Indische Palaographie von circa 350 a. Chr. – circa 1300 p. Chr. c25.s4.3

c25.s4.3

§ 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).