The Coinage of the Gupta Empire and its Imitations c13.s8.2

c13.s8.2

The British Museum specimens showed the horse upon the obverse as caparisoned and not bare, as on the Aśvamedha coins of Samudragupta. But the Bayana hoard contained two coins imitating the pattern of Samudragupta. The obverse legend is not yet fully read; it appears to be in prose and seems to be ‘*Devojitaśatruḥ Kumāraguptodhirāja*’ (Pl. XXIII. 39); ‘King Kumāragupta, the supreme lord, who has conquered his enemies.’ Mr. Allan had thought that the legend included the expression *Jayati divam Kumāra*, and that the characters under the horse looked like *(a)śvamedha*.¹ The word *Kumāra*, however, appears clearly below the horse on some of the new coins in the Bayana hoard, and is followed by *guptodhirāja*; the reading suggested above, therefore, appers to be a more probable one. The reverse legend is *Śrī-aśvamedhamahendraḥ*; (Pl. XXIV. 66).