The Coinage of the Gupta Empire and its Imitations c11.s1.3

c11.s1.3

The type shows the emperor standing generally to left with *Garudadhvaja* in his front, usually holding a bow in the left hand and an arrow in the right. On the reverse there is the goddess seated on throne in class I and on lotus in class II. The coins of class II show the completion of the process of identifying the goddess on the reverse with Lakshmi, for she is now shown both as seated on lotus and as holding a lotus bud or flower in her hand. In the Bayana hoard class II was about 18 times more numerous than class I;¹ this hoard was probably collected in the northern U. P. and thus shows that the Lakshmi type had become popular even in those portions of the empire, which were once accustomed to the Ardoksho type of the Later Kushānas.