.
Duthydemus.
No. 98. Gold. Stater, 070 inch. Weight 126 grains. Author.
Duplicate 127 grains.
Obv. Diademed head of king to right.
Rev. Herakles seated on a rock with left hand placed on the rock,
and right holding a club, which rests on a pile of three rocks in front.
Elbow well raised above knee, and club pointed upwards clear of head.
Monogram over top of club forming NIK.
No. 99. Gold. Stater , 0'65 inch. Weight 127 grains. Author.
Duplicate 133 grains.
Obv. Diademed head of king to right.
Bev. Herakles as on the last, but rather smaller. Elbow almost
touching thigh, and club resting on a pile of four rocks, with top pointed
towards forehead.
Nos. 100, 101. Silver. Coins of Euthydemus of all the well known
types. Several in good preservation ; but many in very poor condition.
Here ends the list of all different varieties of coins that have come
under my notice. Some of them are unique, and several are very rare,
while many others are very common. The coins that I have seen amount
to 64 gold and 459 silver, or altogether 523 specimens. But at least as
many more must have been sold to Officers with the Army in Afghanistan,
so that the whole number found cannot have been less than 150 gold and
1000 or 1200 silver coins, mostly tetradrachms. The value of the coins
alone would therefore have been about one talent or upwards, or 300£
sterling.
1881.]
A. Cunningham — Relics from Ancient Rersict.
183
It is impossible to estimate the value of the ornaments and other relics
found in the Oxus deposit, as so many of them were cut up on the spot,
whilst many have found their way into other hands. It may be useful,
however, to note that my own collection comprises 9,788 grains of gold
relics and 34,075 grains of silver relics. The Chariot and Horseman be¬
longing to Lord Lytton weigh 1,431 grains of gold. The par value of
the relics that I have seen may be summed up as follows :
Gold. Silver.
Author, . . . 1,223 11s . 190 Rs.
Lord Lytton, . 180 Rs.
Major Burton, . , . . e . 700 Rs.
2,103 Rs. -f 190 Rs.
Total, . 2,293 Rs.
If all the bracelets and collars now in my possession were complete,
the actual value of the gold and silver would then exceed 2,500 Rs. But X
have heard of a group of chariot and horses of 120£ intrinsic value which
has lately been sold in England, and of a large silver horse and other relics,
which would certainly raise the actual value of the ornaments and other
relics to 5000 Rs. So that the whole treasure in relics and coins would
have been worth 750£ at par.
Large finds of coins are not unknown in India. The following may
be of interest to others besides coin collectors.
In 1842, near Coimbatore, 524 Roman gold coins were found, com¬
prising 134 Augustus, 381 Tiberius, 3 Caligula, 5 Claudius. [Bombay
Asiatic Society’s Journal, I, 294.]
In 1851, 12 miles from Benares, 160 gold coins of the Gupta kings
were found including 71 specimens of Chandra Gupta. [Bengal Asiatic
Society’s Journal, XXI, 390.]
In 1863 in Kucli Bihar, 13,500 old rupees of the Muhammadan kings
of Bengal were dug up. [Royal Asiatic Society’s Journal, N. S., II, 145.]
In 1871, in Agra, about 2000 heavy silver coins of Jahangir, l\
rupee each, were found in a heap of ruins outside the city.
In 1874, in Sonpat, about, 1200 hemidrachmas of the Greek kings of
Kabul and the Panjab were found in the bank of a tank. I have myself
received upward of 900 of these coins, and have seen most of the others.
They comprised specimens of eleven different kings ; one half of the whole
number belonging to Menander,
z
184
A. Cunningham — Belies from Ancient Persia.
[No. 8,
In 1875, at Peshawar, about 1000 gold dinars of the Indo-Scythian
kings Wema Kadphises, Kanerki, Hoverki, and Bazo Deo were dug up in
the city, out of which I have seen upwards of 600 specimens.
In 1878, at Sumerpur 12 miles from Hamirpur on the Jumna, 100
silver coins of the Greek kings of Kabul were discovered, comprising
specimens of Eukratides, Antimachus, Apollodotus and Menander.
Amongst them there were nine didrachmas of Menander.
A very interesting find was also made towards the end of the last
century near Benares, as recorded in the following extract from “ Nicholls’
Recollections and Reflections”, Yol. II, p. 203 [2 vols. 8vo. London, 1822]
“ I was informed by the late Warren Hastings “ that, while he was
££ Governor-General of Bengal, he sent as a present to the Directors of the
“ East India Company one hundred and seventy-two Darics. They bad
££ been found buried in an earthen pot, on the bank of a river in the
<£ province of Benares. Mr. Hastings told me that when he sent these
<£ coins to the Court of Directors, he considered himself as making tha
“most munificent present to his masters that he might ever have in his
{£ power to send them. Judge of his surprise when he found on his arrival
“in England, that the Darics had been sent to the melting pot.”
The same huckstering spirit clung to the Board of Directors until
the last, when in a fit of economy they ordered all the gold and silver
presents which they had received to be sold. Everything was sent to a
silversmith to be valued, including the Graeco- Bactrian silver plate with
the procession of Bacchus which was presented to the East India Company
by Dr. Lord. I have seen the valuation statement of the'silversmith, and
I was happy to find that this valuable Patera had been saved by Horace
Hayman Wilson,
Relics from Sistan.
The bronze relics given in Plate XIX are also from Ancient Persia ;
but they come from Sistan , or Drangiana, and were collected by Capt.
Hutton in the first Afghan campaign, from whom they came into my
possession by purchase along with a small collection of coins.
These bronze objects are of two distinct kinds ; ornaments and weapons.
They are all given full size,
Fig. 1 is part of a bird including the head and wing and part of the
back. As it is quite flat on the opposite side, I think it may have been
part of an ornamental handle of a knife.
Figs. 2 and 3 seem to he portions of personal ornaments, as they have
a strong resemblance to some of the gold bracelets given in Plate XVI.
Figs. 4 and 5 are female figures which I believe formed the handles
of some unknown instruments.
1881.] A. Cunningham — Relics from Ancient Persia. 185
Figs. 6 and 7 are flat-bladed arrow heads showing two different modes
of attaching the head to the shaft.
Figs. 8, 9 and 10 are shouldered or barbed arrow heads.
Figs. 11 to 16 are three-edged arrow heads. They are all holloV,
and each has a small hole on one side for fastening the head to the shaft
by a cord. Similar arrow heads were found by Morier in the neighbour¬
hood of Persepolis.#
Since this paper was written I have received the first number of Yol. I,
of the 3rd Series of the Numismatic Chronicle, containing Mr. Percy
Gardner’s second notice of some “ Coins from Central Asia,” including the
silver tetradrachma of Andragoras, of which I possess a duplicate. Mr.
Gardner is inclined to think that the coins of king Lysimachus, of Tarsus,
Sinope, Aspendus and Ephesus, were probably picked up by the collector
on the road from the Oxus to India. This opinion is, however, directly
opposed to the statements of the collectors themselves, as made to Mr. Grant
in 1877-78, and as made to me yearly from 1878 up to the present time.
In fact, I have received the impressions of many of these coins just as they
were obtained on the Oxus, in letters from Khulm. So far as I have observed
there are no western coins in the Oxus find of a later date thail Alexander
the Great, and as the soldiers of Alexander’s army must have carried with
them numerous coins from many different places in Greece, I would suggest
this as a simple and reasonable explanation of their occurrence in this great
deposit. The collectors separated without any hesitation all the coins
obtained at other places. These comprised many specimens of Euthy-
demus, Eukratides and Heliokles, with one or two of Demetrius and a
single coin of Agathokles. I have remarked that not a single Parthian
coin has been found amongst the numbers that I have seen from the Oxus
deposit.
Postscript.
Since the above was put in type, I have received another small
batch of coins from the Oxus. With these there were in addition 7 gold
coins and 11 silver tetradrachmas, all of which were taken possession of
by Abdul .Rahman’s Collector of Customs at Kabul. Amongst the gold
coins there is said to have been one of Pharnaspes.
The following is a list of the coins that were brought to me, most
of which have passed into my collection. Amongst them there are no
coins of a later date than the time of Euthydemus and Antiochus the
Great. The continued absence of any Parthian coins also points to a date
preceding the reign of Mithridates I., whose coins are so common.
* See Kawlinson’s Ancient Monarchies, III, 175, 2nd edit.
186 A. Cunningham — Belies from Ancient Persia. [No. 3,
Silver Coins.
No.
2 Silver Darios (Sigli), very much worn.
1 Attic Tetradrachma — oblong — archaic type.
1 Philip of Macedon, large.
1 Alexander, Drachma, much worn.
1 Seleukus, Drachma, Elephant chariot.
1 Seleukus and Antiochus, tetradrachma, Elephant chariot.
1 Drachma — Elephant chariot — a beautifully perfect specimen, legend
BA2IAEON 2EAEYKQY KAI ANTIOXOY.
2 Antiochus I. — Tetradrachma — Horse’s head.
2 Do. Drachmas do.
1 Do. Drachma — King’s head with helmet and cheek-pieces — *
Bev. Victory and Trophy.
2 Do. Tetradraehmas — Seated Apollo.
Wide el.
1 Agathokles — usual type — $1 in field.
Copper.
1 Antiochus I. — Helmeted head.
2 Do. Bad coins.
3 Diodotus — new type — Demeter in search of her daughter.
3 Euthydemus — usual types — Galloping Horse.
1 Pantaleon, square, usual types.
2 Agathokles, square, usual types.
4 Indian coins, square, Lion and Elephant.
Among these there are a few novelties, such as the helmeted Antio¬
chus in silver, and the copper coins of Diodotus. But the gem of this
small batch is the beautiful drachma of the “ kings Seleukus and Antio¬
ch us,”
1881. J Sarat Chandra Das — Contributions on Tibet. 187
Contributions on the Religion , History , Sfc. of Tibet. — By Baboo Sarat
Chandra Das, Deputy Inspector of Schools , Darjiling.
I.— THE BON (PON) RELIGION.
Introduction.
Lama Je-tsun-lossah Chhoikyi-Nima pal Ssanpo is the author of
the well known work “ Dub-thah. leg-shad sel-kyi melon” which contains
short accounts of the various religious systems in ancient India, Tibet,
Mongolia and China.1 The first Lama whose avowed incarnation he is
believed to have been was named Chhoikyi wan-chhyug, whose high
dignity was recognised by the Emperor of China, by letters patent and the
presentation of a golden tablet,3 and who was famous for his knowledge of
metaphysics and vyakarana and did greatly enhance the cause of Buddhism.
Our author was born, agreeably to a certain prophecy, at Pah-ri in Amdo,
in the year fire-serpent of the 12th Cycle, i. e., 1674 A. D., and died in the
year 1740 A. D. In his boyhood he gave many striking proofs of his
powerful intellect. Being a divine personage, he easily acquired proficiency
in the several branches of Buddhist sacred literature. After taking the
vows of monk-hood, he studied the Sutras and Tantras under many eminent
Lamas, such as Chankya Rolpai Dorje the spiritual guide of the Emperor
Kuenlang (Chhin-lun). On his reaching the proper age he was placed
at the head of the Jam-vyan monastery on the Thi or throne of his pre¬
decessors. During his presidency more than 3000 monks used to congregate
in the monastery for service. He visited Central Tibet, Tsan and Sakya,
and spent a few years at the Dapun monastery in order to prosecute
religious studies. Returning to his native country, after a study of seven
years, he displayed great learning in metaphysics and vyakarana. At this
time he propitiated the gods Hayagriva, Dorje Phagmo, and others of his
tutelary deities. He also propitiated the goddess Paldan Lhamo (Kali
1 The Dub-thah selkyi Melon (grub-mthah sel-kyi me-lon) contains 12 books.
I have made a literal translation of the 8th and 11th books which treat of the Bon
religion and the rise and progress of Buddhism in Mongolia. My translations of
the 9th and 10th books (on Ancient and Mediaeval China) are almost literal. All
Tibetan names are spelt as pronounced, except those in the lists on pp. 199—201
which are spelt as written. In Bon the b is pronounced as y (Pon). The nasal conso¬
nants c; and ^ are transliterated by n and h respectively, and Q by /*, £ by ts, <1 by tsh
^ by ds, by sh, ^ by ss.
2 In the history of Tibet and the lives of Lamas many accounts of presenta¬
tion of seals and tablets will be found. The custom of presenting seals and tablets
and letters patent is still in vogue in Tibet and China. The use of seals by different
dependencies of China and Tibet is very carefully watched by the Government of those
countries. A change of official seals generally signifies a change of vassalage. Tablets^
like diplomas and letters patent, are given to establish a new ruler or governor in power.
188 Sarat Chandra Das — Contributions on Tibet. [No. 3,
of the Hindus) who enabled him, it is said, to render good service to
Buddhism. Many Mongolian princes and chiefs became his friends and
spiritual pupils, by whose assistance he established five religious institu¬
tions. He resided in Pekin for more than three years, in order to collect
information respecting the various schools of religion which then existed
in China, and the ancient ones that had died away. He also care¬
fully studied the national laws and statutes of China from ancient
records, and thereby made himself famous. The Emperor conferred
on him marks of honour and dignity greater than any that had been
enjoyed by his predecessors. He also presented him his own robes,
which contained one hundred and eight dragons worked in gold, together
with a hundred thousand crowns of silver. The Mongolian princes also,
who evinced great faith in his saintliness, made him immense presents.
On his return to Amdo, all the chiefs and princes of Mongolia and western
China advanced to a distance of six days’ journey from the town to pay
him homage. Among these princes, the Khan of Lanju and the Viceroy
of Tsun-tu-fu were very well known. On his arrival at the monastery,
the Lamas and monks of the thirteen great monasteries of Amdo made him
presents, according to their means and resources. From that time, for a
period of twelve years, he devoted himself to the affairs of the monastery
and to yoga, after which he attained to the “ marvellous state of the
gods.” At the age of 66, on the 10th of the Lunar month, his person
being contracted to a cubit’s length, he returned to the land of the
blessed. He had finished his work called “ Dub-thah selkyi melon” about
a week before his death, which occurred in 1740 A. D. 'The age of the
work is therefore 140 years only.
The following are his principal works :
(1.) The Legendary biography of Lama Jam-vyan of Gun-than,
in 2 Vols.
(2.) „ „ „ his predecessors, in one Vol.
(3.) Hymns and Songs.
(4.) On the worship of Hayagriva or “ Taden,” in 2 Vols.
(5.) „ ,, Naro kha choimo (a goddess), in 2 Vols.
(6.) „ „ Dorje Phagmo, in 2 Vols.
(7.) On Mathematics (Chronology, Arithmetic and Astrology), in
one Vol.
(8.) On Medicines, in one Vol.
(9.) On the method of constructing chaityas, sacred pictures and
images, in one Vol.
(10.) On rhetoric, words and versification ; stotras in two Vols.
(11.) About the history and theories of the reformed, or Gelugpa,
school, in 5 Vols. .
1881.]
Sarafc Chandra Das — Contributions on Tibet.
189
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Sarafc Chandra Das — Contributions on Tibet.
193
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[No. 3,
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Sarat Chandra Das — Contributions on Tibet.
105
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Teakslation.
In Bon Granthas it is said that in the present Kalpa, from the time
when the duration of human life was immeasureable till it dwindled to ten
years, there are eighteen divine manifestations (teachers), counting from
Kun-tu-ssan-po, the chief Bon god, to Than-ma-medon. Of these teachers,
the one who is called S'en-rab and is said to have appeared when the length of
human life diminished to one hundred years, is the reigning Bon god. He
was born at Holmo Lunrin (or “long valley”), in the country of Shan-
shuh.3 Some authors conjecture that he, being a miraculous incarnation
of Buddha, was contemporaneous with our teacher (S'akya Simha).
According to the Yaidurya Karpo,4 Buddha, with a view to the
moral improvement of the Bonpo, became incarnate as S en-rab-mipo5
in the country of Shan-shun. He observed the twelve acts of the Bon
Dharma and taught the nine series of yanas (vehicles of knowledge), opened
the door of the gods (heaven) for those alive, and shut the entrance
of the graves of the dead, and committed the living to the path of
svastika (yun-drun).6 He possessed such powers as foreknowledge, and
was able to perform miracles, &c. Moreover having visited various places
3 Shan-shun is the part of Tibet, called now Ghig£ and Knaor or upper Besahr.
4 Yaidurya Karpo, meaning the White Lapis Lazuli, is the name of a historical and
chronological work of great repute, composed by the illustrious Regent of Lhasa, Desi
Sahg6, in the 17th century.
5 The word S'en means god, rab means excellent, hence Shi rab means excellent
god ; Mipo, human.
6 The Svastika emblem of the Bonpo is similar to that of the Buddhists, from
which it only differs in direction ; for JBon-lcor or the Bonpo manner of circumambulation
round a shrine or deity is from right to left, while the Chhoi-kor or the Buddhist
manner of circumambulation is from left to right. The Bon religion is founded on the
Svastika mandala which is called “ Yun-drun.”
196
Sarat Chandra Das — Contributions on Tibet.
[No. 3,
of Bon pilgrimage in Tibet on the east of the monastery of Pu-clihu-lha-
khan in Kon-yul, Nah-ser-khan-tse on the site of which was established
the monastery of Nah-ri-tva-tshan, the hill called Bin-chhen puh-pa, &c., he
subdued many earthly demons and evil spirits, all of whom he bound under
solemn oaths. He explained the four ways of Bon svastiJca and shandha
and the five repositories of sacred scriptures. Among his spiritual descen¬
dants, there were the six who bore the surname of Mu-tsho and Dem, the
Persian sage named Mu-tsho-tra-he-si, The-thon-par-tsam, Guhi-li-barma,
the Indian Pandit Deva Natha surnamed Mantra-ushma, the Chinese sage
Leg-tan-man, the learned priest of Thom named Ser-dog-che-chyatn,
the Tibetan sage Dem-gyen-tsha-man, Che tshagargu the learned scholar
of Mi-nag (Burmah), the erudite Mupan-san of the Sumpa country, and
the sage S'er-pu-chhen of Shan-shun ; these and many other followers,
carrying the doctrine to all quarters, diffused the Bon religion.
In Tibet the Bon religion presented itself as 1st, Jola-Bon ; 2nd,
Khyar-Bon ; 3rd, Gyur-Bon.
1st stage Jola Bon.
