The Coinage of the Gupta Empire and its Imitations c11.s2.6

c11.s2.6

The varieties in the attitudes of the king and the lion on the obverse, and in the attributes of the goddess on the reverse and the positions of her mount are so numerous that it is difficult to think of any criteria of the classification of varieties that may not involve some overlapping. For the sake of convenience, we have first divided the coins according as the king is to right or left, and then subdivided them further. In variety A, (Pl. VI. 1-3, VII. 10) the king is facing left and the goddess on the reverse is seated on a couchant lion, holding noose in the r. hand and lotus in the l. Variety B (Pl. VI. 4), is represented by a unique coin; its obverse resembles that of the variety A, but the name of the king is also written perpendicularly in the field to the right of his left hand. The lotus on the reverse has a long stalk which becomes twisted in the middle, as the goddess holds it by her left hand resting akimbo. In these varieties the king strings the bow by the l. hand. This is rather unusual; the artist may have desired to show His Majesty as ambidextrous, or he may have, in his desire to produce a different positional effect, ignored the circumstance of the king stretching the bow by the left hand. In varieties C and D, the king faces right and strings the bow by the right hand. The goddess in variety C (Pl. VI. 5), holds a noose in the right and a lotus in the left hand as in varieties A and B. In variety D (Pl. VI. 6), the right hand of the goddess is empty. In variety E (Pl. XIX. 1), which is represented by a single coin in the Bayana hoard, the king faces right, but does not string the bow at all; he merely holds it in his left hand, an arrow being in his right. The right hand of the goddess is empty as in variety D. The coins of the varieties B, C and D will undoubtedly rank among the best specimens of the numismatic art of ancient India. The grace of the muscular body of the king has been fully brought out.