.- CATALOGUE OF COINS IN T riE PHA YRE PROVINCIAL MUSEIJM RANGOON OFFICE OF T H E SUPERINTENDENT , GOVERNM ENT PRI N TIN G, BU RMA • '1~-~·=.---- ---·--192-4 ---~-- -..· -----~. FZN • L . r [ P r ice,- - -R e. I -4.-l CATALOGUE OF COINS IN THE fJHA YRE PRC)VINCIAL MUSEUM I RANGOON OFFICE OF THE S1PERINTEN:;:_.~NT, GOVERNMENT PRINTING, BURMA 1924 LIST OF AGENTS FOR THE SALE OF GOVERNMENT PUBLICATIONS. IN INDIA AMERICAN BAPTIST MISSION PR!lSS, Rangoon. I NTERNATIONAL BUDDHIST BOOK DEPOT, Post Box No. 971, Rangoon. MODERN PUPLISHING HOUSE, Ltd., Rangoon. RANGOON Tll\.ZES PHESS, Rangoon. MAUNG LU GALl<, Law Book DepOt. 42. Ayo-o-gale, Mandalay, BUTTER\VORTH & Co. (India). Ltd.. Calcutta. W. NEWMAN & Co .. Calcutta. ' THACKER, SPIN!{ & Co .. Calcutta and Simla. o D. B. TARAPOREVALA SONS & Co .. Bombay, THACKER & Co .. Ltd., Bombay. HIGGlNBOTHAl\1 & Co., !V!adras. MANAGER, THE" HITAVADA," Nagpur. IN EUROPE A. CONSTABLE & Co .. 10 Orange Street, Leicester Square, W.C. BERNARD QUARITCH, 11 Grafton Street. New Bond Street, W . EAST & WEST, Ltd.. 3 Victoria Street, S. W. 1. GRINDLAY & Co.. 54 Parliament Street. S.W. ' KEGAN PAUL, TRENCH, TRUBNER & Co .. Lld., 68-74 Carter Lane, E. C .. and 39 New Oxford Street, W.C. LUZAC & Co .. 46 Great Russell Street. W.C. P. S. KING & SoN. 2 and4 Great Smith Street, Westminster, S,W. T. FISHER UNWIN, Ltd., 1 Adelphi Terrace, W.C. 'WHELDON & 'WESLEY, Ltd.. 2, 3 and 4 Arthur Street, New Oxford Street. London, W.C. 2. W . THACKER & Co., 2 Creed Lane, Ludgate Hill, E.C. B. H. BLACKWELL, 50 and 51 Broad Street, Oxford. DEIGHTON, BELL & CO., Ltd., Trinity Street, Cambridge, OLIVER & BOYD, Tweeddale Court, Edinburgh, Scotland. E. PONSONBY, Ltd., 116 Grafton Street, Dublin, Ireland. ERNEST LEROUX, 28 Rue Bonaparte, Paris, France. MARTINUS NIJHOFF, The Hague, Holland. 0TTO HARRASSOWITZ, Leipzig, Germany, R. FRIEDLANDER & SOHN, 11 Carlstrasse, Berlin, Germany, • For the sale of official publications excluding those of the Legislative Department. P REF ACE. THE cams m the com cabinet of the Phayre P rovincial Museum were first listed and catalogued in 1909 by Mr. Taw Sein Ko, late Superintendent, Archceo­ logical Survey, Burma. T here \Vere then only 69 typical coins, including pieces of silver bullion, and t hey were classified as follows:- - l.-.A r ak <~ ne se 16 II.-Burmese 8 III.-lnJian 41 IV.--Siamese I V.-Chinese 2 VI.-European I Total 6g While the number of Arakanese, Burmese, Siamese, Chil'lese and European coins has almost remained unchanged, the number of Indian coins has increased by about 6oo, a nd for an intelligent classification of them, it has been found I?ecessary to arrange then: a ccording to the dynasties of Kings in India to which they belong , from the earl iest time down to the latest period. They were all found in India and presented to the coin cabinet of the Phayre Provincial Museum by the various Provinces in India. For the identification and classification of a good many of them, I a ~, , indebted to the Government Epigraphist in India and successive Curators in the Provincial Museum, Lucknow, which I have acknow­ ledged, from time to time, in my Provincial reports. A greater prominence has be,en given to the Arak::J. nese and Burmese coins by placing them first in the list. l ndeed, thr: y ar e the only coins that ha.ve been found in the Province and that have anything to do with the history oft he country. They are no doubt very few, and only a few have b~en added to them since 1909, the year in which their first catalogue was prepared. But when a more systematic search is made fo r them, it is expected that many more will be brought to lig ht. For Burma, especially Arakan, can boast of the knowledge of the art of coinage from an ear1y time, as is testified to by the discovery of coins, some of which, indigenous no doubt, are as old as 8th-9th century A.D. 1 H owever, they appear to be intended only for commemorative purposes, and their:__ use as currency was an afterthought only at a very late period. In the meantime, the use of uncoined currency in the form of lumps of metal seems to have been prevailing throughout Burma, and, if the statements made from Chinese sources can be relied on, the practice is of ancient date. 5ir Richard Temple, in his notes on c, Currency and Coinage among the Burmese " refers to some interesting passages from Chinese sources supplied him by Mr. E . H. Parker. In one of these it is stated that cc l n the year A.D. 97, the King of T'an (in Northern Burma) by