three-headed Śiva on the reverse of vima kadphises's copper coinage

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This article was downloaded by: [University of Tennessee, Knoxville] On: 12 September 2014, At: 05:28 Publisher: Routledge Informa Ltd Registered in England and Wales Registered Number: 1072954 Registered office: Mortimer House, 37-41 Mortimer Street, London W1T 3JH, UK South Asian Studies Publication details, including instructions for authors and subscription information: http://www.tandfonline.com/loi/rsas20 Three-headed Śiva on the Reverse of Vima Kadphises's Copper Coinage John Perkins Published online: 24 Aug 2010. To cite this article: John Perkins (2007) Three-headed Śiva on the Reverse of Vima Kadphises's Copper Coinage, South Asian Studies, 23:1, 31-37, DOI: 10.1080/02666030.2007.9628665 To link to this article: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/02666030.2007.9628665 PLEASE SCROLL DOWN FOR ARTICLE Taylor & Francis makes every effort to ensure the accuracy of all the information (the “Content”) contained in the publications on our platform. However, Taylor & Francis, our agents, and our licensors make no representations or warranties whatsoever as to the accuracy, completeness, or suitability for any purpose of the Content. Any opinions and views expressed in this publication are the opinions and views of the authors, and are not the views of or endorsed by Taylor & Francis. The accuracy of the Content should not be relied upon and should be independently verified with primary sources of information. Taylor and Francis shall not be liable for any losses, actions, claims, proceedings, demands, costs, expenses, damages, and other liabilities whatsoever or howsoever caused arising directly or indirectly in connection with, in relation to or arising out of the use of the Content. This article may be used for research, teaching, and private study purposes. Any substantial or systematic reproduction, redistribution, reselling, loan, sub-licensing, systematic supply, or distribution in any form to anyone is expressly forbidden. Terms & Conditions of access and use can be found at http://www.tandfonline.com/page/ terms-and-conditions

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Page 1: Three-headed Śiva on the Reverse of Vima Kadphises's Copper Coinage

This article was downloaded by: [University of Tennessee, Knoxville]On: 12 September 2014, At: 05:28Publisher: RoutledgeInforma Ltd Registered in England and Wales Registered Number: 1072954 Registered office: Mortimer House,37-41 Mortimer Street, London W1T 3JH, UK

South Asian StudiesPublication details, including instructions for authors and subscription information:http://www.tandfonline.com/loi/rsas20

Three-headed Śiva on the Reverse of Vima Kadphises'sCopper CoinageJohn PerkinsPublished online: 24 Aug 2010.

To cite this article: John Perkins (2007) Three-headed Śiva on the Reverse of Vima Kadphises's Copper Coinage, South AsianStudies, 23:1, 31-37, DOI: 10.1080/02666030.2007.9628665

To link to this article: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/02666030.2007.9628665

PLEASE SCROLL DOWN FOR ARTICLE

Taylor & Francis makes every effort to ensure the accuracy of all the information (the “Content”) contained in thepublications on our platform. However, Taylor & Francis, our agents, and our licensors make no representationsor warranties whatsoever as to the accuracy, completeness, or suitability for any purpose of the Content. Anyopinions and views expressed in this publication are the opinions and views of the authors, and are not theviews of or endorsed by Taylor & Francis. The accuracy of the Content should not be relied upon and should beindependently verified with primary sources of information. Taylor and Francis shall not be liable for any losses,actions, claims, proceedings, demands, costs, expenses, damages, and other liabilities whatsoever or howsoevercaused arising directly or indirectly in connection with, in relation to or arising out of the use of the Content.

This article may be used for research, teaching, and private study purposes. Any substantial or systematicreproduction, redistribution, reselling, loan, sub-licensing, systematic supply, or distribution in any form to anyoneis expressly forbidden. Terms & Conditions of access and use can be found at http://www.tandfonline.com/page/terms-and-conditions

Page 2: Three-headed Śiva on the Reverse of Vima Kadphises's Copper Coinage

Three-headed Siva on the Reverse of Vima Kadphises's Copper Coinage JOHN PERKINS

This paper is the result of my stumbling over an exciting discovery while trying to establish some kind of order to the copper tetradrachm coinage of the Kushan King Vima Kadphises. The discovery concerns the image of Siva on the reverse of the coinage. A close examination makes it clear that this Siva is three-headed and not, as has previously been believed, single-headed. This paper will first set out the geographical and historical frame, and then discuss various descriptions of the coins given by scholars over the years, including my own. I shall also try briefly to survey depictions of three-headed Siva in the art of the same period.