During the reign of king Thi-de-tsanpo, the sixth in descent from Nah
thi-tsanpo, in the province of IT, also called Shon-hon, a boy belonging
to the family of S'en, at the age of thirteen, was kidnapped by a goblin,
who took him to different places and mountains of Tibet and Kham. After
rambling thirteen years with the goblin, the boy, fully instructed in de¬
moniac crafts, being now twenty-six years of age, was returned to the society
of men. He could point out the haunts of malicious spirits and goblins, and
tell that such and such a demigod and demon lived in such and such a place,
who committed mischief and good of this and that kind, and that they
could be propitiated by a certain kind of worship and offering. He
gave an account of different descriptions of u y e-tag" or mystical offerings.7
Twenty generations of Tibetan kings, from Nah-thi-tsanpo down to Thi-
je-tsanpo, are said to have followed no other religion than the Bon.
It is evident that the first introduction of the Bon religion in Tibet was due
to this man. However, the Bonpo of that age were skilled in witchcraft,
the performance of mystical rites for suppressing evil spirits and cannibal
hobgoblins of the nether region, the invocation of the venerable gods above,
and the domestic ceremonies to appease the wrath of malignant spirits of
the middle region (Earth) caused by the“ pollution of the hearth.”8 Besides
7 They are prepared, like the masts of a ship, with stretched threads and ropes.
8 Thab-den or “ the ejecting of defilement from the hearth.” In Tibet and
its neighbourhood from time immemorial the defiling of the hearth by the over¬
flowing of boiled milk, broth of meat, or of any other thing edible or useful (except water )
from any utensil, is considered to be a great calamity which brings immense trouble to
1881.]
Sarat Chandra Das — Contributions on Tibet.
107
these there did not then exist any other theories or works concerning the
Bon religion. In (some historical works such as) the Gyalrab and Chhoi-jun
the owner. When a cook-house containing a hearth is so defiled, the owner must im¬
mediately cleanse it out ; the ground which held the hearth should he dug out and
thrown into water, in default of which the demons and the gods of the middle region,
“ Sa-dag” (or Nagas), become annoyed and punish the owners or defilers with
the disease of leprosy. In order to escape such punishment, that is, to he cured of
leprosy, the patient goes to a male or female Bon priest in quest of a remedy. He
requests him or her to examine his fortune ; the priest of course attributes the disease
to defiling of the hearth, and requests the patient to recollect the places where he ever
cooked food or boiled anything. The names of all those places being given, the
priest casts lots and finds out the right place and arranges for the ceremonies of
cleansing the defiled hearth. Not all priests can claim to perform the ceremony,
but the patient invites the priests of the country who assemble in an open place and
cast lots to find out what particular priest would be acceptable to the “ Sa-dag” for the
purpose of officiating at the ceremony. The fortunate man being picked out, the
service commences. He strictly abstains from the use of spirits and meat for the
time being, as the “ Sa-dag” are prejudiced against their use. The priest now invokes
his tutelary deity called Kah-bab, and Thab-lha the god of the hearth, who, by turns tak¬
ing possession of his body, lead him to the particular spot where lies the defiled hearth.
Arrived at the spot he plants his arrow-flag called “Hah-dar.” As soon as this is
finished, the spirits withdraw and the priest comes to his senses, when he inquires from
those around him what inspired sayings he had given out. Being told every detail
of the affair, he goes on to conduct the usual prescribed ceremonies. He or she
(female priests are preferred) then in an authoritative tone summons the eight demi¬
gods (gods, nagas, yakshas, demons, genii, Pehar Gyalpo, mischievous female spirits
called Mamos, and malignant planets such as the Indian Rahu) and tells them — “I, ac¬
cording to the command of S'en-rab mipo the lord of the Bon religion, am conducting
this ceremony. Ye all listen to what I say : — I shall just cleanse the polluted hearth
of its defilement, in which work I exhort you all to help me. Remember, that I act
like a tool in your hands, all success rests on your ingenuity. Wherefore be kind and
paerciful to me !” He now chants the usual mantras and conducts the ceremony.
When the first part of the service is over, he invokes his own Kah-bab, together
with Thab-lha the god of the hearth, saying, “ 0 Kah-bab &c., my appointed friends and
guardians, and ye hosts of ancestors, vouchsafe me your aid at this critical time.
If I fail in my object, disgrace shall fall on me and also on you all who favour me !”
He concludes his invocation by a threat, saying, ‘ ‘ if you do not make me successful,
I shall henceforth withhold the paying of reverence and offerings to you all.” He
then finishes the service by ordering a host of diggers to dig out the spot indicated^
to the depth of about 8 or 10 feet. He briskly walks round the ditch, his heart
beating with the fear of missing the ball hid in the polluted ground. When the proper
pioment arrives the Kah-bab and Thab-lha by turns inspire him, when he throws
himself into the bottom of the ditch in a senseless state and picks out the polluted
ball. The Kah-bab having immediately withdrawn, the priest regains his senses and
produces the ball before all who remain present and breaks it to examine the contents.
If a living or dead larva of an insect of any kind is found within it, the operation is
considered successful, otherwise not. If the ball be empty, the leper’s case is considered
hopeless, since the devil, born as a larva within the defiled ground soon after the
108
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[No. 3,
the progress of the Bon religion is traced from the reign of king Di-gum -
tsanpo. This stage of the Bon religion is also called Gyu Bon Chhab-nag.9
2nd Stage, Khyar-Bon.
When king Digum tsanpo was assassinated, the Bon priests, not know¬
ing how to conduct the funeral rites (so as to prevent his spirit from doing
mischief to the living), invited three Bon priests, one from Kashmir, a
second from the Duska country and a third from the country of Shan-shun,
to perform the “funeral of the stabbed”. One of these priests propitiated.
Ge-god khyun and Me-lha the god of fire, and thereby was enabled to
travel in the sky, mounted on a tambourine, and to discover mines. He could
perform miraculous feats, such as cutting iron with the quills of birds, <fcc.
Another priest was skilled in delivering oracles and telling fortunes by Jutika
and by deciphering mystic symbols on the fresh human shoulder-bone and
thereby divining good and evil. The third priest was famed for his
skill in conducting the funeral ceremonies of the dead, especially of
those murdered with knives, &c.
Previous to the appearance of these Bon priests there existed no Bon
religious theories. Since their time the Bon doctrines have come into
existence. This stage of the Bon religion called Khyar-Bon (i. e., erroneous
Bon) was mixed up with the S'aiva doctrine of the Tirthikas.
The 3rd Stage or Gyur-Bon.
This is divided into three Sub-stages.
1st Sub-stage.
*
An Indian Pandit, having profaned some sacred Buddhist Achara and
having been charged with immorality, was expelled from his congregation.
He went towards the north of Kashmir where, dressed in a blue gown,
lie proclaimed himself a great teacher. Pie wrote some heretical works,
which he hid under the ground. After the lapse of a few years, he invited
the public to witness the discovery by him of some ancient religious works.
Thus a change was wrought in the Bon religion.
pollution of the hearth, and having got its wings, has fled towards the sky where
he is out of reach. This indicates that a long time has elapsed since the defilement
of the hearth. If a larva is found, it is immediately killed to ensure the cure of the leper.
A dead larva inside the hall shows that the cure is at hand. The hall of earth is
used as a charm against evil spirits. If the officiating priest fail to discover the defiled
hall, he is considered an impostor. If it is found, no matter what its contents are,
the priest must he rewarded suitably. He generally claims the limhs and head
of the sacrificial animal, be it a cow or a pig, together with a complete suit of wearing-
apparel, called Lu-gan . These rewards collectively are called Legs- sol. Animal sacri¬
fices form an important part in the religious observances of the Bonpo.
9 Or the original Bon of the dark valley , meaning dark age.
1881.]
Sarat Chandra Das — Contributions on Tibet.
199
2nd Sub-stage, middle Gyur-Bon.
During the reign of king Thi-sron de-tsan, an edict was issued requir¬
ing all the Bonpo to renounce their faith and embrace Buddhism. The
Minister Gyal-vai chan-chhiib requested the Bon priest named Rin-
chhen chhog to adopt Buddhism which he declined to do. Having been
punished by the king for his obstinacy, he became greatly enraged,
and, in company with some other Bonpo, secretly composed Bon scriptures
by means of wholesale plagiarism from Buddhist canonical works. The king
hearing that the excellent sayings of the Tathagata had been converted into
Bon scriptures, ordered the priests to be beheaded. Many of the Bonpo were
thus killed ; the rest secretly multiplied their works and, through fear,
concealed them under rocks. Afterwards they brought out their religious
books from the various hiding-places, in consequence of which those books
are called Bon ter-ma , or “ the hidden treasures of the Bonpo.”
3rd Sub-stage, last Gyur-Bon.
Subsequent to the overthrow of Buddhism by Landarma, two Bon
priests named S'en-gyur and Dar-yul dolag, from upper Nan in Tsan,
sitting in a solitary cavern in 17, consecrated as a place of Bon religion,
altered many Buddhist works10 by using an orthography and terminology
different from those of the Buddhists. These they concealed under the
rock of Tsho-na deu-chhun. Afterwards they brought the hidden books to
light as if they were accidental discoveries.
Afterwards Khyun-po and other Bon priests, in the same manner,
converted other Buddhist works into Bon scriptures.
These three stages of Gyurpa-Bon, viz., the first, the middle and the
last, are designated by the name of Chhab-kar or Dapui-Bon, meaning “ the
white- water (enlightened) or the resultant Bon.”
The Bonpo are said to have got the counterparts of the Kah-gyur in
general. The following are the names of their principal religious books
and deities.
Bon Religious Works.
I Ta-ya-$ton-pai- Gs'u'n. Philosophy and metaphysical works.
1. _Kdsogs-pa rin-chhen yser-gyi Aphren-va.
2. AJtsa/jgrel Huii-gi spu gu.
3. Man-nag Akhor-lo hod-ysal.
10 The Buddhist scripture —
Yum gya-pa was converted into, and given the Bon name of, Kham-chhen.
Ni-shu napa ,, „ „ „ ,, Kham-chhun.
Don-la bab-pa ,, ,, ,, ,, „ Bondo.
Ssun de-ha „ „ „ ,, „ Lubum-kah.
B B
[No. 3,
200 Sarat Chandra Das — Contributions on Tibet.
IT. Ngompai- Cts'ijn or meditative works.
J. Phun-po ran-Agyur thig-le tZgu-skor.
2. C7ser-thig.
3. Lus sems namsmyon.
4. Sems lun ye-khri-<Zkar po.
III. $pyoc7-pai Skotl la or Serials of rites.
1. Khams brgy&d ytan la phab-pai Ahum.
2. Ye-yshen ZkocZ-pa don-gyi Abum.
3. 6ryun-drun sa-5cbii lam-gyi 7d)um.
4. ifatam-dag tshul-khrims Mul-vai /zbum.
5. Dge-rgy&s tshogs-chhen ?’dsogs-pai 7d)um.
6. Na^7 7^bum nag-po.
7. Tsbe-7ibum kbra-vo.
8. /S'man-7dbum t?kar-po.
9. 6rto-7d)um nag-po.
IY. jBPhein-las-Nkyi $koe la or Serials of epistles.
1. (xto-thabs sum-5rgya-drug-chu.
2. D\yy&d thabs brgy&d khri 7>shi-ston.
3. Kyer-sgom 7>sbi.
4. $koi cbon-rgyac7.
5. S'i-thabs sum-5rgya drug-cbu.
6. jEZdul-thabs brgy&d-oXm. rtsa-ychig.
These works are also called the Bon works of Chhab-nag srid-rgyuJ
or the mystical works of the Dark world.
Woeks op Bon Mysticism.
The following are the Mystic works of the Chhah-c?kar period or the
later period :
1. $pyi-spuns bon wdsd<7.
2. Pha-rgyut? drag-po dgw 7zdus.
3. Ma-rgyu<7 ni-ma ^gu-sar.
4. Khro-rgyucZ mdo chhen 7zbyam$-pa.
The following are the names of the principal Bon gods and goddesses.
1. Srog-gi sag-Z>nlar-chhe.
2. ^ jj j5 cbbun.
The red wrathful razor spirit. 3. Dra-va spu-gri-r/mar.
Ihe black ,, >> j> 4. ,, f, ,, ,, nag.
5. Nal-^byams ma moi khrag sgrub.
The tiger god of glowing fire ; he 6. $tag-lha me-7ibar.
is the popular god universally
worshipped.
1881.]
Sarat Chandra Das
Contributions on Tibet.
201
The messenger-demon. 7. Pho-na bduc£.
The well known Pehar-rgyalpo. 8. l?gyal-po.
The god of sound. 9. $gra-lha.
The great demon. 10. Rtsan.
11. Crsas ydan.
12. Zhnu.
13. mu.
14. Cr ssah.
15. Dvan-phyug-gi sgrub skor.
16. Byol-sdii /^khor lo ^gu-skor.
17. (rtan-kyi-skor.
18. Ro-ku-sag-pa spyaii-rgyug-gyi-
skor.
In those Bon scriptures are taught the unsteadiness of all things, karma ,
ptialam, love and compassion, the Bodhisattva feelings ; the aphorisms of
the six paramita ; the five ways (of emancipation), the ten bhumis (the stages
of perfection) ; the nomenclature of the three images &c., inauguration,
formation and perfection (ceremonies) vows, sanctification (consecration) or
sacrifice ( yajna ), construction of circles and figures of mystical worship,
funeral ceremonies and many other like rites and ceremonies as are similar
in form and nature to those of the Buddhists. In the place of
Ye-sen-te thal.
Bon-ku.
Sa-tri-e san.
Kuntu-ssanpo.
Sridpa-ssanpo.
S'en-sra.
Yung-drun sempah.
Bon sa.
Hamo-nid.
•
such names as Dri-med-
sehgyi-sa; Hosserphro-
va rig dsin-sprin-phun
and Chhya-gya gyurva-
sa, &c.
Buddha
Chhoiku or Dharma kaya
Yum-chhen mo
Loiiku (Sambhoga kaya)
Tul-ku (Nirmana kaya)
Da-Chompa (Arhat)
Chyan-sem (Bodhisattva)
Lama (guru)
Idea of Vacuity (sunyata)
Sachu (Dasa-bhumi)
they have
»>
55
55
55
55
55
55
55
55
55
55
55
55
55
55
55
55
In orthography, rhetoric and syntax there are many deviations (from
the ordinary rules).
In doctrinal and meditative points the Bon are divided into heretic and
orthodox Bon.
In some Bon books it is mentioned that in void beginningless
eternity, there came to exist entity of eternity, from which grew “ hoar¬
frost;” from hoar-frost grew dewdrops as big as peas, &c. Ultimately all
202
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[No. 3,
bodies and animals are said to have grown out o£ an egg. The Bonpo
have borrowed their ideas of S'akti and I'svara from the Tirthikas.11 Ac¬
counts like the above regarding the growth of the world are also to be
met with in all the Tantrik works of the Buddhists and the Brahmans.
The Bon work called “Du-parinpo chhe gyud” relates that all material
things have no (absolute) existence. Their existence is relative to (our)
wishes and desires. When attachment is withdrawn from them for the
sake of attaining to a state of (mental) vacuity ( sunyata or bonku ),
they exist not. Both these (existences)12 being comprehended, and at the
same time not clung to, by the mind, it is said to have obtained Jnana
of S'unyata, the bright lustre of which, being devoid of anxiety and delibera¬
tion, encompasses all. This is the real object of meditation. Thus by
effecting a union of Darsana and meditation, as its consequence, the
attainment of emancipation is secured.
According to Chyan-na lodoi Gyal-tshan, Kun-khan S'erhod and Tag-
tshah Lochava, the ninth volume of the Bon Aphorisms is said to agree
with the theories of the Dsog-Chhenpa class of the Ninma sect. In Bon
works which they possess, it is stated, that the original basis — the purest
nature which preceded both S'en (Buddha) and Sattvam (animal being) — is
the clear bright vacuity , called the nature of Bonku (the Supreme ideal of
the Bonpo). It is not covered by the gloom of ignorance and desires.
Being nothing in itself, it has yet produced the consciousness of all. From
the beginning existing in the essence of S'en (Buddha), it is not produced
by the agency of Karma. Being unconnected with the consequence of
actions, it is self-existent, existent without effort. Its ‘perception by the
mind does not improve it, nor does the ignorance of it affect it in any way.
It equally exists in Buddha and Sattvam (animal being), without altering
them for good or bad. This primeval Cause — the Bonku, which encompass¬
es all, is the basis ot’ all matter. All material and transmigrating existences
(Sattvam) have emanated from it All things are contained in it. Its
action is diffused without obstruction. By well-regulated thinking, when
it is perceived, the mind acquires Jnana (wisdom). But if it is not thought
upon, i. e , not perceived, the mind acquires Karma or the cause of sin. If
its meaning (S'unyata) is investigated, the real basis, the abode of time and
space, is evident. To reflection and well-regulated thinking it is fully manifest.
From its conception the three Bon images (ideals) are clearly seen, and then
the soul is absorbed in the essence of “ S en.” The clearest lustre (S'unyata)
which is identified with Bonku or with the basis of all existence when dis¬
cerned, is found self -existent in its own essence which is the nature of
11 The prefect of Di-gun, named Jig-ten gonpo, observed that the Bonpo have
erroneously adopted the principles of the Tirthikas.
12 The relative and illusory existence of material things.
1881. j
Sarat Chandra Das — Contributions on Tibet.
203
Buddhas13 and living beings ; yet being thus self-existent, on account of the
want of discernment (true knowledge), its existence is screened by the gloom
of Avidya ; for example, though butter exists in milk, yet to the eye of the
ignorant it does not. The Bonku, being perceived by the mind, becomes
•uncovered and manifest in all its parts. Thus the supreme nature of the basis?
being uncovered and naked, is pre-eminently manifest, when the action of
the mind, deliberation and effort, have nothing to do with it ; then rises up
Jnana when the thinking power is obstructed, and remembrance ceases.
The mind, having lost its functions, becomes passive and ceases to think.
Its position then may be compared with the instantaneous bliss of the coitus
of the sexes. The mind having ceased to form a conception of the Supreme
cause, Bonku or S'unyata stands like an image on the mirror.14 This
glorious lustre is called the self-born Jnana of Vidya ; the undivided atten¬
tion towards it is called the Bon-Darsana. In the region of mind, called
Chitta-rinchhen, which is immense and located on the eight petals of veins,
there are the five lustres of appearance belonging to the five organs of the
body. In the middle of these five lustres sits Bonku like a crystal ball,
wrapped round by the thread of the five Juanas. Its essence, being
S'unyata, is never perpetual ; nor, coming under the cognizance of Vidya,
is it subject to annihilation. That this invisible essence exists in this
manner must be learned by meditation. Existing without cause and unseiz-
able, it is pure in its nature.
