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A sample of Kuninda coins found in Shimla district.

Kuninda coins found
SHIMLA: A hoard of 174 Kuninda coins have been found in Pandoa village in Shimla district. This hoard comprising 40 silver and 134 copper coins has been acquired by the State museum here.

Court runner found dead
KANGRA, June 2 — Kahan Singh, a 27-year-old person working as a runner in the sub-judge court at Palampur was found dead at his residence today.

Bail plea of 11 dismissed in kidnap case
SHIMLA, June 2 — A Single Bench of the Himachal Pradesh High Court consisting of Mr Justice R.L. Khurana has dismissed the bail applications of all 11 persons alleged to be involved in kidnapping of Dr Dev Yogi.

CM releases two books
SHIMLA, June 2 — The Chief Minister, Mr Prem Kumar Dhumal, today released two books, one written by Mr Shiv Singh Chauhan, a retired public relations officer of the state government titled :Himachali Shakti Peeth" and the other written by Mr R. N. Batta, a state civil services officer, titled "Tourism and the Environment, a quest for sustainability".

Kuninda coins found
From Hari Chauhan

SHIMLA: A hoard of 174 Kuninda coins have been found in Pandoa village in Shimla district. This hoard comprising 40 silver and 134 copper coins has been acquired by the State museum here.

The Kunindas were dominant in Himachal Pradesh for a long time. They are mentioned in epics and puranas. In the Mahabharata they are known to have been defeated by Arjuna. In the Vishnu Purana the Kuninda territory has been named specifically as Kulindopatyaka foothills. Varahamehra also places them somewhere in the Himalayan region.

On the basis of literary sources Cunningham has identified the ancient Kulindas with the present day Kunets of Kulu and Shimla. Ptolemy believed the origin of Kuninda in the country irrigated by the river Ganga, Yamuna, Sutlej and Beas.

Incidentally most of the Kuninda coins have been found in places associated with these rivers e.g. Kashipur, Kumaon, Saharnpur, Garhwal, Haryana and Punjab. In Himachal, Kuninda coins have been found at Tappa-Mewa in Hamirpur district, Jawalamukhi and Kangra. A hoard of coins was discovered at Chakker in the Balh valley. With the study of these coins and the knowledge of the places from where the discoveries were made one can conclude that this Kuninda tribe ruled this region from 1st century B.C. to 3rd century A.D.

The Kuninda issued two types of coins. One type was issued about 1st century B.C. and the other about three centuries later. The present hoard was issued during the 1st century B.C. and bears the name Amogbhuti.

The obverse of the coin is in Brahmi and reverse in Khroshti. The obverse has a deer on the right and Lakshmi is facing it. On the reverse a five- arched hill surmounted by Nandipada, on the right a tree in the railing and on the left two swastik and Inderdhwaja. At the bottom is a wavy line representing a river.

Court runner found dead
From Our Correspondent

KANGRA, June 2 — Kahan Singh, a 27-year-old person working as a runner in the sub-judge court at Palampur was found dead at his residence today.

According to the police, Kahan Singh was found dead in his room and the cause of his death was not immediately known. The body has been sent for a post-mortem examination. Another incident Behari Lal (25) committed suicide by allegedly consuming poison at his residence at Jackbhari village today. The body has been sent for a post-mortem examination.

Meanwhile, residents of Nannoob village today blocked the traffic of the Nurpur-Talwara road in the district for more than two hours and villagers were demanding the arrest of the murderers of an IPH pump operator Omkar Singh. His body was found in a nullah near his village on May 17. A protest rally was held at Nurpur by IPH workers. A case was registered in this connection.

Bail plea of 11 dismissed in kidnap case
From Our Legal Correspondent

SHIMLA, June 2 — A Single Bench of the Himachal Pradesh High Court consisting of Mr Justice R.L. Khurana has dismissed the bail applications of all 11 persons alleged to be involved in kidnapping of Dr Dev Yogi.

The court observed that the disappearance of a person said to be of renowned personality and scholar in various languages and founder of a human organisation, that too 82 years of age, was a matter of concern. So custody was required to trace out Dr Dev Yogi. Earlier, these petitioners were on interim bail.

Immediately after the dismissal of the bail applications some members of the organisation were taken into police custody.

On a petition moved by the State Veterinary Council challenging the notification authorising the veterinary pharmacists to issue animal health certificates, a Division Bench consisting of the Chief Justice, Mr C.K. Thakkar, and Mr Justice L.S. Panta issued notices to the state.

Council for the petitioner council, Mr G.D. Verma, pleaded that as per the rules and under the law only a qualified veterinary practitioner could issue the animal health certificate and by way of issuing notification vide dated 9 July 97 the government had violated the provisions of Indian Veterinary Council Act. He sought the quashing of this notification.

CM releases two books
Tribune News Service

SHIMLA, June 2 — The Chief Minister, Mr Prem Kumar Dhumal, today released two books, one written by Mr Shiv Singh Chauhan, a retired public relations officer of the state government titled :Himachali Shakti Peeth" and the other written by Mr R. N. Batta, a state civil services officer, titled "Tourism and the Environment, a quest for sustainability".

The Chief Minister lauded the efforts of Mr Chauhan and Mr Batta in writing the books and expressed hope that these would be of immense use for the tourists in particular and others in general.