Essays on Indian Antiquities, Historic, Numismatic, and Palaeographic
To Which are Added Tables, Illustrative of Indian History, Chronology, Modern Coinages, Weights, Measures, etc.

A two-volume collection of essays (1858) by a great antiquary, artist, orientalist and key figure in the history of Benares (Varanasi).

James Prinsep (Author), Edward Thomas (Edited by)

9781108055932, Cambridge University Press

Paperback / softback, published 28 February 2013

542 pages, 52 b/w illus.
21.6 x 14 x 3.1 cm, 0.68 kg

A key figure in the history of Benares (Varanasi), James Prinsep (1799–1840) was instrumental in expanding Western knowledge of Indian civilisation. After briefly studying under Pugin, he became an assay master in Calcutta in 1819, and soon moved to Benares. His talents were many, and within a few years he had completed a detailed map of the city, designed a new mint, engineered a system to improve sanitation and begun studying the inscriptions and coins that helped him to decipher two ancient scripts and to establish the dates of Indian dynasties. Collected in 1858 and edited by the numismatist Edward Thomas (1813–86), these essays are generously illustrated, often in Prinsep's hand, and display the enormous breadth of his knowledge. Volume 1 includes a short biography by his brother, along with articles on coins, relics and archaeological discoveries.

Preface
1. On the ancient Roman coins in the cabinet of the Asiatic Society
2. On the Greek coins in the cabinet of the Asiatic Society
3. Note in Lieut. Burnes' coins
4. Bactrian and Indo-Scythic coins
5. The discovery of a subterranean town near Behat
6. Coins and relics discovered by M. Ventura in the Tope of Manikyala
7. On the coins and relics discovered by M. Ventura (cont.)
8. Further information on the Tope of Manikyala
9. Further notes on Bactrian and Indo-Scythic coins
10. On the connexion of various ancient Hindu coins with Grecian or Indo-Scythic series
11. Notices of ancient Hindu coins
12. New varieties of Bactrian coins
13. New varieties of Mithraic or Indo-Scythic series of coins and their imitations
14. New types of Bactrian and Indo-Scythic coins
15. Specimens of Hindu coins descended from the Parthian type
16. The legends of the Saurashtra group of coins deciphered.

Subject Areas: Asian history [HBJF]