Meditation.
In the fully enlightened state of mind, the continued and inseparable
fixing of the mind on the Bonku is called the “ Gom” or meditation. There
are three kinds of “ Gom.”
1st, Thun-gom ; 2nd, Nan-gom ; 3rd, Lon-gom.
Thun-gom is performed by one’s being initiated into it by a spiritual
guide, i. e., Lama, by counting (of beads or names) and chanting
of the virtues of Bonku. In the first stage of gom, the mind does not
remain absorbed in the particular object of meditation. In the middle
stage the absorption and distraction are equal. In the last stage the mind
enters into complete abstraction. The perfect abstraction being brought
under control, it can be suspended, put off and resumed, at pleasure. When
the opportune time, the time of attaining sainthood, comes, this meditation
(gom) reaches its limit.
2nd, Nan-gom. At proper times, the mind gets filled with the
light of Atma-mukti-jnana, and then passing into deep meditation (yoga)
becomes fully abstracted and at last even devoid of meditation itself.
13 That is, Bon saints.
14 The mirror is here compared with the mind which is unconnected with the
image.
204
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[No. 3,
When this state is attained, the limit of Nan-gom is reached. This state
may be compared with the calm and unruffled sea, the ideal of Supreme
inaction.
3rd, Lon-gom. When, after acquiring all sorts of Vidya and seeing
the real object (“ Don”, meaning an object aimed at), the meditation is finish¬
ed and the mind has ceased thinking of the attainment of the essence of
S'unyata, the time of Lon-gom begins. At this time all sins, wicked
thoughts, &c. turn into Juana, all visible and invisible matter enter the
all-pure region of S'unyata, or Bonku, when transmigratory and eman¬
cipated existence, good and evil, mental attachment and separation, &c.
turn one and without difference. When by this most perfect kind of
meditation the sublime state is attained, the Lon-gom is gained.
These theories and notions of the Bonpo bear a striking resemblance
to those of the Dsog-chhenpa sect of the Ninma school.
The following are the nine vehicles of the Bon religion called Bon-Sran.
vehicles, is called the Khyadpar-chhenpoi Thegpa.
The Phwa-sen contains three hundred and sixty questions and
doubts and 84,000 proofs. The Nan-sen contains four Gyer-gom and
42 Tah-rag. Gyer-gom and Tah-rag are divisions of the meditative science
of the Bonpo. The Thul-sen teaches the working of miracles. The
Srid-sen treats of 300 modes of dying and funeral services, the four ways
of disposing of the dead, and 81 methods of suppressing evil spirits.
The Ge-nen treats of the aphorisms regarding the bodies, animal life
and their growth and maturity.
The A'kar describes many mystic (Tantrik) demonstrations. In the
Ye-sen the various kinds of mental demonstration, and in the Khyad-par-
chhenpo the five classes of Upadesa (instruction) are described.15
The Tan-srun describes the kinds of Bum, i. e., the tombs for the
deposition of relics.
The four Gyu Bon, or vehicles of effects, take away the four discrimi¬
nations of remembrance and understanding. The study of A'kar and Ye-
shen refines the obfuscating defects of learning.
15 Besides the essence of the other eight vehicles, as previously mentioned.
1881.]
Sarat Chandra Das — Contributions on Tibet.
205
The Khyadpar-chhenpo can singly effect what the others can jointly
do. Again the four Gyu Bon can secure the enjoyment of the four Blm-
mis (stages of perfection) of honourable action, for several ages. The
Ge-nen and Tan-srun, after carrying the Sattvam happily through three
Jcalpas, will take it to emancipation. The Akar and Ye-sen can give it, after
its first birth, freedom from existence. The Khyadpar-chhenpo can secure
to a person emancipation even in this life. (The author remarks : — although
I could not obtain a work in which the rise and progress, theories and prin¬
ciples of the Bon religion are exhaustively described, yet I have written
according to the account delivered to me by the sage of Digun respecting
the earlier, mediaeval and later Bonpo). Learned and erudite professors
of the Bon religion, when it attained to prosperity, held a synod in the
celebrated cavern of “ San-vai-Bon Phug” in the Mankhar country. Priests
and sages from India, Persia, China and Tibet assembled there. A com¬
pendious compilation of Bon “ gomo’I (or sutras), about 84000 in
number, was made, which is well known by the name of San-nag-dson-
thad ni-hod-gyan.
Among the principal classes of Bon monasteries of Tibet the S'enderdin
monastery and the Yun-druii monastery of Gyal-mo-ron were most noted.
In later times, by the command of the Emperor of China, most of these were
pulled down by the Imperial armies and the Bon monasteries and religious
establishments greatly devastated. On the site of the Yun-drun Lhadin
monastery, a Gelugpa monastery called Gahdan was erected. An edict was
issued forbidding all to follow the Bon doctrines, in spite of which many
Bon priests and numerous monasteries still exist in Gyal-ron, Tsho-kha
and Konpo and other places. The Gonparituo of Kham contains 500
priests. Formerly the Bonpo had no monastic system. Now after the
example of the Buddhists they have monks and nuns, some of whom have
pretensions to incarnate existence. But in general they are great drinkers
of wine and eaters of meat. They are not careful to refrain from female
company.
206
Sarat Chandra Das — Contributions on Tibet.
[No. 3,
II.— DISPUTE BETWEEN A BUDDHIST AND A BONPO PRIEST
FOR THE POSSESSION OF MOUNT KAILA'SA AND THE
LAKE MANAS A.1
Je-tsun Melarepa with a great many pupils arrived at mount Tesi
(Kailasa) from Pu rah. There he was welcomed by a number of local
deities. They made him profound salutations and large and curious
offerings. Besides making him a gift of the lake Mapan and mount Tesi
for the use of himself and his pupils as a hermitage, they undertook to
protect his devotees and followers, after which they returned to their
respective abodes.
Wrhen the teacher with his pupils arrived on the shores of the lake
Mapan to make religious obeisance and reverence, the Bon priest Naro-Bon-
chhuh and his sister, being informed of his fame and of his visit to Tesi,
came to meet him there. Knowing him, yet pretending not to recognise
him, Naro thus accosted the teacher and his pupils : — “ Whence are you
and whither do you go” ?
The venerable Je-tsun said — We are come from one of the mountains
called La-chhyi (Laphye), in order to sit in meditation on the top of Tesi.
Naro. — What is your name ?
Je-tsun . — I am called Melarepa.
Naro. — Well then! the snowy Tesi, the Lake Mapan and yourself are
alike. From a distance your fame is great, but on a near approach it is
stript of its wonder. Admitting this mountain to be wonderful, I must
say it is the possession of the Bonpo. If you wish to live here, you must
practise Bon rites.
Je-tsun. — According to the Buddhist revelation this mountain is a
place of pilgrimage for Buddhists in general, and more particularly by the
prophecy of the sage Marpa it is destined to be the place of my
hermitage. You must consider yourself fortunate to have owned it so
long. If now you continue to reside here, you must follow the practices of
our religion ; otherwise you may go wherever you like.
Naro-Bon-chhun. — You two, though from a distance are of great
fame, yet are little at a near view.3 If you have something wonderful
in you, come, let us compete with each other in the exhibition of miracles,
so that whoever wins should own this place.
1 Literally translated from a block-print said to be 800 years old.
2 Lit. “ at the bank,” which is a Tibetan idiom, meaning “ near.”
1881.]
Sarat Chandra Das — Contributions on Tibet.
207
So saying, Naro stood like a colossal figure over the lake, placing his
legs on its opposite banks, and in metrical language thus spoke first to
Kankar Tesi :
Though great is thy fame,
Yet with snow thy head is clad.
Then to Mapan-yu-tsho : —
Though great is thy name,
Being water, by water thou art crossed.
Lastly to Melarepa : —
Though great is thy fame,
Yet in old age half naked3 thou liest.
From thy mouth out pours a pretty song.
Thy hands an iron trident hold ;
Save this no wonders in thee lie.
Then in exclamation, to his gods : —
Thou unchangeable Bon-yun-tunku Ye-£en,4
And thou legion of exalted gods !
Thou wrathful Tho-gyal, sucker of blood
With widely yawning mouth *
Thou nine-headed Vu-gupa
Who wieldest twice nine arms,
And whose incarnation Gye-god is,
Thy head what prodigies holds !
Thy sister is Srin-gyalma.
I Bon-chhun am her devotee.
%
Then looking defiantly towards Je-tsun *
Miracles — if shewn, should be shewn like this.
Hearing this challenge, Je-tsun sat himself down, covering the lake
Mapan. Lo ! it was a curious sight. The lake did not contract, nor
did Je-tsun enlarge his body, yet each exactly fitted on the other.
He then sang this Hymn —
Ho ! Ho ! Demon come and hear !
On the top of the Vulture-peaked hill,5
On the exalted throne — by eight lions borne,
The Victor S'akya Thuba sits ;
Matchless and one with him in wisdom,
In the mansion of Virtue, called Hogmin,
5 Referring tcfhis Indian ascetic dress.
4 The ideal image of the Bonpo.
5 Gjidhrakuta Parvata on which S'akya Simha used to sit in yoga.
C C
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[No. 3,
The great sixth Buddha Dorje-Chhah6 presides,
In spirit with the Divine Mother united.
In the sages Tilo and Naropa he became incarnate.
The latter, who kept the door of S'ri Nalendra,
And the Lochava Sangye-Marpa, —
These I ask for benediction.
I, famed far and wide,
To carry out the word of Marpa of Lha-bragr
Have come to Tesi to meditate,
For my own and others’ good.
And now, 0 heretical Bonpo, comest thou ?
Let me retort on thee with a repartee 1
Kankar Tesi of great fame,
Whose crest with snow is white,—
So white is Buddha’s faith.
Mapan, the famed lake of Turquoise,,
Whose water over water runs, —
So all matter in vacuity is lost.
I, Melarepa of great fame,
An old man who naked lies,
Am sprung from Wisdom and Remembrance.?
My lips sing a little song,
For all Nature at which I look
Serves me for a book.
The iron staff that my hands hold,
Guides me across the ocean of migratory life.
I rule over mind and light.
For prodigies and miracles to shew
1 depend not on earthly gods.
Tesi, the Prince of the World’s Mounts,
To Buddhists in general possession yields.
And to Melarepa chiefly and his votaries.
Ye heretical Bonpo be useful and good,
Come and embrace the sacred Dharma 1
If you do not, — vanquished by miracles,
Go hence to other and distant lands !
Beware of such prodigies in future 1
He then held lake Mapan on the tip of his thumb,
® This is the chief Buddha or Dharmakaya of the Gelugpa school.
7 That is, the virtuo of remembrance of former Buddhas.
1881.]
Sara! Chandra Das — Contributions on Tibet.
209
Naro Bon-cliliun. — This time your miracle appeared somewhat
wonderful. As I arrived here prior to you, allow me to remain along
with you. Let us try a second feat in showing miracles to see who
wins !
Je-tsun. — I cannot condescend to exhibit religious miracles in rivalry
with a juggling enemy ; if you cannot adopt my religion, better remove
yourself elsewhere.
Naro . — I cannot cast off the faith of Yuh-druh from my mind.
If in exhibiting miracles you can defeat me, I shall out of my own
accord go away. But you cannot use force against me ; for to kill me or
to beat me, is against your vows of religion. By no other means can
you drive me out. Come, therefore, let us try another feat !
He then advanced to make Bon-kor, i. e., to go round the sacred peak
of Tesi from right to left. On the other hand, Je-tsun performed the
“ Chho-kor,” i. e., circumambulated from left to right according to the
Buddhist method. Coming thus from opposite directions, the parties met
together near a huge rock called Phapon, situated in the north-eastern
Jon of the country.
Naro. — Your circumambulation is well done, now let us once more do
the same according to the Bon fashion !
So saying and catching Je-tsun’s hands, he attempted to draw him
towards his own way.
Je-tsun. — Even if I move in the wrong way, I shall not betake myself
to the contrary faith or religion. But (added he) do you now follow our
religion !
When they were pulling one another by the arm, each to bring the other
to his way and creed, their foot-marks remained imprinted on the top of
the rock Phapong. At last by the force of holiness, Je-tsun succeeded in
drawing the Bonpo towards his own way of circumambulation. When
arrived at the northern back of Tesi, Naro said, — “ from behind this let
us make the Bon-kor”.
Je-tsun. — If you can.
Naro. — This time you may have appeared great, but let us once again
wrestle !
So saying, he hurled a piece of rock of the size of a yak, towards
Phapon. Je-tsun also at the same time threw one twice as large as
Naro’s.
Naro. — This time you have won, but one or two winnings are no
test at all. Come let us try again !
Je-tsun. — If the sun, moon and the stars all combine to throw lustre,
yet the sun and moon can alone dispel the gloom of the world, so if you and
I wrestle together, you cannot be equal to me. Tesi therefore has passed
210 Sarat Chandra D&s — Contributions on Tibet. [No. 3, '
under my sway. I am victorious. For your satisfaction and also in order
that all men may see the superior might of Dharma, you may try another
feat. Je-tsun therefore sat on the cavern called Padma-Phug,8 on the
western Jon of Tesi. When the Bonpo reached the eastern side, Je-tsun
from the west, stretching his legs, trod on the cell of the Bonpo, where he
left a foot-mark, and said, — “ if you can do the like, come and do it.” Naro
attempted from the east to reach it with his leg by stretching it to the west
but it did not go half the way. Seeing this, the Asuras (Demons) from the
skies broke into loud laughter. The Bonpo, who was a little ashamed, again
wanted to try another feat and advanced to perform the Bon-kor. Je-tsun
himself having proceeded with his Chho-kor, they met to the south of Tesi,
when a heavy shower of rain fell. At this, Je-tsun, wanting a place of
shelter, asked him whether he could construct the walls or the superstructure
of the house, which he meant to erect for shelter.
Naro. — I shall undertake to construct the roof.
Je-tsun now commanded the Phapon to come to the spot and leave a
portion of his body to serve him as a wall Phapon consented, and lo !
there was erected a huge fabric without a roof. Naro-Bon-chhun several
times attempted to put a stone roof over the wall, but every time he
failed.
# # # #
Naro. — You call me a juggler, but it is you who every time I have
seen play the part of a juggler. I am not satisfied with these your miracles.
Both you and I, on the 15th of this month, shall run a race up to the top of
Tesi. Be it settled that whichever of us shall reach the top of Kan-Tesi
quicker, will get possession of it. It will then be seen which of us pos¬
sesses the chief perfection.
Je-tsun agreed to the proposal, but remarked, — “ what pity ! you
mistake the light of Bon-bum for the chief perfection. He who possesses
it should be able to see his own face. In order to be able to do
so, one must embrace the system of meditation prescribed in our
religion”.
Naro. — What good and evil lie in your mind and in mine, what the
difference is between the Bon and Buddhist religions, whether your previous
prodigies are mere illusions or proceed from propitiation, — I cannot make
out. Now let us be sure of seeing which of us can be on the top of Tesi
earlier.
The proposal was accepted by Je-tsun. In the meantime Naro-Bon-
chhun diligently offered prayer to his tutelary deity, while Je-tsun
steadily applied himself to the exercise of his ascetic rites.
8 Lotus Cavern.
1881.] Sarat Chandra Das — Contributions on Tibet. 211
At the dawn of the 15th, Naro-Bon-chhun being dressed in a blue
fur-dress, playing the cymbal, called “ sbang'1 2’, and mounting a tam¬
bourine, went towards the sky. The pupils of Je-tsun, seeing this, went
to him and found him fast asleep. One of the pupils named Be-chliuh
addressed him : — “ Venerable Sir ! Naro-Bon-chhun, early in the morning,
riding his own tambourine, flew towards the sky. By this time he has reached
the waist of Tesi.” Je-tsun being still in bed, his pupil thought that the
Bonpo had gained the day and carried off: the possession of the place. Ear¬
nestly he pressed J e-tsun to get up, and the same was done by all the pupils.
Je-tsun now looked with fixed eyes towards Tesi and said — “behold! the
Bonpo, being unable to climb the precipice, has gone round it.” Then in a
finger’s snapping he mounted the sun-beam and, by spreading his raiment
as outspread wings, flew towards the top of Tesi, which he reached in a
moment along with the glowing sun. At this time the Lamas belonging
to Je-t sun’s order and the god Chakra Sambara witnessed the spectacle,
and were delighted with the triumph of Je-tsun. When Naro-Bon-
clihun was attempting to rise above the neck of Tesi, he fell down, and his
tambourine rolled down towards the southern valley of Tesi.
III. — PART I.— EARLY HISTORY OF TIBET1.
(Introduction.)
Prior to the advent of S'akya Simha,3 during the war between the
five Pandavas and the twelve legions3 of Kaurava armies, one of the
warrior princes, named Riipati4, through dread of war, fled towards the
snowy country of Tibet. For fear of being pursued by the enemy or by
his suzerain, the chief of the Kauravas, for deserting the field, he dressed
himself in female attire, and with only one thousand followers took shelter
1 The following account of Tibetan history is obtained from original sources.
I have consulted Debther-non-po, Chho jun by Bu-ton, Ga-nag-gi-tsi, and the
original ancient records of Tibet called Non-gyi-yig-tshah-nin-pa, &c., &c. The
preparation of a complete history of Tibet from the earliest period to the present
date for which I am at present engaged in collecting materials is under con¬
templation.
2
3 Indian legions amounting to one Akshauhim or Tibetan Puh-tshog.
4
212
Sarat Chandra Das — Contributions on Tibet.
[No. 3,
in Tibet. He found the country, Pugyal , (for such was the ancient name
of Tibet, which in later times was converted into Bod,5) widely peo¬
pled by a race of men, still in a primitive state. They welcomed him as
their king. By his mild and peaceful behaviour he won their affection and
ruled over them for many years. Under his and his descendants’ rule
the people multiplied, enjoyed prosperity and developed the arts. From
liupati to the foundation of monarchy in Tibet by Nah-Thi-tsanpo,6
in the beginning of the fourth century before the birth of Christ, the history
of Tibet is very obscure. During this long interval, after the fall of the
house of Rupati, the country was partitioned into several petty states, ruled
by insignificant native chieftains and princes. Of this uninteresting period
scarcely any reliable record, traditional or legendary, is extant, sufficient to
throw any light on the earliest history of Tibet. Among the ancient
records, the Debther-Nonpo7 and the Chho Jun8 are by far the most correct.
Their authors appear to have been less influenced by love of the marvellous,
or the appetite for wonders, which marks all early oriental writings, and
to have collected their materials in an exemplary spirit of sober investigation.