Vima Kadphises probably reigned from 113-127 AD.1 Most of his coins I have worked on were collected by Masson in and around Begram, Afghanistan, while a smaller portion consists of the relevant coins in the British Museum's collection. Coins of the same type have been published and described by Cunningham, Mitchiner, Gardner and Gobi among others.2

The coins depict the standing king on the obverse and Siva and bull on the reverse.3 The image of interest here appears on the reverse of the coin, but not wishing to ignore the obverse I will describe it first (Figs. 1-3). It shows the standing king wearing a caftan that is open at the bottom and held together at the chest with two round clasps. Under this he wears a tunic-like garment, trousers and heavy boots. At waist height, in the gap left by the open caftan, one can see the two circular belt buckles and a string hanging down in the middle.4 The king is shown frontally with his head in profile and his arm posture consistent with a profile meaning for the whole image. With one hand he is sacrificing at a fire altar while the other rests on a sword hilt at hip-height.5 Most of the sword is hidden under the caftan, but one can see its tip coming out at the hem. He is bearded and wears a high hat/crown with diadem ribbons flowing away behind his head; he also has two ribbons or strands of hair falling onto his shoulders. In front of him there is a trident combined with an axe;6

behind him at shoulder height his tamga is depicted, while below his elbow there is a club.7 The legend runs clockwise in Greek letters beginning behind the king's crown/hat

/. Copper tetradrachm of Vima Kadphises (113-127 AD), Masson collection.

2. Copper tetradrachm of Vima Kadphises, British Museum collection.

3. Copper tetradrachm of Vima Kadphises, British Museum collection.

4. Copper tetradrachm of Vima Kadphises. Masson collection.

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Page 3: Three-headed Śiva on the Reverse of Vima Kadphises's Copper Coinage

JOHN PERKINS

and in its complete form is: basileus basileon soter megas oolmo kadphises.

As this description is generally consistent - albeit more elaborate - with the descriptions by the scholars mentioned above, it needs no further discussion.8 However, the description of the reverse is a different matter and first demands close examination of previous descriptions, which I will present first before providing my own (Figs. 1-4).

Gardner (1886, p. 126.) says: "Siva facing, holding trident; drapery hanging at his back; behind him, Bull; to 1." and he depicts a drawing of the nandipada symbol.

Cunningham (1888, part III, p. 8) states: "On some the god is represented standing alone, holding a trident in his right hand, with the tiger's skin on his left arm, and a water vessel in the hand. On others he is accompanied by his Bull, Nandi." And more concretely concerning this coin type, "Siva standing before Bull, trident in r. hand, leopard's skin over 1. arm, and water-pot in hand. Buddhist symbol over Bull." (Cunningham 1888, part III, p. 32.) So Cunningham adds a leopard or tiger skin and a water pot as part of the iconography on this reverse; the "Buddhist symbol" is the nandipada.

Mitchiner (1978, pp. 398, 405-409) only refers to the reverse as "Siva and Bull" and believes he is able to distinguish between different mints: Balkh for the mono-lingual series, Kapisa and Taxila (to which he adds Pushkalavati) for the bi-lingual series. In the coins from Begram we do not have a single mono-lingual coin, which could of course support Mitchiner's theory that they were issued in Bactria, but his assertion that certain details of the design and inscription indicate provenance from a certain mint seems quite arbitrary. As there are only three of the mono-lingual tetradrachms and one drachm in the British Museum's collection and only one tetradrachm and one drachm in Mitchiner's catalogue (Mitchiner 1978, p. 405), I cannot discuss their place of production here any further as I lack a representative sample. However, I do wish to suggest that because they seem to be so rare, it has to be allowed that they might represent a separate issue altogether. This might not be bound to a particular mint, but could have been current only for a short period of time. He further attributes coins with the obverse legend interrupted by the king's head and a large 'phi' and the reverse legend beginning next to Siva's head,9 and "squat Siva and Bull" (Mitchiner 1978, p. 405), to Kapisa. A third group on which the obverse legend often continues above the king's head with a small 'phi' while the reverse legend begins above Siva's head, with a shift from Tsvarasa to svardsa as well as the Siva and bull image being "more drawn", he considers to come from Taxila (Mitchiner 1978, p. 407).

