The Coinage of the Gupta Empire and its Imitations c13.s9.2

c13.s9.2

Kumāragupta was named after Kumāra or Kārtikeya. The Kārtikeya type, obviously an innovation of the emperor, was intended to pay homage to that deity. The idea to introduce this type appears to have occurred late in the reign, for its specimens are not numerous. The Bayana hoard, which contained 628 coins of Kumāragupta, had only 13 specimens of this type, as against 183 of the Archer type and 305 of the Horseman type. Smith no doubt refers to a hoard of 200 coins found near Allahabad, consisting mostly of the Peacock type coins of Kumāragupta I.) But Cunningham, who had reported the discovery of this hoard to Smith, had seen only four specimens of this hoard and was not in a position to classify its contents or note their types.² It may, therefore, be well doubted whether the hoard really consisted of about 200 coins of the Peacock type. The Jhūsī (Allahabad) hoard³ of about 20 to 30 coins is said to have contained eight coins of the Peacock type. The Bharsar hoard⁴ had only one coin of this type and the Kotwa hoard had two.⁵