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A Note on an Early Indian Coin
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 24 December 2009
Extract
The Annual Report of the Archaeological Survey of India for 1936–7 contains, among other interesting matter, a report by the late Mr. N. G. Majumdar on the excavation of a large and evidently important building at Lauriya Nandangarh, which seems to date from at least the second century B.C. Among the many things found here is a square leadin coin or token with the mould in which it was cast (pp. 49 f., pl. xxiv, 2–4). This bears on one side the device of the tree in rail and on the other taurine symbol surmounted by a legend in Brāhmī script of about the first century B.C., a ya ri ta sa, which Mr. Majumdar interpreted as Aya Ritasa, Pkt. corresponding to Skt. Ārya Rtasya, and meaning “Of the Honourable Rta”. He remarks that this “does not sound like a king's name …. It is thus possible that the lead piece represents a token and not a coin. Otherwise it would be hard to explain the discovery of a coin mould in the remains of religious establishment”. He thus seems inclined to regard it as a token issued by or for some religious teacher named in Skt. Rta and in Pkt. Rita.
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- Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies , Volume 11 , Issue 1 , February 1943 , pp. 140 - 143
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- Copyright © School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London 1943
References
page 140 note 1 This reading seems to be certain. The vowel ī is not visible on the plate; but Dr. N. P. Chakravarti, Deputy Directior of Arachaeology, who has kindly re-examined the coin on my request, has informed me that it bears a mark which seems to be intended for i.
page 141 note 1 Often these prefixes are wrongly printed as if they were an integral parts of the name, e.g. Aryyadatta and Aryadata in Lüders' List of Brāhmī Inscriptions (EI., x, nos. 29, 34) should be written Aryya Datta and Arya Data, i.e. Ārya Datta, for Datta is well authenticated as a personal name. The names of the well-known writers Ārya-deva and Ārya-śūra likewise seem to need similar interpretation: apparently here also Ārya is a mere prefix, and the real names are Deva and Śūa, both of which are borne by several other persons in literature. Perhaps Ārya-bħata is to be explained otherwise, scil. as a compound title.
page 141 note 2 Cf. the Pali Text Society's Dictionary, s. v. ayya. It is hardly needful to add that the affix ayya and the surnames Aiyar and Aiyaṅgār which are so common in the South are derived from āya through the Pkt. ayya.
Page 142 note 1 SeeAllan, J., British Museum: Catalogue of Coins of Ancient India, PP. XC, 137Google Scholar. Mr. Allan, I fear, is hardly justified in sanskritizing the name of the Audumbara prince Aja-mita as Ārya-mitra (pp. lxxxvi, 125f.). It stands for Aja-mitra; cf. Aja-mita in Lüders' List of Brāhmī inscrs., EI. X, no. 672. Aja (with which cf. Aja Miś, name of Brahaman, EI., xiii, 285, 291, 294; Aja-varman in Mr. Allan's Catalogue, lxxxix, and EI., vii, App., no. 142; A.-varma, A.-varmarasa, and A.-Varmaya, EC., vii, Sk. 45b, ix, Dv. 74, JI. 19, NI. 1, xi, Mk. 26, 40, 42; A. Vadeyar, ibid., xii, Tm. 67; perhaps, too, Aja, ajaiya, ajaya, ajanna, and Ajappa, for which see Index to EC. is used as first member in a considerable number of proper names, from Puranic times downwards to the Middle Ages, and also occurs alone as a king's name in the Purānas Pargiter, AIHT., p. 147, ect. It has Vedic associations. Moreover the alternation -jj-for -yy- seems to be precluded by the dialect.
Page 142 note 2 Aja, ajaiya, ajaya, ajanna, and Ajappa, for which see Index to EC. is used as first member in a considerable number of proper names, from Puranic times downwards to the Middle Ages, and also occurs alone as a king's name in the Purānas Pargiter, AIHT., p. 147, ect.). It has Vedic associations. Moreover the alternation -jj-for -yy- seems to be precluded by the dialect.
page 142 note 2 We may compare the use of Sena and like words as family names in modern Bengal.
page 143 note 1 This is somewhat similar to the practice, not uncommon in the North and the Deccan, of making the honorific prefix Śrī into an integral part of a proper name; e.g. often meet with Śrī-krsna and Śrī-rāma side by side with plain krsna and Rāma.