We have a good sample of the bilingual series in the Masson collection, especially when combined with the British Museum's collection, and I believe after studying the coins that such an attribution is incorrect. There are coins in both these collections where the aforementioned

5. Monolingual copper tetradrachm of Vima Kadphises, British Museum collection.

6. Detail of Fig. 5.

attributes appear in various combinations, which leads me to believe that these attributes are within the normal scope of stylistic variation without giving any hint as to where the coins were minted or enabling us to group them, which is a point Mitchiner does not seem to take into account. My conclusion is supported by Gobi's (1984, p. 59) statement: "Ob Kupfer nur in einer oder in mehreren Miinzstatten geschlagen wurde lasst sich derzeit noch nicht sagen. Es gibt keine eindeutigen Stildifferenzen" (It is currently not possible to say whether copper was struck at one or multiple mints. There are no clear differences in style).10 And further: "Nachschnitte scheinen sicher; sie verursachen grobere Figuren" (Re-cutting [of the dies] seem certain, through this the figures become coarser)." This would explain the unclear forms on many of the coins.

Gobi (1984, pi. 1,4) only indirectly describes this coin type by pointing to the silver drachm of his first emission. He speaks of the unique frontal Oesho (i.e. Siva), in comparison with the other Vima gold coins where he is depicted looking either left or right (Gobi 1984, p. 59).

As to the Siva image, Rosenfield (1967, p. 92) remarks, albeit not regarding the copper coinage, that the standing Siva with bull has tongues of flames arising from his head. These Banerjea (1956, p. 122) earlier had

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Page 4: Three-headed Śiva on the Reverse of Vima Kadphises's Copper Coinage

THREE-HEADED SIVA ON THE REVERSE OF VIMA KADPHISES'S COPPER COINAGEE

7. Copper tetradrachm of Vima Kadphises, Masson collection.

8. Copper tetradrachm of Vima Kadphises, Masson collection.

9. Copper tetradrachm of Vima Kadphises, British Museum collection.

JO. Gold dinar of Vima Kadphises, British Museum collection.

interpreted as jata (i.e. dreadlocks), while Chattopadhyay (1977, p. 215) says that the flames coming from Siva's head might actually be unloosened matted locks.

After discussing the general aspects and hitherto published descriptions of the copper coins of Vima Kadphises I would like to begin with my description of the reverse, which in part is of course influenced by the above descriptions.

The main image is a frontal Siva standing in contra-post in front of the bull Nandi, whose head is seen frontally. Siva has his right arm raised and holds a trident. His left elbow seems to be resting on Nandi's hump with the arm hanging downward. In that hand he probably holds the end of a scarf,12 which crosses his legs in a varying number of folds (shown as semicircular lines) and he wears a necklace, seen on some coins as a semicircular line just below his neck.13 Cribb (1997, p. 13) says Siva is naked, shown with an erect linga; this can be confirmed as I have found a few coins in a good enough condition to be able to recognise the linga and others where the way the image has worn in the pubic area suggests it. Siva also wears the sacred string over his left shoulder which lies diagonally across his chest to his right hip. Above his head one can see three prongs sticking upwards resembling a crown, and a continuous line running around the top and sides of his head, probably representing his hair.14 Adjoining to these lines and sometimes more distant on each side there is always an item varying in form from a blob to a wavy line. In many cases it comprises a wavy line or blob on one side and a crescent with a slanting line on the other. On some well preserved coins Siva has a moustache. The inscription ideally runs counter clock­wise in Kharosthi letters beginning above or to the left of Siva's head: maharajasa rajadirajasa sarvalogaisvarasa mahisvarasa'5 v'ima kathpisasa tratara}6 I have not been able to find any indication of Siva holding anything other than his garment in his left hand. There is no sign of a water pot or an animal skin.

Concerning the main point of this article, Siva's three-headedness, it was the blobs beside his head that first caught my attention: I instinctively said they are heads and this is a three headed Siva. But they were always quite indistinct and I shelved the idea for the moment and continued looking for attributes that would enable me to group these coins. 1 proceeded to look at the relevant coins in the British Museum's collection to try and establish some kind of order.17 After intensely studying some twenty odd coins I realised that this crescent and line, which was sometimes on the left and sometimes on the right of Siva's head, looked a bit like a face and nose, although it was not possible to establish a proper form for it.