The Debther-Nonpo and the Chho Jun are therefore unique and rare
ancient historical records of Tibet. According to them, the country was
peopled at the same time as India, in the beginning of the present Kalpa,
a fact accepted by most modem native historians. The Gyal-rab or
royal pedigree, written by the fifth Gyalwa-Rinpochhe, and Mani Kali-
bum, one of the oldest legendary works, ascribed to king Sron-
tsan-gampo, besides other works of historical fiction, give altogether a
different and fabulous account of the origin of the Tibetaqs. In the sacred
books of Kalachakra,9 Manjusii mula tantra,10 and Ashta-sahasrika,11
Buddha foretold that his religion would be widely diffused in the snowy
country of the north, where many Saints would also appear.
5 The Tibetan b when unaccompanied by any other letter is pronounced like
p slightly aspirated, and the final d in Tibetan is always mute. Therefore Bod or
us is pronounced as Po or Pu of Pu gyal.
w
8 Chhos-Abyun; in Tibetan by when preceded by h is pronounced
asy.
•sS
9
1881.]
Sarafc Chandra Das — Contributions on Tibet.
213
CHAPTER I.
Monarchy (416 B. C. to 617 A. D.)
(Bon Period.)
Four hundred and seventeen years, according to Buton’s12 chronology,
after the nirvana of Buddha, in the year 416 B. C., was born in India, Nah-
Thi-tsanpo13 the first of the Tibetan kings who established universal sway
over Tibet. The fifth son of king Prasenajit of Kosala14 was born with
obliquely drawn eyes and light blue eyebrows of the colour of turquoise.
As soon as he came out of his mother’s womb, the infant was found possessed
of webbed fingers and two rows of teeth, fully developed, and white as a
conch shell. Apprehending great evil from such ominous signs in the in¬
fant, the parents packed it up in a copper vessel and floated it away on the
river Ganga. A farmer finding it, carried it to his wife who nursed it.
Being a simple-hearted man, he did not try to pass off the child as his
own, but revealed the truth; and the strange story of the forlorn royal
child became known to all. Informed of the antecedents of his life, how
he had been thrown into the Ganga by his royal parents and nursed by
the good farmer’s wife, the youth’s mind was overcast with sorrow and
thoughtfulness. Being born a prince, he could not bend his mind to apply
itself to the lowly pursuits of a farmer’s life. After passing many a day
in anxiety and melancholy, he quitted the farmer’s house, bidding his country
a mournful farewell, with a firm determination either to reign as a king or
not live at all. He proceeded northward to the Himalaya mountains
subsisting on wild fruit. Unmindful of the difficulties of a mountain
journey or of death, he travelled further and further north, till by the
blessing of Arya Chenressig he arrived at the summit of the Lhari15 snowy
mountains of Tibet and surveyed the surrounding regions. His heart was
12 The great Tibetan author Buton was born at Tho-phug in the year 1290 A. D.
He became the abbot of the Shalu monastery near Tasilhunpo. He was the first
great Tibetan scholar who compiled the two well-known Encyclopaedias of the Bud¬
dhist scriptures, called Kah-gyur and Tan-gyur, which were formerly scattered in
detached pieces among different monasteries. He wrote the great critical chronologi¬
cal work, called Khapa-kah-chad, which is followed by the Gelugpa writers, and
composed 40 volumes in different branches of sacred literature, astrology, medicine
and history.
13 This famous monarch is said to have been sent to India to be born in a royal
family of undefiled race in order to spread Buddhism in Tibet. The spirit of Chen-
re-ssg entered into him to make him one of the dynasty of Prasenajit.
14 Ehsala rgyal, i. e., King of Kasala.
or fyi; of Bod.
214
Sarat Chandra Das — Contributions on Tibet.
[No. 3,
delighted on descrying land on the north, and gradually descending as it were
from heaven, down the slopes, he arrived at Tsan-than,16 a great plateau
with four passages on its four sides. Here he was met by many natives, who,
struck with the graceful looks of the stranger, asked him respectfully, who he
was, and where he came from. He replied to them by signs (for he knew not
their language) that he was a prince, and pointing his finger towards the
top of Lhari, he showed the direction he had come from. The Tibetans,
who were sure they had seen him come from the direction of heaven, took
him for a god who had descended from the celestial regions. Prostrating them¬
selves before him, they entreated him to be their king, an offer which he
gladly accepted. Then placing him on a chair, they carried him in solemn
procession to the central country. From being borne on the back of men,
seated on a chair, he was called by the name of Nah-Thi-tsanpo17. He erected
the great palace of Yumbu Lagan,18 on the site of which Lhasa was
built in later days. He married a Tibetan lady named Nam Mug-mug,19 who,
says the legend, was a fairy. After a long and prosperous reign of many
years, which was marked by the dispensation of wise and impartial justice,
the king died, leaving the throne to his son Mug-Thi-tsanpo.20 The first
seven kings, counting from Nah-Thi-tsanpo, are well known by the
designation of Namgyi-Thi21. Di-gum-tsanpo, the eighth in descent from
Nah-Thi, was married to Lu-tsan-mer-cham,22 by whom he had three sons.
His minister, named Lo-nam, was a very ambitious man, who rebelled
against him. An internecine war followed in which the king was killed.
It was during this war that the use of the coat of mail (klirab) was first
introduced into Tibet from Mar-Kham.23 The victorious minister, having
married one of the widows of the late king, usurped the throne and obliged
the three princes to fly towards Kon-po. He reigned for several years.
The widow of the late king and mother of the three princes, by invoking the
goblin Yar-lha-sampo, got a son, who eventually rising to the post of
16 in the Province of ^Us.
17 yftah, back ; khri, chair ; £tsanpo, king (chair-borne king) . See Note 6 on p. 212.
£Tsanpo ) is a purely ancient Tibetan word meaning the powerful. J?tsan
means a spirit, and po is the substantive particle which also partakes of the nature
of a definite article.
18 wrs'srtp’ 19 iwjs'vs'v "aErg-jq&i-rr
21 </Nam = heaven, gyi => of, Khri =» throne ; hence celestial throne.
22
28 A province of Kham on the north-west of If (dUs).
1881.]
Sarat Chandra Das — Contributions on Tibet.
215
minister killed the usurper. He now invited the three exiled princes from
Kon-po, the eldest of whom named Chya-Thi-tsanpo24 quietly ascended
his ancestral throne. Chya-Thi-gyal was married to Bom-than. During
his reign the Bon religion spread largely over Tibet. Mug-Thi-tsanpo,
marrying Sa-din-din, begat Din-Thi-tsanpo, whose son, by bis queen Sa-tham-
tham was king So-Thi-tsanpo. So-Thi-tsanpo was married to Dog-mer-
mer by whom be got Mer-Thi-tsanpo, who by bis wife Dag-Kyi Lhamo
Karmo bad a son Dag-Tbi-tsanpo. This king married Srib-Kyi- Lhamo,
of whom was born Srib-Thi-tsanpo. These kings are said to have
ascended to the skies, being carried there by their queens who were
celestial beings, in consequence of which their mortal relics were not left
below. The ancient Tibetans while giving an Aryan origin to their first
sovereigns, did not fail to show greater regard for their country by
giving their princess an altogether divine origin. Srib-thi-tsanpo married
Sa-tsan-lun-je, who gave birth to the celebrated king Di-gum-tsanpo,
under whom the Bon religion became greatly diffused in Tibet. Both he
and his father are well known in Tibet by the title of Parkyi-din.25 The
names of all these kings, it is worthy of remark, were formed by a combina¬
tion of the names of their parents, the mother’s name generally preceding
that of the father. Bom-than gave birth to king Esholeg whose son,
by Mu-cham Bramana, was king Desholeg. Desho married Lu-man-mermo
who gave birth to Thisholeg, who again by his Queen Tsan-mo-gur-man
had a son Guru-leg. Guru married Tsho-mandon who gave birth to
Don-shi-leg, who married Man-pumo and by her had a son Isho-
leg whose son by Mu-cham was Ssa nam-Ssin-de. The six succeeding
kings were designated by the title of Sai-leg, meaning the excellent
of the land. Ssanam Ssin-de married the fairy Tsho-man-thi-kar
of whom De-Phrul-Nam-Shun Tsan was born. This prince was married
to Se Nan marima who gave birth to Se-Nol-De, whose son by Lu
mo-mer-ma was SeNol-po De, who again by Mo-tsho begat De Nol-
Nam. This last prince married Thi-Man-Jema who gave birth to De
Nolpo, who again by his wife Se tsun-Nan Je had a son De Gyalpo.
De Gyalpo was married to Man-tsun-lug-gon who gave birth to De-
tin-tsan, who married to Ni-tsun-man ma-Je begat Tori Lon-tsan This
succession of eight kings who followed the Sai-leg (<VT<ifTQj£W) were
24 It is to be borne in mind that the ancient Tibetan word
is now obsolete being replaced by the word rgyal meaning Victor
and equivalent to Sanskrit Baja.
25 i. e., The soarer of the middle region.
D I)
216 Sarat Chandra Das — Contributions on Tibet. [No. 3,
distinguished by the surname De. All the queens of the above monarchs
were believed to be superhuman beings, such as fairies and sirens, who
or enjoyment of earthly pleasures had assumed human forms. They
were believed to have gone to heaven with their bodies, taking their hus¬
bands with them.
In fact those princesses were not chosen from Tibetan subjects but from
the families of the independent sovereign princes of the border countries.
In Tibet a princess is called Lhamo or goddess. The queens who came next
in succession were generally taken from among the subjects, and were there¬
fore of human origin. It was in the 27th generation of the royal succession
that the Bon religion rose to the zenith of its power, and when the sun of
Buddhism was shining in its meridian lustre all over Jambudvipa (says
s%j
the Debther Nonpo), snow-girdled Tibet remained buried in the impenetrable
darkness of Bon mysticism. King Tori was married to Din tsun Chyan-ma
who gave birth to Su-Thi-tsan who being married to the Princess of Man
named Thi-Kar begat Thi-da-Pun-tsan. This last prince also married
a Princess of lower Kham named Lu ten by whom he got Thi-thog
Jetsan. All these princes are said to have been peculiarly favoured by
Chenressig, though Buddhism was as yet unknown in Tibet. All these
five kings were known under the title of Tsan.
In the year 441 A. D.26 was born the famous Tibetan king Lha-tho-
thori ^"an-tsan, believed to be the incarnation of Kuntu Ssanpo.27 He
ascended the throne in the 2 1st year of his age. When he reached the
80th year of his age, in the year 521 A. D., there fell from heaven on the
top of the great palace of Yumbu Lagan a precious *chest, which when
opened was found to contain the following objects :
(1.) Dode-Ssamatog (Sutranta Pitaka).
(2.) Ser-kyi-Chhorten (a golden miniature shrine).
(3.) Pan-kon Chhyagya-Chhen po (a sacred treatise on palmistry and
mysticism).
(4.) Chintamani Norpo and Phorpa (a Chintamani gem and cup).
Being the first prince who was favoured by heaven with the precious gift
of the sacred treasures, Lha-thothori has been deified by the Tibetans,
As the king, sitting in council with his ministers, was debating on the
value and merit of the divine gift, there was heard a voice from heaven,
26 Various authors give different dates regarding the hirth of this monarch. The
chronology adopted by me tallies with facts. Nan-tsan was his real name, Lha
thothori was the name of the place where he was born. In Tibet all great personages
are called after the name of their birth places ; for instance the great reformer
of Tibet Lo-Ssan tag-pa is called TsonKhapa from TsohKha his native place.
Tson means onion, Ivha a bank.
27 Kuntu Ssan-po is also the name of the supreme god of the Bon religion.
1881.]
Sarat Chandra Das — Contributions on Tibet.
217
saying that in the fifth generation the meaning of the contents should be
revealed. The king, therefore, carefully preserved them in his palace and
under the name of San-wa Nanpo daily offered oblations to them. In
consequence of such a rare instance of good fortune, the king retained his
youthful vigour even at the advanced age of fourscore and ten. He died
in the year 561 A. D. at the age of 120, after a prosperous reign of fully
a century. He too bore the appellation of Tsan to his name like his five
predecessors. King Lha-thothori married the Princess No-Ssa-man-po- Je
of whom king Thi-Nan-Ssan-tsan was born. The latter married the
Princess of Bron of whom Bro-Nan-Dehu was born. Bro-Nan was
married to the princess of Chhin named Lu-gyal who gave birth to a blind
child.
This son of Bro ^an Deliu was disqualified from ascending the
throne on account of his blindness. As there was no other heir, nor any
possibility of the queen giving birth to a second son, the blind boy after a
short interregnum was placed on the throne. At his coronation, the sacred
treasures called Nanpo Sanwa were worshipped, by virtue of which the
blind king regained his sight. The first object that he saw being a Nan
(or wild sheep) running on the Tagri hill near Lhasa, he was given
the name of Tagri ^an Ssig (the seer of ovis ammon on the Tagri
hills). He married Hol-gon Ssan, and was succeeded by his son
Nam-ri-Sron-tsan. It was during the reign of this king, that the
Tibetans got their first knowledge of arithmetic and medicine from China.
The prosperity and the cattle- wealth of the country was so great during
this period that the king built his palace with cement moistened with the
milk of the cow and the yak. Once riding his fiery and quick-footed steed,
named Dovan-Chan, which he had obtained from the banks of lake Bra^-
sum Dinma (a small lake north of Lhasa, not more than 20 miles
round), he arrived at the northern desert plain where he slew a fierce
Don (wild yak) with terrible horns called Thal-Kar-ro-rin. Then,
while riding fast, the carcase of the yak, which he had bound with the straps
of his saddle, fell down on the ground. In order to take it up, the king
alighted from his horse, when he found himself on an extensive salt bank.
This was the inexhaustable mine called Chyan-gi-tshva28 which still
supplies the greater portion of Tibet with salt. Before the discovery of
this salt mine, there was a very scanty supply of salt in Tibet. The king
married Bri-thon-Kar, the princess of Tshe-Pon, by whom he got his
only son. The powerful Namri-Sron-tsan died in the year 630 A. D.,
leaving the throne to his son, the illustrious Sron-tsan Gampo, with whom
opens a new era in the History of Tibet.
218
Sarat Chandra Das — Contributions on Tibet.
[No. 3,
CHAPTER II.
Monaechy (600 A. D. — 730 A. D.)
(Buddhist period.)
Sron-tsan-Gampo was born A. D. 600-617.29 On the crown o£
his head there was an excrescence believed to be a symbolic representation
of Buddha Amitabha. Although it was very bright and full of lustre, yet
he used to cover it with a red satin head-band. At the age of thirteen he
ascended the throne. During this period were discovered, in certain caverns
of rocks and recesses of mountains, many self-created images of Chenre-
ssig,80 the divine mother Tara, Hayagriva and other gods, besides many
inscriptions including the six mystic syllables “ Om-mani-padme-hum.”
The king visited these images and made oblations to them with his
own hands. With the help of his subjects he built a lofty nine-storied
palace on the top of the hill, where Potala now stands built out of its
ruins. He had immense armies, besides innumerable reserve troops of spirits
over whom by force of his charms he had great command. The fame of the
wisdom and martial valour of this double-headed prince, as he was called
from the excrescence over his head, reached the border countries, whose sover¬
eigns sent ambassadors to his court with letters and rich presents. He
returned their kindness in a way that was most becoming in a sovereign of
his rank. While yet very young, Sron-tsan Gampo evinced great intelli¬
gence and sagacity in dealing with his dependent princes and improving
friendship with independent potentates. Although there was no such thing
as a written language in Tibet, even at so late a period as this, yet Sron-
tsan managed to communicate with the foreign kings in their own lan¬
guages. He had learnt many of the border languages, which helped him
in conducting conversation with the Indian and Chinese ambassadors. He
acquired a fair knowledge of the Sanskrit, Palpa (Newari) and Chinese.
These rare qualifications, and especially his inclination towards Bud¬
dhism, made people believe him to be an incarnation of some divinity. He
extended his conquests to the surrounding countries, and brought the
neighbouring princes under subjection. As soon as he got clear of all
military difficulties, he devoted his attention to the propagation of Buddhism
in Tibet. He clearly saw that a written language was most essential to
the establishment of religion, and more particularly to the institution of
laws for the good of the people, and that as long as this all important want
29 Tibetan historians do not agree in their accounts of the exact date of this sover¬
eign’s birth, but their dates range between 600 to 617 A. D. He is the avowed in¬
carnation of Chen-re-ssig.
30 spyan-ras ^Ssigs or Avalokitesvara.
1881.]
Sarat Chandra Das — Contributions on Tibet.
219
remained unsupplied, no success in either could be ensured. He, therefore,
sent Sambliota, son of Anu, with sixteen companions, to study carefully the
Sanskrit language and thereby obtain access to the sacred literature of
the Indian Buddhists. He also instructed them to devise means for the
invention of a written language for Tibet by adapting the Sanskrit alpha¬
bet to the phonetic peculiarities of the Tibetan dialect. He furnished the
members of the mission with a large quantity of gold to make presents to
their Indian professors. They safely reached their destination in Arya-
varta, where, under the Buddhist sage Livikara, Sambhota acquired a
thorough knowledge of the Sanskrit and of sixty-four different characters
known in the Arya land. Under Pandit Devavid Simha they learnt the
Kalapa, Chandra and Sarasvata grammars of the Sanskrit language. They
also mastered the twenty-one treatises of aphorisms and mysticism of the
Buddhist creed. After returning to Tibet, they propitiated Manjusri the
god of learning, and framed the system of Tibetan characters, viz., the
U-chan or “ letters provided with heads” (matras) adapted from the
Devanagari, and the U-me or “ headless” from the Wartu, and thus
introduced a copious system of written language into Tibet. They com¬
posed the great grammatical work called SumCliu dag-yig. The king
ordered the intelligent class of people to be taught the art of reading and
writing, and many Sanskrit Buddhist books to be translated into
Tibetan, and thus he laid the foundation of Buddhism in Tibet. He then
required all his subjects by royal edicts, to observe the ten virtues besides
the following sixteen moral virtues :
(1.) To have faith in KonChhog (god) AJ3b^l).
(2.) The performance of religious observances and study.
(3.) To honour one’s parents.
(4.) To respect the meritorious and to promote the talented.
(5.) To honour the elders as well as those who are of high birth, &c.
(6.) To pay attention to relatives and friends.
(7.) To be patriotic and useful to one’s own country.
(8.) To be honest and upright.
(9.) To know the good use of food and wealth.
(10.) To follow the example of the good.
