Ceylon and Kashmir are the only parts of India which pretend to possess a continuous
native history. That of Ceylon is much the more ancient and complete, and as in it coins are
not unfrequently mentioned, even in the earliest periods, it might have been supposed that some specimens of great age would have survived to our own days. Such is not however the case. We have at present only one series of coins of finished form and of a comparatively late date, beginning in the middle of the twelfth and ending at the close of the thirteenth century} Our subject therefore divides itself naturally into two parts :I in the first of which will be considered the data regarding ancient coins and measures found in the Buddhist literature of Ceylon; while in the second those medieval coins which have come down to us will be described and illustrated.