Joe Cribb was then kind enough to look at these coins with me and filled in the missing link. On one of the monolingual types in the British Museum's collection,18

which he believes to be the earliest form of this coin type," one can clearly see a horned animal's head to the left of Siva's

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Page 5: Three-headed Śiva on the Reverse of Vima Kadphises's Copper Coinage

JOHN PERKINS

head and a bearded face to the right (Figs. 5, 6). It had been this face that alerted me. Looking at all the available coins in the Masson and British Museum collections, in this new light, I discovered that all those in good enough condition had the horned animal head and human face, on varying sides of the head. There are some not so well preserved coins that might even have two faces, but this is a guess. However, the fact remains that all coins in good condition are of the former kind. Once I knew what I was looking for, I found that there were many more coins showing these additional heads.20 It is actually possible to follow the development from the form of the face with beard, to a crescent with slanting line or a blob and the horned animal's head, to a blob or an elongated flowing line.

Now that the three-headed Siva was evident in the copper coinage I also decided to look at the gold coinage of Vima Kadphises in the British Museum's collection and, here too, the few coins depicting Siva and bull show the degenerated versions of the additional heads (Fig. 10).21 It became apparent that even on some coins with Siva standing alone looking left there was a horned animal's head, this time behind his head, making him two headed (Fig. II).22

When pursuing the matter further, I was surprised that the coin published by Cunningham (1888, part III, pi. V, 11) is a relatively clear example, where the horned animal's head is to the left and the bearded face is to the right of Siva's head. While researching the phenomenon of multi-headedness in connection with Siva, I discovered that Banerjea (1956, p. 122) had had a similar hunch: he describes the coin published by Cunningham as appearing to be polycephalous, while saying that Cunningham simply refers to the figure as Siva. The idea was picked up by Singh (1978, p. 45). It is astonishing that noone else has picked up Banerjea's idea, and even Rosenfield, who cites the very page in connection with the flames/hair, and Cribb (1997) in his study on the Siva images on Kushan coins, do not mention it.

Interestingly there is a gold coin of Vasudeva I (190-233 AD),21 which has a three-headed Siva of the same type on the reverse.24 It shows a four-armed Siva, standing before Nandin. There is a horned animal's head to the right of Siva's head and a human face to the left. This is the same type of three-headed Siva, except for the additional arms, as we already have on the copper coins of Vima Kadphises, and this means that this imagery was still available to the die cutter some 60 years later. Oddly, however we have no evidence so far of it being used on Kushan coins in the intervening period between these two kings; neither do we know if the same meaning was attached to it at this later date. This does not of course take into account the three-headed Siva on the coinage of Huvishka (151-190 AD),25 as the additional heads there are both human.

Having established that the three-headed Siva has a firm place in the coinage of the period, it is worthwhile tracing the image of a three-headed Siva, including animal

// . Gold dinar of Vima Kadphises, British Museum collection.

12. Gold dinar of Huvishka (151-190 AD), British Museum collection.

13. Gold dinar of Huvishka, British Museum collection.

heads, in other contemporary visual arts. There are various examples of a three-headed Siva on seals from Gandhara and the north-west (Ghose 2002, I, p. 87-89; Cribb 1997, p. 39) and also in sculpture from Mathura (Kreisel 1986, p. 142-152). However, a three-headed Siva including animal heads in sculpture seems to be unique in the north-west subcontinent (Srinivasan 1997, p. 270).26 This is, of course, the Kushan heartland and leads Ghose (2002, I, p. 91) to speak of a local tradition, which fits to Hartel's opinion (1989, p. 392) that: "The Siva of the Kusana coins is an iconographic product of the north-west...". It is surprising that this is the case even though Siva images from the north-west are rare anyway (Ghose 2002, I, p. 86-87). If this continues to be true, and the spread of this form in sculpture is anything to go by, it could allow us to identify coins struck with a three headed Siva with animal head(s) as coming from the north-west.

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Page 6: Three-headed Śiva on the Reverse of Vima Kadphises's Copper Coinage

THREE-HEADED SIVA ON THE REVERSE OF VIM A KADPHISES'S COPPER COINAGEE

As to sculptures depicting Siva having animal heads, Taddei (1983, pp. 615-628) informs us of a 33cm-high and 13cm-wide Gandharan relief of grey schist from a private collection. The head of Siva, who has four a rms, is accompanied by the head of the boar left and the head of a bovine on the right.27 Taddei dates it to the fourth century AD and suggests that it might be a composite image of a dominant Siva and Visnu, but Ghose (2002, I, pp. 90-91) believes the image simply to be Siva. There is a further example, now in Berlin, described by Hartel (1989, pp. 393-394) as being of grey schist and 18cm high showing a four-armed Siva with a lion's head to the right and an antelope's head to the left, which he dates to the time of Huvishka on stylistic grounds. Kreisel (1986, p. 154.) believes both sculptures show a syncretism specific to the Gandharan region. The two examples both show Siva with two additional animal heads, but the coin image shows instead one additional animal and one additional human head. The obvious question arising here is whether we have any parallels for this form. Surprisingly, there is such an image, which resembles our three-headed Siva. It is a Gandharan sculpture of a four-armed Siva who has an additional animal head to the right and a human face to the left (Ghose 2002, I, p. 91). The non-human face which Ghose describes as animal can at least be narrowed down to a horned animal. The sculpture comes from the private collection of Sherrier, and luckily has at least been depicted and briefly described by Ghose (2002, I, p. 91 and II, p. 43. 2.37).