(11.) To be grateful and return the kindness of benefactors.
(12.) To use just weights and measures.
(13.) To be free from jealousy by establishing concord and harmony
with all.
(14.) Not to listen to the words of women.
(15.) To be gentle and polite in speech and acquire skill in conversa¬
tion.
(16.) To bear sufferings and distress with patience and meekness.
220
Sarat Chandra Das — Contributions on Tibet.
[No. 3,
By inculcating these sixteen moral virtues, he greatly promoted the
present and future well-being and happiness of his subjects. From the
seashore of southern India he procured for himself a self-created image
of Chenressig with eleven faces made of Naga-sara sandal wood. He
married a Nepali Princess, the daughter of Jyoti-Varma king of Nepal,
who brought him seven precious dowers, the images of Akshobhya and
Maitreya and a sandal-image of Tara, the gem named Ratnadeva, a
mendicant’s platter made of lapis-lazuli or Vaidurya. Then, hearing tfie
report of the extraordinary beauty of the Princess H un-shin Kun-ju the
daughter of Senge-tsanpo or the Lion King (Chinese Thai-Tsung31) of
China, he sent his celebrated Prime Minister Gar with a hundred officers
to China. After repeated negotiations the proposal was agreed to.
Many stories are recorded in connection with this marriage of which
I here give one. As the number of candidates for the princess’s hand
was very great, the king, unable to decide whom to choose or whom to
reject, at last declared that he should bestow the princess on that prince
whose minister by dint of sharpness of sense and quickness of understand¬
ing would stand first in merit and intelligence. In the first ordeal,
the king laid before the assembled ministers a buckler constructed of a
coil of turquoise, with one end terminating in the centre and the other
at the edge. He required them to pass a string through the aperture of
the coil from one end to the other. It was a great puzzle to all except
to the shrewd Tibetan minister Gar, who tying one end of a thread to
the narrow waist of a queen ant, gently blew it forward through the
coil. The ant, dragging the thread easily, came out *at the other end
to the great wonder of all. The king, not liking to send his favourite
daughter to such a distant and barbarous country as Tibet, devised repeat¬
ed trials in all of which the cunning minister acquitted himself well. The
reluctance of the king was at last overcome by various contrivances, and he
at last determined to decide the fate of his daughter finally. He ordered
500 handsome girls of the princess’s age to be dressed in the same kind of
apparel as his daughter, and exhibited them before the assembled ambassadors
along with the princess herself. The shrewd Tibetan, never wanting
in resources, had studied the countenance of the princess ; moreover being
secretly informed of the king’s design, he had taken some hints about the
identification of the princess from an old nurse in the royal household.
By these means, the Minister Gar at once recognized the real princess, and
gently pulling the edge of her robe, he claimed her for his liege lord. The
81 King Thai-Tsung one of the most illustrious sovereigns of China, was the son
of Lyyean the founder of the Tang dynasty of China A. D. 622. Thai-Tsung ascended
the throne abdicated by his father in his favour in the year 625, when iSron-tsan was
reigning on the throne of (Yum-bu Lagan) Tibet.
1881.]
Sarat Chandra Das — Contributions on Tibet.
221
trials ended here. When it was fully settled that the princess should go to
Tibet, she addressed the king, “ Sire, as it has pleased your Imperial Majesty
to send me to Bod, a country where there is no religion, I pray that you will
allow me to take with me the great image of Buddha, and several volumes of
Buddhist scriptures, besides a few treatises on medicine and astrology.” The
king accordingly granted her prayer and gave them as parts of her dowry.
Hearing that Tibet was a very poor country, he sent with the princess
heaps of gold and silver for her use in Tibet. The union of the incarna¬
tion of Ohenressig in Sron-tsan, and of the two incarnations of the divine
mothers (Tara) in the persons of the two princesses produced great joy and
happiness in the palace of Yumbu-lagaii. The two princesses, come from
two great centres of Buddhism, viz., China and Nepal, jointly exerted their
influence for the propagation of Buddhism. First of all they converted the
king whose inclination to it was so remarkably manifested in his adopting
the moral tenets obtained by Thon-mi Sambhota from India. The country
of Tibet being situated in the centre of the four great continents, like the
heaving breast of a Srin-mo,33 the king thought of making it the fountain
of religion by filling it with monasteries. He erected one hundred and eight
temples — four in the suburbs of his capital, four in its centre, four at the four
corners of his kingdom, and so on. At the age of twenty-three he erected the
two great temples called Rimochhe and Lhasa Prul nan ki Tsug-la khan33 and
dedicated them to the two images of Akshobhya and S'akya respectively. Thus
in the year 639 A. D. king Sron-tsan Gampo founded Lhasa the renowned
capital of Tibet. The hill called Chagpori being considered as the heart of the
country, the king erected his new palace upon it. At the age of twenty-five
he sent his ministers to North China to erect 108 chapels at Ile-vo-tse-na,
the chosen residence of Manjusri towards the north of Pekin. He invited
the great Pandits Kusara and S'ankara Brahmana from India, Pandit SI la
Man ju from Nepal, and Hwa-Shan Maha-tshe from China, Sambhota, Lha-lun
dorje pal and other translators, for the great work of translation of the
Buddhist scriptures from the Sanskrit and Chinese originals, in the newly
formed written language of Tibet. The king had no children by the two
princesses, in consequence of which he was obliged to marry two more prin¬
cesses from Bu-yon and Mon, named Je-Tki kar and Thi-Cham. The
latter gave birth to a prince named Gun-ri-gun-tsan, and the former to Man-
Sron Man-tsan. When Gunri reached the thirteenth year of his age, the king
abdicating the throne in his favour, retired into solitude to pass his days in
meditation, but unfortunately the prince died at the age of eighteen when
32 Amazonian woman.
38 I liasa the temple of gods from which the capital of
Tibet derived its name Lhasa, and ^Tsuglag-Khan is Kutagara or a shrine.
222
Sarat Chandra Das — Contributions on Tibet.
[No. 3,
Sron-tsan was obliged to resume royalty. This latter period of his reign
he signalized by his devotion to Buddhism. He constructed many religious
edifices and sacred images, and organized a regular service by translating
books on rites and ceremonies. At an advanced age he passed away
from this world to be absorbed, says the Tibetan historian, in the
Dharma Kaya (spirit) of the merciful Chen-re-ssig. His two beloved
wives, the princesses of China and Nepal, who had strenuously supported
him in the cause of religion, also left this worldly existence at the same
time to accompany him to Tushita the abode of joy. During the reign of
this celebrated monarch there was no such institution as that of an ordained
priesthood. History is not clear about it. Notwithstanding this, he
succeeded in instructing his subjects in the ritualism of Hayagriva, S'in-
Je-S'e-(Yama). He concealed his will together with precious treasures
for the use of remote posterity. He was a second time succeeded by his son
Man-sron-man-tsan. Shortly after his son’s accession the king of China,
hearing that the incarnate monarch of Tibet was dead, sent a large army
to invade Tibet. The Chinese soldiers were defeated by the Tibetans near
Lhasa. With a view to take revenge on the Chinese king, the young king
of Tibet assembled one hundred thousand Tibetan soldiers and sent them
to invade China under the command of the veteran General Gar. In this
audacious attempt the Tibetans were repulsed, and the old General perished
in fight. Afterwards an immense Chinese army rushed upon Tibet with
great uproar ; in consequence of which the Tibetans were struck with panic.
They concealed the gold image of S'akya, brought by the Chinese princess,
in the southern niches of the great temple near the gate called Melonchan,
and deserted Lhasa. Soon after, the Chinese army occupied the city
and demolished the palace of Yumbu lagan by setting it on fire. They
succeeded in carrying Akshobhya’s image to some distance, but on account
of its unwieldiness they left it behind after a morning’s march. King
Man-sron died at the early age of 27. He was succeeded by his son Du-
Sron-manpo who was young when placed on the vacant throne. The reign
of this king was made remarkable by the appearance of seven heroes.34
34 (1) rft og-rin! a-nagp o raised a young elephant by its head.
(2) H\Tog-lih-gam carried a yak on his hack.
(3) (4) yNon-rGyal-mtshan and Was-rgod-Zdon-5tsan were experts in archery.
The former could shoot his arrow to three times the eyes’ ken, and the former could
cut a flying hawk into two from below.
(5) AGos-syag-chhun could whirl round a stag’s skin filled with sand.
(6) Chagro-Abron-shor chased a Abroh or Don (wild yak) with awful speed on a
steep precipice.
(7) yNon-Ivhri-yyu-spyin ran his horse down a steep descent.
1881.]
Sarafc Chandra Das — Contributions on Tibet.
223
What these heroes achieved for the state the Gyal-rab or the Debther
ftonpo does not relate. Du-sron mafipo was succeeded by his son Me-
Ag-tshom35 born of his wife Chhim-ssah.
This king discovered an inscription on copper of his illustrious
grandfather, king Sron-tsan-Gampo, which contained the prophecy that in
the fifth generation under the auspices of his great-grandson, bearing the
surname of De, the Buddhist religion would greatly flourish. The king, be¬
lieving himself to be the person alluded to, sent messengers to invite the
two Indian Pandits, Buddha Guliya and Buddha S'anti, who were then
residing near the Ivailasa mountain. But they declined the offer. The
messengers, unsuccessful in their mission, returned to Lhasa, having com¬
mitted to memory five volumes of the Mahayana Sutranta, which they
subsequently reproduced in their own language. The king erected five
temples in five different places,36 and deposited one book in each. Besides
these, he is also said to have erected other temples.
He obtained the volume of Buddhist scripture called Ser-hod-tampa
from the province of Kun-shi in China, besides a few treatises on
medicine, all of which he ordered to be translated into Tibetan. He invited
several monks from Li-yul,37 with a view to introduce monkhood into Tibet,
but failed, as nobody would come forward to take the vows of monkhood.
He found the largest turquoise then known in the world, on the top of
Tag-tse.38 He married Thi-tsun, the princess of the Jan country by whom he
had a son Jantsha Lhapon. Queen Thi-tsun also bore the name of Nam-nan.
Prince Jantsha Lha was famous for the extraordinary beauty of his person.
H is father sent ambassadors all over Tibet to find a match for him,
but they all returned without success. At last he sent an ambassador
to China, to propose a marriage between his son and the accomplished prin¬
cess Kyim-shan Kun-ju,39 the daughter of the Emperor Wai-jun. The
princess hearing the account of the extraordinary beauty of the Tibetan
35 Ag-tshoms means beard, hence this king was called the shaggy king.
36 The following are the names of the places and of the temples erected in them.
(1) Brag-^Mar-Keru.
(2) ySan-mKhar-brag.
(3) mChhuns-phu-sna-ral,
(4) Masa- gon-gi-sha-khar.
(5) Brag-wgrin-^Ssan.
37 Li-yul is identified with Nepal hy the translators of Kahgyur. I have been
able to ascertain that the ancient name of Nepal in Tibetan was Li-yul. Palpo is the
modern name for the monastery of Palpa. Alex. Csoma identifies Li-yul with S. E.
Mongolia.
38 A hill a few miles north of Lhasa.
39 I am not aware whether Kunju is a Chinese word, but the Tibetans address aT
Chinese princesses by the title of Kunju. Hence it appears to have the same impor
as kumari in Sanskrit or princess in English.
E E
224
Sarat Chandra Das — Contributions on Tibet.
[No. 3,
prince, prayed to her father to consent to the marriage, to which he at last
acceded ; and the princess started for Tibet. In the meantime one of the
Tibetan chiefs named Thi-ssan, the chief of Nag, being offended with
the king for not selecting his daughter for the prince’s wife, treacherously
murdered the prince. King Ag-tshom, therefore, at once despatched
messengers to convey the melancholy news to the princess who was on
her way to Tibet. The princess, deeply disappointed, did not like to
return to China, but taking a fancy to see the snowy country of Tibet,
and more especially the celebrated image of S'akya, continued her
journey to Tibet, where she was warmly welcomed by king Ag-tshom. She
brought to light the hidden image of Akshobhya which during three
generations had received no offerings, having been concealed under the gate
Melohchan. Her beauty so much charmed the king that he at once
proposed to marry her. The princess at first declined, but after long
deliberaation she yielded, and to the great wonder and joy of the people the
betrothed daughter-in-law became the bride of the father. She gave birth
to the famous monarch Thi-sron-de-tsan (Khri-Sron-/dew-6tsan), believed
to be the incarnation of Manju S'ri, the god of wisdom and learning.
CHAPTER III.
Thi-sron-de-tsan. (730 — 33 A. D. to 866 A. D.)40
This monarch, the most illustrious in the Buddhist annals of Tibet,
was born, according to the Chronologist Buton, in the year 730 A. D. When
he was in the womb, his mother saw in a vision that a saintly prince would be
born of her. She, therefore, kept aloof from all sorts of defilement and
unholy things, in consequence of which she remained happy and cheerful.
During this time the old queen Nam-nan, jealous of Queen Kunju,
feigned pregnancy, by wrapping a cubit’s length of cotton rag every day
round her belly. Then, when the Chinese Princess’ time for delivery came,
Nam-nan induced one of her midwives to give her a kind of anaesthetic
liquor, through which Kuiiju became insensible and soon gave birth to a son,
which the wicked Nam-nan, by bribing the princess’ maid, caused to be re¬
moved to her chamber, replacing it by a female child born on the same day
of low parentage. As soon as she recovered her senses, Kunju was surprised
to see a daughter instead of a son, about whom she had seen so many things
in her dreams. Meanwhile, the report of Queen Nam-nan’s giving birth
to a son reached the king and his ministers, who all came to witness the
blessed child. Queen Kunju, who was not talked of at all, strongly suspecting
40 Khiii-Sron-/dew-6tsan.
1881.]
Sarat Chandra Das — Contributions on Tibet.
225
her jealous partner, but, in the absence of witnesses, being unable to
charge Nam-nan with any foul motive, kept her sorrows to herself.
Some of the ministers, who knew the plot of the elder queen, did not
venture to speak against her. Kuhju, however, once complained to the
king about the probable wickedness, but as Nam-nah had by the agency of
some drug produced milk in her paps, Kuhju did not see the possibility of
establishing her accusation, but burning with a spirit of revenge tried
to bring damnation on Tibet by means of her incantations, and wrote
treatises construing astrology in a perverse way. In the third year of the
prince’s age, the king invited the maternal relations of: the prince and
the princess to a grand festive celebration.41 When all the nobles, chiefs
and ministers of the realm had assembled, the king seated the prince
and the princess on either side and taking a cupful of wine in his
hand, addressed the former — “ My son, take this gold cup of wine and with
your tender hands offer it to him who is your maternal uncle.” To the utter
amazement of all present, the prince at once presented it to the Chinese
prince whom he thus addressed — “ I, Thi-sron-de-tsan am thy nephew.
Nam-nan is not my mother, though she has nursed me for a period of
three years. I now meet my uncle, and my heart rejoices to behold him.”
These words of the infant prince struck all the courtiers and ministers with
wonder. Nam-nah ’s wickedness was now at last revealed, and she was
overwhelmed with shame. Kuhju was transported with joy when the king
presented the child to her, and now exerted herself to avert some of the evils
she had brought on Tibet by her incantations ; but as she did not fully
succeed in correcting astrology, it is alleged by several native historians that
the Tibetans cannot make correct calculations.
A. D. 748 — 748. At the age of sixty- three the king died leaving the
throne to the young prince, now thirteen years old. Thi-sroh applied himself
to study and the critical examination of the ancient records contained in the
Archives of the State. His ministers were divided into two factions, de¬
signated the “ Buddhist” and the “ Heretic” ministers. The first faction, or
Chhoi-lon, advised the young king to encourage Buddhism, while their anta¬
gonists exhorted him to extirpate Buddhism from Tibet, which according to
them had been productive of pernicious consequences. In spite of the oppo¬
sition, the king, having a great inclination for Buddhism, sided with the
former. The Buddhist party now, with the king’s connivance, entered into a
conspiracy against the life of Mashan the prime-minister. They bribed the
soothsayers and astrologers to declare that some great calamity was imminent
over the king which could be only averted by two of the high officers of State
entering grave-like cells and remaining there for a period of three months.
The king, therefore, offered large presents to those who would undergo this
41 The Tibetans celebrate the aniversary of their birth.
226
Sarat Chandra Das — Contributions on Tibet.
[No. 3,
self-sacrifice. The minister Mashan volunteered to do so, and was followed
by Gos the Buddhist minister. They both entered the cell, the depth of
which was three times a man’s length. At midnight, Gos’s friends threw a
rope into the grave, by means of which he climbed up and escaped. The
unfortunate Mashan was left alone there, to realize the horrors of the
grave. His mortal enemies, the “ Buddhist Ministers”, blocked the mouth
of the grave with a huge rock and buried him alive. As soon as the king
came of age, he invited the Indian Sage S'anta Bakshita and Pandit Padma
Sambhava from Udyayana to fill the whole country of Tibet with the blessings
of the Buddhist religion. They suppressed the eight kinds of demons, nymphs,
and evil spirits. With the munificent assistance of the king, Padma Sam¬
bhava founded the great monastery of Samye (Z>Samyes). They also
translated many works on Sutra (or aphorisms) and Tantra. They con¬
structed innumerable {religious symbols, such as images of Buddhas and
saints and chhortens (chaitya), and concealed many sacred treasures
for the benefit of future generations. During the reign of this king
a Chinese sage named Hwashah Mahayana arrived in Tibet and, by
interpreting in a strange way the theories of Buddhism, converted the
ignorant classes of men to his tenets. The king, harbouring great doubts
as to the correctness of Hwashan’s theories, invited Pandit Kamala-
sila from India to expose his fallacies. Kamalasila held long controversies
with Hwashah and in the end defeated him. The king put down the
Bon religion and persecuted all unbelievers in Buddhism. He enforced
clerical laws and instituted codes of civil and criminal justice for the
good government of his people. His statutes were written on large tablets
and proclaimed all over the country. He had several wives, among whom
Tshe-poh-Ssah was his favourite, by whom he had three sons. After a
prosperous reign of 46 years, at the age of 59, he passed away from the
abodes of men. He left three sons, of whom the eldest Muni-tsanpo
succeeded him on the throne.
During the infancy of Muni-tsanpo the state affairs were conducted
in his name by his pious ministers. He commenced his independent reign
with a generous determination of raising all his subjects to the same level.
