Indische Palaographie von circa 350 a. Chr. – circa 1300 p. Chr. c25.s4: § 104. Hūṇa coinage

Indische Paläographie von circa 350 a. Chr. – circa 1300 p. Chr. c25.s4

Language: German

§ 104. Hūṇa coinage

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The most striking characteristic of the Hūṇa coins is their want of originality: they are, almost without exception, either adaptations or imitations of Sassanian, Kuṣana, or Gupta coins. They, therefore, afford valuable evidence of the progress and extent of the Hūṇa conquests. Those of the thin Sassanian fabric are, naturally, the earliest in date; and of these the class which bears inscrn. in the same modified form of the Greek alphabet as is found on the Scytho-Sassanian coins (v. sup. § 75) is no doubt older than the class which has Nāgarī inscrn., and may probably, in part at least, belong to the Ephthalites before their invasion of India (C.NChr. 1894, p. 262). Of these early Hūṇa coins, many specimens seem to be merely Sassanian pieces with the head of the Hūṇa leader restruck in *repoussé* (**Plate IV, 18**: Shāhi Javūvlaḥ) so that the reverse type — the Sassanian fire-altar — is almost obliterated. The species of coin thus produced was no doubt the pattern from which later coins struck in the ordinary manner were copied.

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C. op. cit. p. 262; and cp. Pl. IX, 10—15, with 11. X, 3. 4. These *repoussé* coins have been attributed to Kashmir, but this attribution depends on the identification of the Ṣāhi Khiṅgila (id. Pl. IX, 11) with Khiṅkhila Narendrāditya who is mentioned in the Rājataraṅgiṇī as a successor of Mihirakula (id. p. 265). This identification is however not certain, and the coins of Khiṅgila would seem to be older than those of Mihirakula. The Ṣāhi Jabuvlaḥ or Jabula of the *repoussé* coins is identified by C. with Toramāṇa (id. p. 253) on the evidence of the Kura inscr. of Mahārāja Toramāṇa Ṣāha Jauvla; but this designation may be simply a tribal name applicable to any member of the dynasty v. BÜHLER, EI. I, p. 239; and SMITH, JBA. 1894, p. 189.

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§ 105. Hūṇa coinage. — Other specimens are copies of the current Sassanian coins, and, in particular, of those issued during the latter part of the reign, i. e. 471—486 A.D., of Fīrūz (**Plate V, 3**). The first imitations, which most resemble their prototypes, have been found in great numbers in Mārwār, and have been assigned with much plausibility to the great Hūṇa conqueror, *Toramāṇa*, the son of Lae-lih, c. 490—515 A.D. (HOERNLE, Proc. BA. 1889, p. 228; JBA. 1890, p. 168, Pl. V). In any case they almost certainly testify to the Hūṇa conquest of the Lower Indus country and W. Rajputana. The Sassanian type thus introduced into India became predominant in the coinages of Gujarat, Rajputana, and in the Gangetic doab during, probably, the following three or four hundred years (v. inf. § 122). Evidence of the Hūṇa conquest of the later Gupta kingdom of E. Mālwa (v. sup. § 94) is afforded by the silver hemidrachms of Toramāṇa (**Plate IV, 16**), which are minutely imitated from those of Budhagupta except that the king’s head on the *obv.* is turned in the opposite direction. These coins are dated 52, but the era to which this date refers has not been satisfactorily determined (SMITH, JRAS. 1889, p. 136; C.ASR. IX, Pl. V, 18. 19; C.CMI. p. 20, Pl. II, 11).

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The following suggestions as to the era in which Toramāṇa’s hemidrachms are dated have been made: — (1) FLEET, Ind. Ant. 1889, p. 228 supposes the date 52 to denote years of Toramāṇa’s reign. This explanation is rendered less probable by the fact that the Maukharis Īśānavarman and Śarvavarman (v. sup. § 97) and also Bhīmasena (v. sup. § 99), apparently date in years of the same era (SMITH, JBA. 1894, p. 194); (2) DROUIN, JA. 1890 (XVI), p. 368, suggests a Hūṇa era beginning c. A.D. 448, and perhaps marking the date of the first invasion of India; (3) C.NChr. 1894, p. 252, supposes either that the date is Śaka with omitted hundreds, i. e. 52 = 452; or (4) l. c. that it may refer to a Hūṇa era beginning c. 456 A.D. the date of the great victory over the Sassanians. For the dates of the known princes of the later Gupta dynasty of E. Malwa, v. sup. § 94.