So, apart from two examples showing Siva with additional animal heads, there is also one that actually seems to depict the same image we have from the coins. Although the Sherrier Siva has four arms and is not shown with the bull, he does have a trident. This shows that this imagery of Siva was not confined to Kushan coins but was actually part of the corpus of religious symbolism in the north-west subcontinent28

The coinage of Vima Kadphises depicts the earliest dateable anthropomorphic image that can safely be identified as Siva.29 In addition, thanks to this new discovery, we can now also push back the date for the first coins with a three-headed Siva from Huvishka to Vima (Cribb 1997, pp. 16-17; Srinivasan 1997, p. 270 and Hartel 1989, p. 392).30 This symbolism is not unique to the coinage, but bound up with contemporary religious ideas and embedded at least in the local Kushan culture of the north-west subcontinent.

NOTES

1 Cribb (2005, p. 222). There are other suggested dates but I shall restrict myself to giving only this widely accepted one. For further discussion on this subject see Alram (1999).

2 Cunningham (1888, part III, pp. 8-9; p. 32; pi. V, 11). However, in the catalogue of plates he refers to pi.

XV. Mitchiner (1978, pp. 405-409). Gardner (1886, p. 126, pi. XXV, 12). Gobi (1986, p. 35; pp. 72-73, Type 760 and 762).

3 Cribb (1997, p p . 29*10) d i s c u s s e s t h e i d e n t i t y o f t h i s god in detail, while Ghose (2002, pp. 84-85) gives a good overview of current views and contributions and Mode (2003, pp. 157-159) discusses him in connection to the Sogdian god Wesparkar. Further bibliography can be found in the cited works. I will simply refer to this god here as Siva for convenience.

X We can see the same image of round belt buckles and a string hanging down on the Kushan stone sculpture of Mathura (Rosenfield 1967, fig. 12), which confirms this interpretation, and similar types (Rosenfield 1967, figs. 8 and 13) to further corroborate it, as they represent people in Kushan dress.

5 The hand holding the hilt is only visible on a few, well preserved, coins and can be seen clearly on the relevant gold coinage, where the pommel seems to be a bird's head.

5 Which is a key symbol for Siva, see Banerjea (p. 116); Srinivasan (p. 224-225); and Cribb (1997, p. 27). And ultimately seems to originate from Poseidon, see Ghose (2002, p. 78 and same page, footnote 94).

7 The form of the club usually has three 'spikes' on each side and is clearly copied from the Heracles club on Kujula's Hermaeus imitations, a connection which has also been made by Rosenfield (1967, p. 181). It could of course be connected directly to the symbolism and connotations of Heracles, whatever this may have meant to the Kushans. As Cribb (1997, p. 36) says: "... it is surely relevant that the Kushan kings Wima Kadphises and Huvishka carry his club". I would like to suggest a further possibility: as it appears on the obverse beside the king it might also be a reference to "... the emblem of sovereignty manifested both in military triumph and in judicial punishment,..." as Rosenfield (1967, p. 180) remarks regarding the club of Kanishka from the statue from Mat, Mathura of this king. He sees the prototype for this club on the copper coins of Vima from Mat (Rosenfield 1967, p. 181). This analogy I believe should not be neglected since the Sanskrit word danda among other meanings means club and because of this it also can be the word for judicial authority or army. For these reasons I would like to put forward the idea of splitting the implicit meaning of the obverse in two, with the trident-battle axe and the altar possibly representing the religious power or support for the king while the tamga and club on the other side represent his worldly power or might.

8 However they do not refer to the sword, belt buckles or caftan-clasps.

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JOHN PERKINS

9 Mistakenly described as the king's head. 10 Translation by the author. 11 Translation by the author. 12 A very similar posture can be seen in a stone

Umasahitamurti (a joint image of Siva and ParvatI) sculpture from Mathura, but it is ParvatI who holds the scarf in a similar way. See Czuma (1985, p. 129, Fig. 56).

