The Coinage of the Gupta Empire and its Imitations c11.s8.14

c11.s8.14

The representation of the Chakra-purusha on the obverse of the coin is in remarkable conformity with that given in the *Ahirbudhnyasaṁhitā*.¹ The king desirous of winning military glory and scoring great victories is advised to meditate on Chakra-purusha in the middle² of a wheel,³ having two rims and 64 spokes; he is to have two arms only. The divine figure on the obverse of our coin has also two arms and is standing in the middle of a wheel which has two rims, very clearly indicated. The dots on the rims are obviously intended to stand for the ends of the spokes. In that portion of the wheel which is visible, their number is about 39; we can therefore well presume that the entire wheel was intended to have 64 spokes as stated in the *Saṃhitā*.¹