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§ 106. Hūṇa coinage. — The silver coins of *Mihirakula* (**Plate IV, 20**) c. 515—544 A.D., the son and successor of Toramāṇa, are of the Sassanian fabric only (C.NChr. 1894, pp. 256. 280, Pl. X, 3. 4; PE. I, p. 411). Copper coins of both Toramāṇa (**Plate IV, 19**) and Mihirakula (**Plate IV, 21**) are found which show at the same time the influence of both Sassanian and Gupta prototypes (C.NChr. 1894, pp. 265. 280, Pl. IX, 16. 17, and X, 1. 2; SMITH, JBA. 1894, pp. 195. 203). These are found chiefly in the Eastern Panjab and Rajputana, and, in some instances, the types and inscrn. of Mihirakula have been

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struck over those of Toramāṇa (FLEET, Ind. Ant. 1886, p. 245). This is the only class of copper coins which can be attributed to the Hūṇa Toramāṇa, but of Mihirakula other classes also are known. One of these bears the usual Kuṣana types (v. sup. § 74 (2); C.NChr. 1894, pp. 256. 281, Pl. X, 5. 6; SMITH, JBA. 1894, p. 203); while the types of another class (e. g. C. op. cit. Pl. X, 7) are of less certain derivation.

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It is doubtful whether the copper coins of Mihirakula bearing Kuṣana types are not to be attributed solely to Kashmir, which the Kidāra Kuṣanas probably continued to hold after they were driven out of Gandhāra (v. sup. § 76) and which may, perhaps, have been conquered by the Hūṇas for the first time during the reign of Mihirakula. Against the suggested identification of the Hūṇa Toramāṇa with Toramāṇa of Kashmir: C.NChr. 1894, p. 256. For other Hūṇa coins doubtfully attributed to Kashmir, v. supra sub § 104.

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§ 107. Hūṇa coinage. — Hūṇa coins of all types are found bearing names or fragments of names which are at present unknown from any other source. It is possible that there may have been more than one Hūṇa dynasty reigning at the same time; or these coins may have been struck by viceroys ruling over different provinces of the empire. The limit of date for Hūṇa coinage is probably 544 A.D., when, in the reign of Mihirakula, the Hūṇa power was broken up by a confederation of Hindu princes under Yaśodharman, Viṣṇuvardhana of Malwa, and Narasiṃhagupta Bālāditya of Magadha (C.NChr. 1894, p. 258). Fragments of this power may, however, have survived till a later date.

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§ 108. Uncertain, Hūṇa or Persian. — There are some well-known classes of coins the nationality of which cannot at present be exactly determined. They show signs of their Sassanian origin by their thin fabric and by the fire-altar which constantly appears as their *rev.* type. They have, therefore, characteristics which belong both to some of the Hūṇa coins and also to the coins of the Persian kings of the Panjab and Sind. The best known of these doubtful series is that which bears the name of *Napki Malka*.

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§ 109. Persian Kings in the Panjab and Sind. — There are found in N.W. India coins of Sassanian type and fabric bearing inscrr. in Nāgarī, Sassanian Pahlavi, and an alphabet, hitherto unread, which is probably a development of the modified form of the Greek alphabet used by the Scytho-Sassanians (v. sup. § 75). These have been sometimes attributed to the later Hūṇas (C.NChr. 1894, pp. 267. 289), but apparently without sufficient reason. They were almost certainly struck by some Sassanian dynasty or dynasties — as is shown by the style of the coins and by the use of Sassanian Pahlavi — ruling over Sind and Multan, which the earliest Arab geographers include in the kingdom of Sind (Encyclopaedia Britannica, 9th ed., sub Multan). It may be noticed that this region had at other periods been in the hands of Persian conquerors (v. § 61, and cp. § 30). For one of these issues, which has the name *Śrī Vāsudeva* only in Nāgarī characters and all the remaining portion of its legends in Sassanian Pahlavi, an approximate date is fixed by its very near resemblance to a coinage issued by Khusru II Parviz in the 37th year of his reign = 627 A.D. (cp. LONGPÉRIER, Médailles des rois perses, Pl. XI, 3, with C.NChr. 1894, Pl. XII, 10 or Ar. Ant. Pl. XVII, 9). In the Pahlavi inscrr. on these coins Vāsudeva is called king of Bahman (= Bahmanvasi or Brahmanabad the capital of Sind), Multan, Tukān (= Panjab), Zabulistan,

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C NChr. 1894, p. 267, Pl. XII, 2; Ar. Ant. Pl. XVII, 5, 7, 10, 17; DROUIN, Rev. Num. 1891, p. 221.

Cites (1)

Rājataraṅgiṇī — Kalhaṇa, Sanskrit