He ruled that there should be no distinction between poor and rich, humble
and great. He compelled the wealthy to share their riches with the indigent
and helpless, and to make them their equal in all the comforts and conditions
of life. Thrice he tried this exj)eriment, but every time he found that the poor
»eturned to their former condition ; the rich becoming richer still, and the
poor, by growing more indolent and wretched, turning poorer still. The
Pandits and Lochava attributed this curious phenomenon to the consequence
of the good and evil acts of their former births. For the enlightened and
humane beginning of his reign Muni-tsanpo was greatly loved by his people.
1881.]
Sarat Chandra Das — Contributions on Tibet.
227
He made large offerings to the great monastery of Samye and distributed alms
to the indigent and helpless. But before a year and nine months had passed
after this demonstration of devotion to the monastery, the promising king
was poisoned by his mother, who perpetrated this foul act to place her
youngest son on the throne. The second son Murug-tsanpo’s accession to
the throne being considered inauspicious by the astrologers and soothsayers,
the youngest son Mutig-tsanpo, a boy eight or nine years old, received the
crown. He is said to have miraculously received his lesson in sacred literature
from the venerable Padma Sambhava He ordered translations to be made from
Sanskrit books of Buddhism, and built the temple of Dorje Vyin at Gyal-de-
kar-chun. After a long and prosperous reign, in which he strenuously
exerted himself to promote the welfare and happiness of his people, he died
at a good old age, leaving five sons, viz., Tsaii-ma, Lha-je, Lhun-dub, Lafi-
darma and Ralpachan. The first two of these seem to have reigned, if they
reigned at all, for a few years, having fallen victims to the intrigues of the
Buddhist ministers. The youngest Ralpaclian, even from his childhood,
gave excellent proofs of his intelligence and ability. His assiduity and
aptitude for learning were very great. At the age of eighteen, he was
raised to the throne by the Buddhist ministers of State who were very
powerful, the opposition being nearly extinct through the continued and
rigorous persecution of the late kings.
CHAPTER IV.
Ralpachan. 846-00 A. D.
This celebrated sovereign was born between 816 and 860 A. D. Imme¬
diately after his accession he sent offerings to the different temples built
by his ancestors. He built a new nine-storeyed temple, of which the three
lower storeys were of stone, the three middle of brick, and the topmost
three of wood. In the upper floors he kept Buddhist scriptures, images,
and model ehhorten (shrines). In the middle floors he accommodated
the Pandits and translators of the holy writs, and the ground floors he
reserved for the use of his court and state affairs. Although his ancestors
had obtained many translations of Sanskrit works, yet not satisfied
with them, he obtained fresh manuscripts from Magadha, Ujjayani, Nepal
and China. Some of the ancient Sanskrit works being irregularly and
inaccurately translated into the Tibetan language, which was still very
imperfect, he invited the Indian professors of Sanskrit, such as Jina Mitra,
S'urendra Bodhi, S'ilendra Bodhi, Dana Sila and Bodhi Mitra to conduct the
great work of translation. These great scholars, with the assistance of the
Tibetan professors, named Ratna Rakshita, Manjusri-Varma, Dharma-
228
Sarat Chandra Das — Contributions on Tibet.
[No. 3,
Rakshita, Jina Sena, Ratnendra Slla, Jaya-Rakshita, Kawapal-tseg (Ka-
varfpal &tsegs), Chodo*gyal-tshan (Chogro rGyal-wtshan) and others, revised
the anciently translated books, translated fresh manuscripts, finished those
that were left unfinished, and simplified the abstruse and intricate portions
of the Scriptures.
Ralpachan introduced standard weights and measures similar to those
used in China, and thereby prevented fraudulent practices in com¬
mercial dealings. He enforced the canonical regulation of India for
the discipline and guidance of the clergy, and commanded his lay people
to follow the statutes as promulgated by his illustrious predecessors.
Thinking that the propagation of religion depended much upon the pre¬
dominance of the clergy, he organized many classes of priesthood. To each
monk he assigned a small revenue derived from five tenants. His devotion
to the priestly congregation was so great that he offered his own Ralpa or
flowing locks to be turned into carpet-seats for the use of the Lamas. During
the reign of this great monarch, there arose a dispute between Tibet and
China. Ralpachan sent a powerful army to invade China. Province after
province of the celestial empire fell before his victorious arms and was
annexed to Tibet. When the generals and champions of the contending
nations had been slain in great numbers, the Hwashan42 and Lopan43
interceded to put a stop to further bloodshed between the two monarchs,
who were related to each other by ties of blood as uncle and nephew.
A treaty was agreed upon. At a place called Gungu-Meru the boundary
of the two kingdoms was fixed, and stone obelisks and pillars were
erected as boundary pillars, on which the terms of treaty between the
belligerents were inscribed. It was agreed that the armies of neither
kingdom should ever cross the boundaries marked, nor on any pretext
encroach on each others territories. All differences being settled, the
nephew and the uncle became friends. They also solemnly promised
not to violate the conditions of the treaty. As living testimonies to
their engagements, inscriptions were written on Dorin, or high stone
obelisks, erected at Lhasa, at the palace of Gya-Gyal and at Gun¬
gu-Meru. From this time, perfect amity existed between the two nations,
China and Tibet, on earth, says Debther-nonpo, as between the sun and
moon in heaven. King Ralpachan’s reign was celebrated also for the good
administration of justice. He punished the wicked and rewarded the good.
He suppressed the powerful and protected the weak. But by attempting to
enforce the strict observance of the clerical and the kingly laws, he
gave umbrage to the corrupt and sinful ministers. When, unfortunately
for the king, their power increased by the death of a few pious Buddhist
42 The Buddhist monks of the first class in China are called Hwashan.
43 The Lochavas and Pandits of Tibet are by abbreviation called Lo-pan.
1881.]
Sarat Chandra Das — Contributions on Tibet.
229
ministers, two ruffians who had an old grudge against the king assassinated
him by twisting his face towards the back, at the instigation of his brother.
This was Lahdarma, whose claims to the throne were set aside by the “ pious ”
ministers, and who is said to have been at the bottom of this foul plot.
After the assassination of Ralpachan at the age of forty eight, between 908
and 914 A. D., Landarma ascended the throne. The celebrated historio¬
grapher Buton assigns this event to the first part of the ninth century, in
his chronology.
Landaema.
The last and perhaps the worst of the Tibetan monarchs, Landarma,
commenced his reign by persecuting the Buddhists whom he considered his
mortal enemies. He was joined in his wdcked plans of persecution by
his prime minister Batagna (sBas-stag-snas.) He reviled the first Chinese
Princess Hunshin-Kunju44 as an evil goblin (a yakshini) who had brought
the image of S'akya Muni into Tibet. “ It was for that inauspicious
image”, said he, “ that the Tibetan kings were short-lived, the country
infested with maladies, subjected to unusual hoar-frost and hail storms,
and often visited by famines and wars”. “When this image”, continued
he, “ was being brought from the top of Rirab (Sumeru mountain), the gods
were vanquished in a war with the demons. S'akya’s accession to power, first
in India and afterwards in China, made the people unhappy and poor, by the
demoralizing effect of his wicked teachings”. To slander Buddha in such
blasphemous language was his great delight, and in no discourse did he
indulge himself so much as in reviling that holiest of holies. To
avoid disgrace, the Pandits and Lochava fled from Tibet. Those who
failed to run away were robbed and oppressed. He obliged some of the monks
to be householders, others he sent to the hills to hunt wild animals for him.
He destroyed most of the Buddhist works. Some he threw into water, some
he burnt, and some he hid under rocks. Not satisfied with demolishing the
temples and monasteries of the country, he w7reaked vengeance even on the
sacred shrines of Akshobhya and S'akya. He tried to throw those two images
into water, but some of his “pious” ministers having represented to him the
difficulty of lifting those heavy things, he contented himself by sinking them
in sand. When he was told that the image of Maitreya was very sacred,
he broke into loud laughter. When he was just going to break dowm
Lhasa (the temple of S'akya), Rimochhe (temple of Akshobhya) and
Samye, he was told that the guardian demons of those places would
send plague and ruin upon him if he destroyed the temples. Being
afraid of exciting the wrath of those dreaded spirits, he spared their
charges, and contented himself with closing up their doors, by erecting mud
44 Wife of King Sron-tsan-Gampo.
230
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[No. 3,
walls. His ministers and flatterers, in order to please him, painted those
walls with abominable pictures illustrative of the drunken and lustful
moods of human depravity. When Landarma was thus engaged in over¬
throwing the sacred religion as well as its relics, the saint Lhalun-pal
Dorje, while sitting in deep contemplation in the cavern of Yarpa-lhari
mountain, saw a vision. The goddess Paldan Lhamo descending from
heaven appeared before him and exhorted him in the following terms :
“ Oh saint, in these days there are none so powerful as thou. Wouldst
thou deliver the country from the hands of that sinful tyrant Landarma ?”
In the morning the saint inquired of his servant the condition of Tibet,
upon which he was told the cruelties practised by Landarma. He then
mounted his white charger whose body he had besmeared with charcoal, and
dressing himself in a black robe with white lining, with no other weapons
than an arrow and a bow in his hands, he arrived at Lhasa.45 While the
king was reading the inscription on the stone obelisk called Dorin, the
saint, as he was making his salutations, shot an arrow at the king’s back,
which pierced right through his body ; then exclaiming, “ I am the demon
Ya-sher, and this is the way of killing a sinful king,” he sped away on his
horse. As soon as the king fell, his ministers and attendants cried, “ the
king is dead, the king is dead,” and the mob ran after the assassin, but the
saint, urging his fleet companion, shot oft like a meteor. In crossing
a river the coal-black colour of the horse was washed away, and it became
white as snow. He then turning his robe inside out so as to show the
white, flew as the god Nam-theo-Karpo and escaped, leaving his pursuers
far behind.
The king pulled the reeking arrow out with both his hands, and in
the agonies of death, when his proud heart was subdued with anguish, ex¬
claimed — “ Why was I not killed three years back that I might not have
committed so much sin and mischief, or three years hence, to enable me
to root out Buddhism from the country,” and died.
With Landarma ended the monarchy of Tibet founded by Nah
Thi tsanpo, and his descendents henceforth ceased to exercise universal
authority over the whole of Tibet. The sun of royalty was set, and there
rose numerous petty princes to shine with faded lustre in the pale realm
of snowy Tibet.
45 The sleeves of the assassin saint were unusually broad to make room for the how
and arrow. The king- stood encircled by his ministers when the saint arrived, dancing in
frantic jumps. They all ran to witness his curious dance. The king called to him to
come near. The saint approaching prostrated himself to salute the monarch. In the
first prostration he set the arrow and how right, in the second he fixed the arrow to
the how, and in the third killed the king with it. Hence the origin of the Lama
war dance and the use of broad-sleeved robes by the Tibetan Lamas.
1881.]
Sarat Chandra Das — Contributions on Tibet.
231
These seven
kings are
known by "j
the name of
JTam-thi.
I
r
These two are
known by
the name
of Ter hyi
din.
i
r
Genealogy of the Tibetan Monarchs.
(416 B. C.)
Lu-tsan-mer-cham.
The prime-minister usurped the throne
and reigned for a few years.
son son
Chya-thi-gyal or (9)
Pu-de-guh-gyal
married
Bom-thah-mah-nah.
S' F
232
Sarat Chandra Das — Contributions on Tibet.
[No. 3,
These six kings
are called
Sai leg mean-
ing the “ ex¬
cellent of
the land.”
V.
These are well
known by
the surname
of I)e which
means the ^
“ commander”
and corre¬
sponds to
the Sanskrit
word jSena.
Lu-man-mer-mo.
Ni-tsun-man-ma-je.
1881.]
Sarafc Chandra Das — Contributions on Tibet.
These are
called the
Tsctn mean¬
ing “king.”
l
married
Tsha-pon-ssah-Bri-thon-kar.
SRON-TSAN-GA MPO (617 A. D.) (33)
married four wives.
(1) Nepalese (2) Chinese (3) Tibetan princess (4) Princess of Rm
princess princess of Mon named yon in Tibet.
Pal-ssah-thi. Hun -shin Ssah-thi-cham.
Kun-ju. | Man-sron-man-tsan (35)
Gun-ri-gun-tsan (34) married
married Po-ssah-thi-bo.
Je-thi-kar.
l
Dus-sron-nam-thul
married
Chhimssah-tsan-mo.
(36)
234
Sarat Chandra Das — Contributions on Tibet.
[No. 3,
Me-A'g-tshom
married three wives.
(37)
(1) Janmo-thi-tsun
i
Jantsha Lha-pon.
(2) Nam-nah. (3) Ky i m sh an - K un -j u , daughter
of the Emperor of China.
l „
THI-SBON-DE-TSAN (38)
married
Tshe-pon-ssah.
Muni-tsanpo
reigned for 1 year
and a few months
after which he was
poisoned by his
mother.
Murng-tsan po Mutig- tssm-po (39)
set aside. wife’s name not known
(had five sons.)
Tsais -ma. Lha-Je. Llmn-dub.
Landarma RAL-PA-CHAN (40)
became king reigned up to 908
between 908
and914 A.D.,
reigned three
years, after
which he was
assassinated
by Lama
Lha-lun-pal
dorje.
— 914 A. D. till
assassinated by
Landarma’s men.
1st wife
2nd wife.
Thi-de Yum -ten.
Nam-de-Hod-sruiY
1881.]
Sarat Chandra Das — Contributions on Tibet.
235
PART II.
Tibet in the Middle Ages.
Chapter I.
A. D. 917 to 1270.
The wicked Landarma had two wives, the elder of whom, perceiv¬
ing that her partner was in the family-way, shammed herself to be
pregnant. At the time of the younger’s delivery which took place at
dusk, she clandestinely tried to kill, if possible, or steal away the new
born child, but failed in her wicked design on account of the presence
of a lamp light. The child was therefore given the name of Nam-de
Hod Srun46 or “ one protected by light.” The elder queen, to retrieve her
failure, out of revenge, bought a beggar’s child to whom she declared
she had given birth on the previous evening. The Minister really won¬
dered how she could have only yesterday, as she said, given birth to a
child which had its teeth fully grown. But fearing to contradict the words
of its mother, they gave it the name Thi-de Yumten47 or “ one upheld by
his mother.”
During the interregnum, the Buddhist Ministers directed the affairs of
the state. They endeavoured to revive all the religious institutions that
were nearly extinct. They reinstated the images in their former places
and rebuilt the demolished monasteries and temples. Notwithstanding
their feeble efforts to rebuild the edifice that had been ruthlessly pulled
down by Landarma, Buddhism did not reach its former condition within
seventy years from the death of Ralpachan. As soon as they came of
age, the two sons of Landarma, quarrelled with each other for the
possession of the throne. At last they divided the kingdom into two
parts. Hodsrun took possession of Western Tibet, and Yumten48 of the
46
47
48 The following is the genealogical succession from Yumten —
Yum -ten
I
Khri -die mgonp o
I
mGonpo-snen
i ; ' i 1
Rig-pa mgonpo Ni-Hod pal-mgon
I ’ I
Khri-/de-po ««Gon rpyo^
.1 I
Khri hod-po Tsha-nal Yese gyal-tshan
and so on.
A-tsa-ra
;«Gonpo-£tsan
mGonpo-ftseg.
236
Sarat Chandra Das — Contributions on Tibet.
[No 3,
Eastern Provinces. This unfortunate partition gave rise to incessant
quarrels and disturbances, both the . brothers constantly engaging in wars
against each other.
Thus after the partition of the kingdom of Tibet, the descend¬
ants of Nah thi-tsanpo ceased to exercise universal sway over the
country. They became weak and imbecile, in consequence of which they
fell in the opinion and esteem of their subjects. Hodsrun died at the
age of 63 (9S0 A. D.) His son PalKhor-tsan49, after reigning thirteen years,
died at the age of 31 (993 A. D.). He left two sons, viz., Thi Tasi
Tsegpa-pal and Thi Kyi-de Nimagon. The latter went to Nah-ri,
of which he made himself master and founded the capital Puran
and built the fortress of Ni-Ssun. He left three sons of whom
the eldest Pal-gyi Derigpa-gon declared himself king of Man-yul ; the
second Tasi De-gon seized Puran ; and the youngest, named De-tsug-gon,
became king of the province of Shah -shun (modern Guge). Detsug-gon
left two sons, viz., Khor-re and Sron-ne. The elder became a monk and
changed his name to Yese-hod.
Tasi tsegpa,50 who succeeded to the throne of his father, had three
sons, Pal-de, Hod-de, and Kyi-de.
This point of time is marked in the Tibetan History by the revival of
Buddhism. Since the suppression of that religion by Landarma, no Indian
Pandit had visited Tibet. After a long interval the learned Nepalese
interpreter, called in Tibetan Leru-tse, invited the Pandits Thala-rinwa
and Smriti to Tibet, but unfortunately after his death, which happened soon
afterwards, his friends had to pass many years in privation Us vagabonds in a
foreign land. People took no heed of them. Smriti, in order to sustain life,
betook himself to the occupation of a shepherd at Tanag. Afterwards becom¬
ing acquainted with the Tibetan language, he made his talents known. He
visited Kham and conversed with the learned men of that place. He
wrote a vocabulary of the Tibetan language which he called the “ weapon of
speech”. The revival of Buddhism in Tibet dates from 1013 A. D. The
royal monk Yese-hod51 invited the celebrated Indian Pandit Dharmapala
from Magadha, who arrived at his capital accompanied by three pupils, all of
whom bore the surname of Pala. With their assistance the king en¬
couraged the teaching of religion, arts, and especially vinaya.
Lhade, the son of Khor-re invited Pandit Subhuti STisanti who
translated for him the whole of S'erchin.53 He appointed the illustrious
49
5°
61 i. e., Khor-re, the son of King Detsuggon.
52 Prajna-paramita.
1881.]
Sarat Chandra Das — Contributions on Tibet.