name Yung Yu, selected and sent interpreters to offer precious things from his country. The Emperor Ho rewarded him with a gol den seal and a purple vest, adding money 1 Plate Jl, Sir Arthur Phayre's "Coins of Arakan, Pegu and Burma," and Nos. 1-4, pa.ge 1 and Nos. t--- to, pages 2 and 3 of the present catalog ue. ( 2 ) and clothes for the smaller chieftains " ~ It is not kno>vn what that T'an money was, but the following seems to be more precise. Parker in his " Burma Relations with China," p. 1 I. ff. , gives a very inte resting fact. Quoting from the annals of the T'ang dynasty (6 !8-907) A.D., he shews that the Piao (Pyu) kingdom mentioned therein was undoubtedly Burma, and then goes on to quote : ''gold and silver are used as money, the shape of which is crescent like." 3 The use of this currency was in vog ue in Burma up to t he time of the Briti~h annexation of Upper Burma in 188s. In 186 r, King Mindon struck some coins for use as c urrency, but the use of bullwn c urrency was also allowed at the same time. The Arakanese on the other hand1 seerr.. to have been familiar with the use of coins as legitimate currency from about the middle of the fifteenth century A.D. Sir Arthur Phayre, in hi s account of the "Coins of Arakan, of Pegu, and of Burma," which still remains t he standard work on the subject, writes as follow s : " At the beginning of the fiftee nth century of the Christian era, the king of B.urma invaded Arakan, and the ruler of the latter country, Meng -tsau-mwun, fled to Bengal in the year 1406 or 1407 A.D. The exiled monarch lived at Sunargong, then t he Muslirn capital oi Bengal, for twenty-four years. The Sultan of Bengal then undertook to restore him, and this was effected in the year A.D. 1430. He agreed to be subordinate, or tributary, to his benefactor. How this subordinancy was carried out in detail, is not· stated in the chronicles of Arakan, nor, as far as l am aware, in any history of Uengal. But coins are still met with in Arakan, bearing no date, but having the Kalimah inscribed thereon, which are said by learned rnen among the Arakanese to have been issued during the reigns of several successiv e kings, commencing about the year A.D. 1440. But the first prince of whom there is trustworthy evidence upon this point is Batsauphyti, the nephew of Meng -tsau-rnw•un, who ascended the throne of Arakan in the year A.D. 1459· He is termed in the history of Arakan, Kalimah Shah, in consequence of his having issued a coin bearing the Kalimah." As is stated above, the Arakanese and Burmese coins in the coin cabinet of the Phayre Provincial Museum are ; very few. They do not form a representative selection of the specimens of all the coins of Burma, and in these circumstances full justice cannot be done to them here. It is hoped, however, that a more complete list illustrated with plates will be brough·t out ,~; h e n t he Phayre Provincial Museum is put on a more satisfac tory footing. If possible, casts of those coins now in the British Museum and the Indian Museum, Calcutta, which are not found in the present list, ought to be obtained for the Phayre Museum Cabinet. Since the present catalogue in 1uanuscript has been in the Press some mor(! lndian coins have been received in th ~ P hayre Provincial Museum. These will be catalogued and shown in a supplementary list to be issued later on. I specially cesire here to place on record the very intellige nt and precious help given by my Archceological Assistant Maung Mya, in this compilation. His special knowledge of Arakanese and Burmese numismatics has proved very useful. CHAS. DUROISELLE, Super£ntende nt, Archa:ological Sur7Jey, Burma Circle. M.uwH.AY, xst Duember 1913. " lndian Antiquary, Vol. XX VI, page 23:1. -' Cf. also Indian Antiquary, Vol. XX V I, page 13t· TABLE OF CONTENTS. PAGB l,-ARAK ANK SB CoiNs l &; :1 II.-BuRMESE-EARLY CoMMEMORATIVE CoiNS ;. , : ~ 3 III.-Bu RMESE-LATER CoiNs 4 THE E ARLIEST {NDIAN CURRENCY COMMONLY KNOWN AS THE INDIAN PUNCH•MARK.ED COINS 5 AunA MBARA CoiNs, ABOUT wo B.C.- Rudradasa s Sivadasa 6 Dha r agh osa P 6 ANDHRA DYNAS TY RULIN G OV ER M IDDLE !NDIA- Dhutuha l a nanda Mul ananc!a '..."} 6 N ame of King uncertain ... WESTERN SATRAPS: Nahapana dynasty 6 G AD HAIYA CorNs 6 MBDIJEVAL I NDO•SASSANIAN COINS 6&7 HINDU SHAHI D YNAST Y 01' 0HIND­ Samanta-Deva 7 THE KALACHuRr DYNAS'rY OP vVBSTERN CnEDI­ Gangeya-Deva 7 THE CHANDELLA DYN/IS'i.'Y ol' BuNDELKHAND­ Madana- V arma 7 THE TO MA R/1 DYNASTY 0 11 A.J :.J IR AND D ELlll.:...