The Coinage of the Gupta Empire and its Imitations c13.s8.4

c13.s8.4

Artistically the Aśvamedha coins of Kumāragupta are very much inferior to those of his illustrious grand-father. The horse on Samudragupta’s coins looks graceful and majestic; that on the coins of Kumāragupta, whether bare or caparisoned, can stand no comparison to it. The *yūpa* is crude and neither its *raśanā*¹ nor its *chashāla* can be seen. The letter *si*, which occurs below the horse on the coins of Samudragupta, is to be seen on no specimens of Kumāragupta. The figure of the queen on the reverse is stumpy, bent and fat and is thus very inferior to that of the queen on Samudragupta’s coins, where it is tall, slim and graceful.