237
translator Rinchhen Ssanpo as his chief priest. He left three sons, viz.,
Hod-de, Shi-va-hod, and Chyan Chhub-hod. The last acquired great pro¬
ficiency both in Buddhism and in heretical philosophies, and was very much
attached to the great translator. He became an illustrious personage in
Tibet. Being greatly interested in the restoration of Buddhism to its
former glory, he thought it urgently necessary to invite an eminent
Indian Pandit who should be profoundly versed in all tlie S'astras and particu¬
larly qualified in the three branches of Buddhism, viz., theory, meditation, and
practice of rites and observances, besides possessing a thorough acquaintance
with the five Buddhist learnings. Pie sent emissaries to India to see if such
a man was to be found in i^ryavarta. Being informed by some of his
ministers of the great fame of Lord Atisa, the king became anxious to
invite him into Tibet. Accordingly he equipped an expedition under the
leadership of Nagtsho Lochava. Pie sent large quantities of gold and other
valuable presents for this celebrated Pandit, in charge of his envoys. The
party safely reached their destination, the city of Vikrama S'ila, then
the head-quarter of Buddhism in Aryavarta, where they obtained an
audience with the ruling king called in Tibetan Gya-Tsomsenge. After
prostrating themselves, they laid their master’s presents before Lord Atisa,
and related to him the history of the rise, progress and downfall of
Buddhism in their mother country, and its recent revival therein. Under
such circumstances, they represented, the cause of Dharma could not
he promoted by any other Pandit than himself. They exhorted him
to accept the invitation. The Lochavas became his pupils and waited
upon him as his servants. At last after a long and careful consideration
Atisa consented. Having consulted his tutelary deities, and the divine
mother Tara, and believing that if he went to Tibet, he would render
valuable service for the diffusion of Buddhism, more particularly because
it was predicted of him that he would be of great service to a certain
great Upasaka.53 Although the journey would be beset with dangers to his
life, yet the aim of that life being devotion to the cause of religion and the
welfare of living beings, he quitted his monastery Vikrama S'ila, for Tibet,
in the year 1012 A. D. at the age of 59. Arrived in Nah-ri he took
his residence in the great Lamasery of Tho-ding. He instructed the
king in aphorisims and tantras. Then gradually he visited U and
Tsan where he turned the wheel of Dharma (preached religion). He
wrote many useful S'astras, such as Lam Don “the lamp of
the true way.” He died at the age of 73, in 1055 A. D. During the reign
of Tse-de, the son of Plod-de, he assembled all the Lamas and monks of
53 This was the celebrated Brom-tan-Gyalwai Junne, who succeeded Atisa in the
Pontifical chair of Tibet.
238
Sarat Chandra Das — Contributions on Tibet.
[No. 3,
17, Tsan and Kham, and introduced, at a grand convocation, the method
of calculating time by the system of cycles of GO years, called Ilab-Jun,
obtained from S'ambhala, a province in Northern India. He exhorted
them to maintain the honour of Buddhism. During this period many
learned translators, such as Ssan Kaar Lochava, Iiva Lochava, Nan
Lochava, Lodan S'erab, &c. were engaged in translating Sanskrit works
(1205 A. D.). The sage Marpa, Mila Gonpo, and the famous Pandit
S'akya STi of Kashmir, besides many other Indian Pandits w7ho furthered
the cause of Buddhism, belong to the following century. In the reign
of Tagpa-de, the ninth in descent from Tse-de,54 was constructed an image
of Maitreya Buddha, which cost him 12000 Dot-shad or a million and a
half of rupees. He also prepared an image of Manju Shu with seven
“ bre”55 of gold dust. His son Asode was a greater devotee than himself.
He annually sent offerings aud presents to the Vajrasana at Buddha
Gaya (Dorje-dan), which was continued even after his death. His
grandson Ananmal prepared a complete set of the Kahgyur, written
on golden tablets. Ananmal’s son put the golden dome over the great
temple of Buddha at Lhasa and constructed the image of the god at
an immense cost. Ananmal’s great-grandson was initiated into Buddhism
by the Sakyapa Lamas and subsequently became king A relation of the
last king of this dynasty, named So-nam de (Z>Sod-nams Zde), accepted an
invitation to become king, and under the title of Punya-mal held the
government of Purah.
O
The descendants of Palde (son of Tasi tseg pa) made themselves
masters of Gun-than, Lugyalwa, Chyipa, Lha-tse, Lan-Jun and Tsakor,
where they severally ruled as petty chiefs. The descendants of Ivyi-de
spread themselves over the Mu, Jan, Tanag, Ya-ru-lag and Gyal-tse
54 The following- is the genealogical succession from Tse-de.
1881.]
Sarat Chandra Das — Contributions on Tibet.
289
districts, where they ruled as petty princes over their respective possessions.
Hod-de left four sons, viz., Phab-de-se, Thi-de, Thi-chhun56 and Nag-pa.
The first and fourth became masters of Tsan-ron, the second son took
possession of Amdo and Tsohkha, the third son Thi-chhun became king of
U and removed the capital to Yar-lun. The fifth descendant of Thi-
chhun, named Jovo Nal-Jor, patronized the Lamas Chyen-na rinpochhe
and Pal Phagmo Du-pa. The seventh descendant S'akya-gon was a great
patron of the celebrated Sakya Pandita. The ninth descendant, named
Tag-pa rinpochhe, accompanied the illustrious Phagpa on his visit to the
Emperor of China and obtained Imperial patents. He built the palace
of Tag-khai-Phodan, and was well known for his veneration of the Bud¬
dhist congregation. He was succeeded by his son S'akya Gonpo II., who
was a friend of Leg-gyal-tshan, another eminent translator of Sanskrit
books. He added another monastery to the Yumbu-Lagan palace.
Tibet as a Dependency of Mongolia and China.
All the descendants of Thi-chhun with few exceptions were weak
sovereigns. As soon as the great and mighty warrior Chhengis Khan
came, the whole of Tibet without much resistance succumbed to his power
in the beginning of the 13th century. The different chieftains and petty
princes became his abject vassals. Jengis Khan, variously called Chhengis
Khan, Jengir-gyalpo or Thai-Dsun, was the son of a well-known Khalkha
prince named Ye-phorga Bahdur, by his wife, the princess Hulan or Khulan.
He was born according to Tibetan chronology in 1182 A. D. At the age of
66 The following is a genealogical table of Thi-Chhuh (Khri Chhun) :
Khri chhun
Hod-skyid-Abar
I
yYum-chan and 6 sons
I
Jo-Agah
I
Darma and others
I
Jovo-mal-Abyor
I
Jovo-Abag
I
S'akya-mgon
I
S'akya SKrasis
i
Grags-pa-rinpochhe had four sons
I
S'akya-mgonpo II.
I
r J e-sakya-Rinchhen.
G G
Sarat Chandra Das — Contributions on Tibet.
[No. 3,
thirty-eight he ascended the throne of his ancestors, and during a warlike
career unparalleled in history, which extended over twenty-three years,
he conquered almost the whole of Asia, viz., India, China and Tibet, &c.,
He died in the Gist year of his age, in the arms of his queen, leaving
many sons, among whom Gogan was the most powerful, being the ruler
of the eastern portion of his dominions. Gogan’s two sons Godan and
Goyugan invited Sakya Pandita to their court. From that event the
abbots of Sakya monastery date a new era in the politics of Tibet, as well
as in the religious belief of the blood-thirsty Mongols.
CHAPTER II.
Sakya Hierarchy,57 1270 — 1340 A. D.
The great IChublai,58 first Mongol Emperor of China, invited to his
court Sakya Pandita’s nephew Phagpa Lodoi Gyaltshan, who accordingly
visited China in the 19th year of his age. On the first visit, the Emperor
presented him with gold patents and seals, jewellery of gold and pearls, a
crown studded with precious stones, an embroidered umbrella with a gold
handle, a banner of cloth of gold, besides other presents in gold and silver
ingots. Phagpa was appointed the Emperor’s spiritual guide to teach
him the truths of Buddhism. The Emperor, in return for his services,
presented him with the possession of (1) Tibet proper, comprising the
thirteen districts of IT and Tsan, (2) Kham and (3) Amdo. From this
time the Sakyapa Lamas became the universal rulers of Tibet. The
illustrious Phagpa now became well-known by the jiame of Do-gon
Phagpa. After a residence of twelve years in China with the Emperor, he
returned to Sakya.
During his residence at Sakya, which extended over three years, he
prepared fresh copies of the Kahgyur and Tangyur, all of which by his
57 Genealogical table of the Sakyapa regents.
58 Ivhublai means the incarnate or one of miraculous birth.
1881.]
Sarat Chandra Das — Contributions on Tibet.
241
order, 'were written in gold. By extorting subscription from all his sub¬
jects of the thirteen districts,59 he erected a lofty temple at Sakya.
He also constructed a gigantic gold image of Buddha, a high chhorten
of solid gold, and innumerable images of other materials, and distributed
alms and food to one hundred thousand monks. At the invitation
of the Emperor, he re-visited China. This time, too, he won the
esteem of the Emperor, who loaded him with presents, honours and
titles. He was decorated with the proud title of “ Tisri.” On his
return he brought 300 Bre of gold, 3000 of silver, 12,000 satin robes
and many other precious articles, such as imperial bounty could shower
on him. Of all the Sakyapa Lamas, this was undoubtedly the most
illustrious and fortunate. Under his successors, who for many years
ruled the country, owing to the imbecility of the regents, the prosperity
of the people was greatly impeded, chiefs and nobles fighting and
quarrelling with each other. The Sakyapa hierarchs were mostly puppets
in the hands of the regents. Among these regents very few deserve
notice, and they all frequently embroiled the country in feuds, and
themselves in war with each other. Quarrelling, not to speak of insubor¬
dination, was the order of the day. Conspiracy, assassination and murder
were rampant everywhere.
The fourth regent named Chyan-rin-kyopa obtained a patent from
the Emperor of China, soon after which he was assassinated by his servant.
The administrations of two of his successors were rendered memorable
by the revision of the laws of the country. Anlen, the eighth regent built
the outer walls of the Sakya monastery. He also built two monasteries called
Khan-sar-lin and Ponpoi-ri, the latter situated on a mountain of the same
name. During the Sakyapa supremacy the Di-gun (ABri-gun) monastery
became very powerful, both in spiritual and temporal matters. It was
patronised by the districts of Shin-chyar, Dvag, and Konpo, and contained
18,000 monks. There exist in it the biographies of its abbots and many
historical records connected with its former splendour and power. During
the great dispute between it and its jealous sister the Sakya monastery, the
regent Anlen sent all his troops to plunder it and burn it down. When the
monastery was set on fire, many of the monks escaped ; some, it is said,
59
1.
2
3.
4.
5.
6.
:}
The following* are the 13 districts of Tibet proper
North and South Lato (Losto^).
Grurmo (pronounced Kurmo)
<4-1
O
Chhumig
Shah
Shalu
I ~o<a
r rf «2
-SH
CO
1. Gyama
2. Digun
3. Tshal-pa
4. Than-po-chhe-va
5. Phag-du
6. Yah San.
Q
co
-4— >
o
y s p
i -> 1
CO
♦ r—4
CD
The 13th district is that of Yarn Dag containing Ya-dotsho or the Yam-
do-chho between U/ and Tsan.
212
Sarat Chandra Das — Contributions on Tibet
[No. 3,
miraculously tied towards heaven, while those who failed to run away were
scorched and burnt. Owing to this great calamity, the monastery was
reduced to a deplorable condition, but after a few years it was restored to
prosperity. During its quarrel with the Gelugpa sect, it was again humbled.
Its present condition is the same as that of the Sakya monastery. Anlen
died on his return journey towards Sakya. Wan-tsun, the last of the
regents, was involved in a quarrel with his prime minister of the family
of Phag-du-pa, the most powerful chief of that age. In the war, Phag-
du was victorious. Thus the power of the Sakya hierarchs became extinct
after 70 years’ reign only.
CHAPTER III.
Second Monarchy 1840 — 1635 A. D.
Tibet a Dependency of China .
As the power of Sakya waned, the power of her rivals Di-gun, Phag-dub
and Tshal increased. They gradually became most powerful. In the year
1302 A. D., the famous Ta-gri named Chyah-chhub-Gyaltshan, well-
known by his other name of Phag-mo-du, was born in the town of
Phagmo-du,60 After subjugating all the thirteen districts of Tibet proper
and Kham he established his dominion over Tibet. When only three
years of age, he learnt to read and write. At six, he was instructed in
religious books by Chho-kyi tohchan Lama. At seven, he took the vows
of an Upasaka from Lama Chyan Na. At the age of fourteen he visited
the Sakya monastery where he obtained an interview with the grand
Lama, Dag-chhen Pinpochhe, which he effected by presenting a handsome
pony. He stayed at Sakya for some time. Once when the grand
Lama was sitting at dinner, he called Phag-mo-du to his presence and gave
him a gold dish full of food, and assured him that by the grace of the
gift he should one day become a great man. At the age of seventeen he
passed his examination in letters. At the age of eighteen he was ap-
60 He was the son of Rin-chhen-skyahs, the chief of Phag-mo-du and Khri-
smon-ABum-skyi^. The following is the genealogical succession of his dynasty :
1881.]
Sarat Chandra Das — Contributions on Tibet .
243
pointed to the command of 10,000 soldiers by patents from the Emperor
of China, and entrusted with a seal for his own use ; this sudden elevation
of Phagmo-du excited the jealousy and enmity of the chiefs of Di-gun,
Tslial, Yah-Sah and Sakya, who spared no pains in devising means to
ruin him. At last they drove him to war. In the first battle lie met
with some reverses, but was victorious in the second. The war lasted
for many years, when ultimately victory attended the arms of Phagmo-du,
who captured almost all the hostile chiefs and threw them into prison.
After this great defeat, the chiefs, nobles and Lamas of U' and Tsah,
jointly petitioned the Imperial Court of Pekin to degrade the
upstart. They represented that Phagmo-du treated with violence the
chiefs and generals of Tibet and especially the Sakyapa authorities
whom he had thrown into prison. Phagmo-du, presenting the skin of a
white lion, besides other rich and rare presents, to the famous Tho-gan-
thu-mer, then Emperor of China, represented the circumstances connected
with the case. Pleased with his sincere statements, the Emperor decided
in his favour and furnished him with renewed patents and seals and be¬
stowed on him, to be enjoyed as hereditary possessions, the province of U',
leaving Tsah to the Sakyapas.
After his return to Tibet, he organized a regular form of government.
He reformed the legislation, and revised the ancient laws and regulations.
He revised the canons and the ancient laws of kings Sron-tsan Gampo and
Thi-sron, which had been discarded by the Sakyapa rulers. He built a castle
on Nedon-tse hill and a large fortress with three gates to the ram¬
parts. He refused admission to women to its interior. He himself
practised abstinence by refraining from the use of wine and the habit of
taking afternoon-meals, as prescribed in the Vinaya class of scriptures.
He endeavoured to observe the ten virtues mentioned in the sacred books.
By his exemplary morals and piety, and above all by his beneficial rule,
he won the sincere esteem of his subjects. Pie founded the monastery of
Tse-thaii, and admitted a large number of priests into it. He prepared
a copy of the Kahgyur in gold characters. He built thirteen forts such as
Gonkar, Bragkar, &c. During the supremacy of Phagmo-du, the Sakyapa
authorities and chiefs, on account of their imbecility and internal dissen¬
sions ceased to exercise authority over their subjects. They were also
sunk in debt, and during their rule, they had debased the ancient laws of
Tibet by an admixture of Chinese and Mongolian laws. It was by these
injudicious proceedings that they created dissatisfaction among the people
and forfeited the confidence of their subjects. Phagmo-du having re¬
presented all these various acts of imbecility to the Court of Pekin, the
Emperor permitted him to annex the remaining parts of Tibet and Kham to
his possessions, in order by his rule to increase the happiness and prosperity of
244
Sarat Chandra Das — Contributions on Tibet .
[No. 3,
the people. This monarch is famous under the title of King Situ. He now
became the undisputed master of the whole of Tibet. He made ten
million cast images. The fourth in descent from Phagmo-du was S'akya
Kinchhen, who became a favourite minister of the Emperor Tho-gan-thu-
mer by whom he was entrusted at first with guarding the palace and
afterwards with the collection of revenue from one of the great pro¬
vinces of China. S'akya Kinchhen, instead of showing his gratefulness,
took part in a conspiracy, matured by the Chinese Prime-minister, to kill
the Emperor. He sent many wagons, loaded with armed soldiers concealed
under decorations of silk clothes and silver and gold. By this means many
soldiers entered into the imperial palace. When the Emperor discovered
the plot, he fled towards Mongolia by the back-door of the palace. The
Prime-minister usurped the throne, from which date China passed into the
hands of a native dynasty.
Thus the house founded by the illustrious Ivhublai ceased to bear
sway in China. The throne passed to the traitor Kyen-Hun, whose son
Yuh Min was proclaimed Emperor. Mih presented Tagpa Gyaltshan,
son of S'akya Kinchhen, with gold and crystal seals, and the additional
possessions of Kham and Amdo, and several suits of kingly robes. He was
made the undisputed sovereign of all Tibet which now extended from
Nah-ri-kor-sum to the western boundary of Kham.
Tagpa-Gfyal-tshan was succeeded by his son Van-jun-ne who was recog¬
nised by the Emperor Kyen-thai Li-Wah. He prepared a complete set of
the Kahgyur written on gold tablets. Tagpa-Gfyal-tshan was a great friend
of the great reformer Tsohkhapa whom he assisted with great liberality and
zeal. He prepared two sets of the Ivhagyur in gold, one in an alloy of gold
and silver, and three written in ink. He also prepared 1,00,000 copies of
Dharanis. For years he supported 1,00,000 monks at his own cost. He
built the fortresses of Idu-yug lin and Karjon. His grandson Kin-Dorje
obtained the title of Wan (king) from China. Nan- Wan Tasi was a very
impartial and just king He shewed great veneration for the Dalai Lama
Sonam G3Tatsho whom he greatly patronized. The celebrated Bhutan
Dharma Baja named Padma Karpo was also his friend. He himself was
well versed in Buddhist literature, and impartially respected all classes
and religions, and built chaityas in Lhasa and other places. He several
times fought with his rebel minister Kin-chhen Punpa and was every
time successful. He was adorned with the title of Kwadin-kau-srih, by
the Emperor of China.
Thus during the reign of the Phagmo-du dynasty all Tibet enjoyed
peace and prosperity. People became rich in money and cattle. The coun¬
try enjoyed immunity from famine and plague, and was not harrassed
by foreign invasion, being under the protection of China, and more parti-
Sarat Chandra Das — Contributions on Tibet.
245
1881. [
cularly under the benign rule of the kings of this dynasty. Although
some petty fights and quarrels with the disaffected and rapacious ministers
now and then disturbed the peace of the kingdom, yet on the whole
the dynasty was most beneficial to Tibet. From the time of Namber-
Gyal-van’s reign, the chiefs and nobles of IF and Tsan constantly waged
war with each other, in consequence of which the po\ver of the king waned,
to a great extent. At this critical time the king of Tsan became very
powerful and by taking advantage of the reigning king’s weakness gradually
became de facto sovereign of Tibet. He brought the whole of IF and
Tsan under his dominion. Thus when fortune was about to turn
towards the proud king of Tsan, suddenly the Mongolian warrior Gusri
Ivhan invaded Tibet and speedily completed its conquest. Gusri Khan
presented the fifth Dalai Lama with the monarchy of all Tibet. From that
event, in the year 1645 A. D., dates the Dalai Lama’s supremacy.