13 This type can be seen worn by Siva on the same statue. See Czuma (1985, p. 129, fig. 56).

14 The prongs would have been what Rosenfield (1967) describes as "tongues of flames" and Banerjea (1954) refers to as jata.

15 This transliteration was suggested by Falk in an e-group: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Kushanas/ message/1236. Seen on 01/03/2007. Which he says means that it is simply the king's title and not (as has been assumed) a reference to Siva.

16 But there is also a coin type where the mahisvarasa comes before the sarvalogaisvarasa.

17 I have now sorted the coinage tentatively into three basic groups - they are discernible by the form of the Greek and Kharosthi letters and inscriptions.

Group 1 has a v-shaped u and always gives the name OOHMO in the Greek legend while the Kharosthi legend has distinctive forms of the di, lo and v'i and is always sarvalogaisvarasa mahisvarasa, sometimes the i after sarvaloga is dropped. I believe this one to be the 'purest' type.

Group 2 has a y shaped u and gives the name OOHM, OOMH or OOMO (maybe thus forming subgroups), sometimes the i and H are dropped in the Greek legend while the Kharosthi legend has distinctly different forms of the di, lo and v'i and the same forms of the legend as Group 1.

Group 3 is very similar to 2 but mostly drops the i and sometimes H in the Greek legend and has mahisvarasa sarvalogaisvarasa in the Kharostthi legend and here too sometimes the i after sarvaloga is dropped. The two versions of the Kharosthi legend were pointed out to me by Joe Cribb before I began working on this coinage. Hopefully this knowledge will help develop a finer distinction for this coinage.

18 Here the prongs above Siva's head have a different shape from the other images.

19 Cribb (personal communication). 20 A small selection can be seen on Figs. 1-9. 21 These coins are published by Gobel (1984, pi. 1,

types 1.1,2.1,3.1 and 4.1). 22 Most of these coins are published by Gobel (1984,

pi. 1 types 5.1; pi. 3 types 15.1-2 and 17.1). 23 Cribb (2005, p. 223). See note 1. 24 This coin is as yet unpublished and comes from a

private collection, and it was brought to my attention by Joe Cribb (personal communication).

25 Cribb (2005, p. 222). See note 1. 26 The seal depicted by Cribb (1997, p. 66 Figs. 17a

and b) is actually a very good example of our type of Siva. On the sealing it shows the bearded face to the left of Siva's head and the horned animal to the right. However the hemline of the Kushan king's garment suggests that it probably dates to the third century AD (Elizabeth Errington, personal communication).

27 Although he is not entirely sure about the identification as can be seen by his statement: "... the bovine - if it is a bovine..."

28 Concerning the direction of influence, i.e. from coin to sculpture or vice versa I am not able to comment, but Hartel (1989, p. 392) seems to argue for the coins influencing sculpture, although this does not become entirely clear.

29 The iconography of Siva is clearly visible in terms of his nakedness, his linga, his water pot (on the gold coinage) and the bull. Cribb (personal communication).

30 With two additional animal heads and another example with two additional human heads; see Figs 12 and 13. Hartel (1989, p. 396) believes this coin to have two animal heads and says it is the only coin from the Kanishka era to depict animal side-heads. This of course has now been extended by the copper coinage of Vima and the gold coin of Vasudeva.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

I would like to dedicate this paper to my beloved godfather Edward Newlands, who was a second father to me and always supported me in pursuing my line of study. He sadly passed away recently and is sorely missed.

My work at the British Museum has been funded by the Neil Kreitman Fund of the RNS. I am very grateful to Mr Kreitman and the RNS, who have enabled me to put forward this paper. I would like to thank Elizabeth Errington and Joe Cribb for all the support and guidance they have given me while working at the British Museum and in particular with this subject.

BIBLIOGRAPHICAL REFERENCES

Alram, M, 1999, "Indo-Parthian and early Kushan chronology: the numismatic evidence", in Alram, M and Klimburg-Salter, D E (eds.). Coins Art and Chronology. Essays on the Pre-Islamic History of the Indo-Iranian Borderlands (=Ver6ffentlichungQn der Numismatischen Kommission, 33.), Vienna, pp. 19-48.

Banerjea, JN, 1956, The Development of Hindu

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THREE-HEADED SIVA ON THE REVERSE OF VIMA KADPHISES'S COPPER COINAGEE

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