CHAPTER IY.
Ministers and powerful nobles oe Tibet.
I. The Family of Rinchhen-puh-pa.
Nah-Thi-fsanpo, the first king of Tibet, chose for his minister one
of the most powerful and intelligent Tibetan chiefs, whom, owing to his
imperfect knowledge of the Tibetan language, he used to call Khye-hu
(or the little man). He was afterwards called by his proper name of
Gerpal-leg-po. He had three sons, viz., Chhyi Ger, Nan-Ger and Dub-thob-
Ger. The twenty-seventh descendant of Naii-Ger, named Ralpa Ssin,
obtained seven boat-loads of turquoises from Gruguiyul.
The famous Thon-mi Sambhota was a descendant of Chhyi-Ger.
Among the descendants of Dub-thob-Ger, many illustrious ministers were
born: Gar, the celebrated prime-minister of king Sron-tsan-Gampo,
Go, Shan-shi, Da gyal-tshan, &c.s the ministers of Thi-sron-deu-tsan
were among them. The great saint Vairo-tsana was descended from
Dub-thob-Ger. Mashan and other enemies of Buddhism also belonged
O
to his family. One of the descendants of Dub-thob-Ger became prime-
minister of King Tagpa-Gyaltshan of the dynasty of Phagmodu. He
obtained the Jonponship of Rinclihen Pun, the generalship of Chhumig,
and afterwards became the highest official under the Sakyapa authorities.
His son and grandson Norpu Ssanpo succeeded him in his dignities.
The latter became the commander of the army and headed many of the
chieftains of Tibet. He founded the monastery of Ron-Tsham-chhen
and became the chief patron of the first Dalai LamaGedunDub. He left
five sons the eldest of whom became the prime-minister of Wan Tagpo
junne, and succeeded to his father’s dignities, favoured the Sakyapa
24G Sarat Chandra Das — Contributions on Tibet. [No 3,
school, and founded the monastery of Thub-tan Nam-gyal at Tanag.
He was succeeded by his son Don-yo-ge.
Don-yo being entrusted with the command of the army recovered
the towns of Bragkar, Chhu-shul and Lhunpo-tse from the hands of Nelva.
He favoured the Karmapa sect of the ancient school of Buddhists, in
furtherance of whose cause he founded the Yanpa Chan monastery. He
sent an army to subjugate Kyid-shod, but it was repulsed by the
Gah-dan forces which came to assist the aggrieved party. His son Nag-
A
Wan namgyal became the prime-minister to King Pal Nag Wanpo and
was a great warrior and scholar. He incurred the displeasure of the king
by having tried to employ the army under his command to take possession
of E' Nal, in consequence of which he lost his possessions in IT. He,
however, retrieved this loss by fresh acquisitions in another quarter, for
Sengetse, Lato, Lho and other places, came under him. He patronized the
monastic institutions of Tsan. He left three sons, of whom the second,
called Ton Dub Dorje, succeeded him in his dignities and possessions.
This young chief was also a valiant warrior. He obtained possession of
Lhun Dub-tse-Jon and founded the monastery of Ssan-rablin. He
became acquainted with the dogma of the Dsogchhenpa class of the
Ninma school. The youngest Nag-WanJig-Grag also became a very
learned man and wrote many works such as a history of Tartar kings,
a Romance of S'ambhala, and many other poetical narrations. His son
Da-Ssanpo inherited his property and dignities. In his old age, many
of his subject chiefs having deserted him, he became poor.
II. The House of Shon-nu Ssahpo, the Tartar (Hor).
This family traces its origin to the royal races of the city of Sahore
in ancient India. Dharmasoka, king of Magadha, who was born of the family
of king Dasaratha, built one million chhortens, and performed other reli¬
gious acts showing his great piety. His son Jaya also received many
miraculous blessings from heaven by means of his prayers. One of his
illustrious descendants, named Indrabhuti, king of Sahore, became well versed
in the Tantras and ultimately attained sainthood.
His grandsons Dharma-raja, S'anta Rakshita, and granddaughter
Mandarava, were famous for their devotion to Buddhism. The second,
S'anta Rakshita, being profoundly read in five classes of Buddhist scriptures,
went over to the snowy country of Tibet to lay the foundation of Bud¬
dhism. Then Mandarava became a saintly fairy. She was the reputed
wife of Padma Sambhava. Dharmaraja succeeded to the throne of his
father. He left three sons, Dharmapala, S'akya-deva and Mahadeva.
During this period, king Thi-sron-deu-tsan, in order to found the monas¬
tery of Samye invited Padma-Sambhava from India. Arrived in Tibet the
1881.]
Sarat Chandra Das — Contributions on Tibet.
247
illustrious sage invoked the Nagas to guard the institution against attacks
from malignant spirits and malicious folk, but they having expressed their
inability to undertake such a serious charge, Padma Sambhava, sitting in
Yoga, invoked the prince of genii well-known by the name of Pehar. But
as the genius was reluctant to go over to Tibet having for master Dharma¬
pala,61 the king of Sahore, king Thi-sron Deu-tsan sent an Ambassador
with such presents as a turquoise image of Buddha, musk and crystal, to invite
them both to Tibet. After meeting with great hardships the party arrived
in India. King Darmapala accepted the Tibetan king’s proposal. King
Thi-sron-deu-tsan appointed him as his chief spiritual guide and minister,
and gave him large jagirs. The demon Pehar Gyalpo6^ was bound, by a
solemn oath to protect the Buddhism of Tibet. He was so vigilant and quick
a guard that he could detect and pursue a thief who, after stealing anything
as small as a needle from Samye, could fly eighteen times fleeter than an
eagle. Dharmapala married the fairy Pkoyoun-ssah by whom he got two
sons Pal Dorje and Rinchhen Dorje. The younger, turning a hermit,
visited India and died in the city of Sita miraculously. The elder married
a Tibetan lady by whom he got three sons Rinchhen-tagpa, Dorje-tagpa,
and Chho-kyi-tagpa. The youngest became a monk. The eldest Rinchhen
tagpa had a son of the name of Da-va-tagpa.63
61 This appears to be a legendary account of the famous Dharmapala of Magadha.
62 According to the majority of Tibetan Historians, Pehar was invited from the
AVestern country of Urgyen, which is identified with Gfazni and Balk.
63 Line of Einchhen tagpa : — ■
Da-va-Gragspa
I
Eigspa sengd (settled in Moiikhar)
n ’ r~ i
Sakya loGros Yontan-loGros Gragspa Yese
I i
Dorje Dulva Dorje Einchhen
j j
Dorje-bar-ma Dorje Gragspa
I .
TTor tasi hum
Shon nu Ssanpo Tasissanpo (name unknown)
Shon-nu-Gyaltshan Kundub-palssan (unknown) Wan chhug Einchhen
Paljor-ssan-po Sonampalde Sanyekyab Kunchhog
H H
248
Sarat Chandra Das — Contributions on Tibet.
[No. 3,
Da-va-tagpa’s eldest son Bigpa senge, settled in the Monkhar coun¬
try, and inherited his possessions and office. He became minister to the
reigning king. Shon-nu-ssanpo and Tasi-ssanpo were ministers of king Situ,
the founder of the Phagmodu dynasty of kings. The eldest was the general
who defeated the Sakyapa armies at the battle of Yarlun ; in consequence
of which Sakya, Tsan, Jan and Lhoman came under his master’s
possession. Paljor Ssanpo the last mentioned in the table, became Jonpon
of the town of Nan-SamDub-tse. He signalized himself in a war, and
was a great friend of the first Dalai Lama Gedun-dub.
Binchhen-tagpa, probably a son of Paljor Ssanpo, became chamberlain
to king Wantag-gyaltshan, a descendant of king Situ. His younger
brother became versed in Tantrik ceremonies and is said to have possessed
great influence over clouds and winds. He rendered immense good to
the country by bringing down rain in times of drought. Binchhen-tagpa’s
son, Hor Tasi Dorje, became minister of king Wan-tagpa Junne and
founded the monastery of Bivo-de-chhen. He left two sons Tse-wan-
namgyal and Binchhen Gyaltshan. The first was a professor of Buddhism.
The youngest, being a wise and learned man, was elected chief minister of
state. He was appointed Secretary to the Commission which sat to settle
the great dispute which took place between IT and Tsan. At its conclusion,
when matters were brought to a happy close, he was rewarded with a large
jagir consisting of three towns. His eldest son was appointed General
of the king’s army and the second son was appointed Prime-minister.
The eldest left two sons, viz., Sonam-Targe and Tondub Dorje. The
younger turned an ascetic and the elder became the minister who patronized
the Dalai Lama Sonam Gyatsho. His son Sonam-targe obtained the town
of Lha-tse Jon as jagir from the king.
III. rGyal-khar rtse-pa.
This is an ancient family of Kham descended from Da-gyo-lon, a
famous warrior mentioned in the great Tibetan epic called the Gyaldrun,
who tamed the savage men of Kham. His dress consisted of 100 tiger
skins. He married the daughter of Qesar, the hero of that great epic.
One of his descendants was Nam-kha-chyan-chhub,64 whose son Yon-
64 Namkba-lhun grub
I
Yon-dag-Sun-nig
I
rGyal-tsan
I
^Pal-dan ^Ssanpo
Pabtan-kun- /Ssan
I
£Krasi Aphags
I
Don-Grub Apbags
1881.]
Sarat Chandra Das — Contributions on Tibet .
249
dag-sun-nig was a powerful Tantrik. His son Gyal-tsan knew several
languages and was a Buddhist scholar. He wrote several works and favoured
the Karmapa sect of the old school. He built the monastery of Tshur-
phu called Chyan-chhub-chhenpo. Paldan Ssanpo, his son, was an
official of high rank under the Sakyapa hierarchy. He was sent as
ambassador to the Tartar Emperor of China, and returned successful from
bis mission. He erected the forts of Tse-chhen, Phag-ri, Gyal-tse, Nave
and Khyuntse, and a monastery at Tse-chhen. Rabtan Kun-Ssan, his
son, became minister to king Tagpa-gyal-tskan. He defeated the troops of
Namkha-gyalpo, the chief of Rinchhen Punpa, and made them prisoners
of war. He patronized Panchhen Rinpochhe, Kha Dub Ge-leg-pal Ssan.
He founded the famous monastic institution of Gyal-tse called Palkhorchho-de
with eighteen schools in it, and erected the picturesque chhorten of Gyaltse
called Chhorten Tasi-Goman, which has 108 doors and is several stories
high. He was famous for his devotion to religion and was the most
celebrated king of Gyal-tse.
IV. Chya-Thi-pon. (The bird-general.)
Once on a time in the lower Yar-lun District north of Lhasa, a
very handsome maiden was met by a splendid looking bird, who cap¬
tivated by her personal charms had descended from his aerial residence.
After some time spent in happiness with the bird she gave birth to
a son named Chya-mig65 who became a great supporter of Buddhism.
Yon-ton chhog, grandson of Chyamig, was a learned man and well-known by
the name of Yar-khanpo. Dorje-wan-chhug his nephew went towards Nan
and founded the town of Gyam-tsho. Dorje’s son Lama Chya-nag was a
65 Chya-mig-megeb-Chan
Yulgi-min-ma-Chan
j— | -
Yonton-chhog Chya-Sha-ka
rDorjelegs EDorje-Wah-Chhug
I
Chya-nag-chhenpo Rinchhen- Ho^
. — |
Bya-Jo-Sros Chya-rinchhen
I
Kungah Rinchhen
( — i
Chyilbu. Kungah Gyaltshan
I
(unknown)
J
Tasi-pal-ssan or Chya-Thipon
250
Sarat Chandra Das — Contributions on Tibet.
[No. 3,
pupil of S'akya STi Pandita of Kashmir, who became a renowned teacher
and founded the monastery of Yan-tse. His second son Chya-Rinchhen,
after repelling many Tartar armies, became the chief of Enyal. His son
Kungah-Rinchhen became a minister of Kungah-Ssanpo the regent under
the Sakyapa Lamas. He was a pupil of Dogon Phagpa. He left four
sons of whom the first Kungah-Gyaltshan was appointed minister to the
Sakyapa regent Hod-sser-senge. The second son Chyilbu being a nephew
of the chief of Digun, was appointed Jonpon of Chyar Dag. His son
became abbot of Ssanmochhe, whose grandson Tasi-pal Ssan became
the general of king Tagpo Gyaltshan, under the title of Chya Thipon.
Tasi’s son Gyal-wa Tasi became secretary to the king and inherited his
father’s titles and dignities. Gyal-wa’s son Tasi Dargye was appointed
General of Lhogyud-Lun by the king. He prepared a set of the Kahgyur
in gold characters, constructed many images and chhortens and did many
pious acts. From him the title of Chya- Thipon obtained its celebrity.
The last men of this dynasty served as deputies to the kings of Phagmo
du dynasty.
V. Secretary Tag-pa-Ssanpo.
Nan-Tagpa Ssanpo of a family descended from Van phugNan, the
secretary to king Thi-sron deu-stan, was born in the Eastern district of
Tsen-than. He became one of the ministers of king Situ. His son
S'erab Tasi served as an envoy to the Tartar Emperors of China, from
the Sakyapa and Tshalpa Lamas. He was a devoted minister, who in
the discharge of his duties did not fear to risk his life. Honesty and
self-denial were his prominent virtues. He conducted his affairs personally
before the celebrated Thugan-themur. He returned to his master’s
presence, having successfully accomplished his mission, with the imperial
patent in his hand issued in favour of his master king Situ. Pleased with
his conduct, the king presented him with the town and fort of Tag-kar.
His son Rinchhen Pal Ssan succeeded him as Jonpon and was a sincere
patron of the great reformer Tsonkhapa. He helped him greatly in the
building and establishment of the Gah-dan monastery.
VI. Nelva.
Rinchhen Ssanpo was a minister of king Situ. In the Sakya war, he
made the regent and other chiefs of the Sakya Hierarchy captives and
kept them in prison for thirteen days. He punished 500 rebels, for waging
war against king Situ. His son Pon-tagpa became commander of the
army, and defeated his enemies in a great battle. He was famous for his
liberality to the poor, and for his devotion to the clergy. His son Nam-
khah Paljor, became Jonpon and favoured the Dapun monastery.
1881.]
Sarat Chandra Das — Contributions on Tibet.
251
VII. Magpon Sonam Gyalpo.
This family is descended from Gar the celebrated minister Sron-
tsan Gampo. They were the chiefs of Tshal, but being defeated in war
by king Situ, they became his vassals. One of the illustrious members of
this family was superintendent of the Gah-dan monastery. His son Sonam
Gyalpo was a celebrated general who being victorious in war with Binchhen
Punpa in the battles of Lho-bragpa, Dvagpo and Konpo, became well-
known by the title Magpon or general. He subsequently became magis¬
trate of Lhasa. He built a gold dome over the great temple of Lhasa.
His descendants have all along served their country well.
VIII. Deva-Holkhapa.
This family is of modern origin. The founder of it Tasi Gyal
tshan was chief secretary to king Tagpa-Gyaltshan. He was appoint¬
ed a Jonpon. His son Chho-Je-Ssan founded the monastery of Nima
lifi and endowed it with grants of land and furnished it with the Kahgyur
and the Tangyur. In his old age he led the life of an austere monk. His
two sons NorSsanpo and Gyam-tsho-pa became ministers and generals
to the king’s army. The son of the elder brother was the well-known
Khadub Nor Ssan who was profoundly versed in Sutras and Tantras.
He wrote many works, such as Thimec? Hor/chhen, &c. and was appointed
tutor to the Dalai Lama Gedun-Gyawtsho.
(To be continued \)
J our nal; As. S'oc. Bengal. Vol- L.P^ 1. 1881
PI. XI.
ROYAL STATUETTt.
SOL/D SILVER
Full size. E7 9 4- O- rains,
RELICS FROM ANCIENT PERSIA
’
*
-
.
,
.
*
PI. XU.
Journal, As. Soc. Bengal. Vol. L.P^ 1. 1881.
ROYAL FIGURES
2
GOLD
R/NG
27, Y GR
3
GO l D.
DOUBLE DAB/C
6
84 Grains
SILVER P/ECES.
of FIVE GIGLI
OR
quart ep da rics.
400 OP
GOLD.
2 Wheels and 3 Worses Lost.
Chariot 068 Grains, 1 Horse DC Drams.
RELICS FROM ANCIENT PERSIA
Journal, As. Soc. Bengal. Vol. L.P1 L 1881.
PL XI II.
3
THICK GOLD.
Fall Size,
1063 Grains
STATUETTES
SOL/D
S/ LYE F>.
GOLD CAP.
Half Size,
28/281 Grs.
THICK
GOLD.
Fail Size , 6 IS Grains.
RELICS FROM ANCIENT PERSIA
■
-
*
Journal, As. Soc. Bengal. Vol. L.P^ 1. 1881.
MAGUS with BARSOM WAND.
GOLD PLATE- 624 Grains.
PI XIV
RELICS FROM ANCIENT PERSIA
PL XV.
Journal, As. Soc. Bengal. Vol. L. P \ 1. 1881.
AN I MALS,
ALL GOLD.
EAGLE
13 GF
Jf2
P/GEON.
24 GF
MAN & L/ON. 26 GF W/NGLD BULL , Full size, 134 GF
Et/NG 60 (IF
STAG-365 GF
E/2 H -Half size -2)63/ Grains.
RELICS FROM A N C I L N 1 PERSIA
PL XVI.
F/ EGER
RING.
/ 76 err A
F/NGER
R/NG.
77 Grs
J o u r n slL A a. S.o c. Be nga.l. Vbl. T P i B 1881.
OR NAM ENTS
EAR- R/NG.
RELICS FROM ANCIENT PERSIA.
I
Journal, As. Soc. Bengal. 'Vo 1. L. PI 1. 1881. _ W XVI/.
PERSIAN COi NS.
DOUBLE DAR/C. AYRAND/C
TtRJBAZUS.
T/R! DAMES.
GRID
RING.
RELICS FROM ANCIENT PERSIA.
*
#
.Journal, A s. Soc.
pl xvm.
GREEK COINS.
Bengal. Vbl. L.P1 1. 1881.
RELICS FROM ANCIENT PERSIA
\
*
*
✓
Journal, As. Soa Bengal. Vol. L.P1 1. 1881.
BRONZES.
Pl. XIX
RELICS FROM ANCIENT PERSIA.
i