The Coinage of the Gupta Empire and its Imitations c14.s1.t2: Class V: Madhyadeśa Type
The Coinage of the Gupta Empire and its Imitations c14.s1.t2
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Class V: Madhyadeśa Type
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Class IV of the silver coinage of Kumāragupta consists of the issues intended for circulation in the Gangetic plain or Madhyadeśa. This type shows many striking variations from the Western Indian type. The size and the weight are nearly the same in both the cases; the obverse continues to have the bust of the king and the reverse a bird with a circular legend around it. But there are several points of striking difference.
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(1) The face on the obverse is in most cases not an imitation of the Kshatrapa head; (cf. Pl. XVII. 1-17 with 22-28) Prominent nose and long moustaches disappear. The king's nose is flat and almost in a line with the forehead. The hair behind the head is, however, still shown as falling in the Kshatrapa fashion. It has been suggested that the Madhyadeśa coins seek to give a portrait of the emperor.² This may perhaps be true in the case of Kumāragupta I, but it has to be admitted that the features of Skandagupta on the Madhyadeśa silver currency are closely similar to those of Kumāragupta I (cf. Pl. XVIII. 19-22). Effort at portraiture, if attempted in the reign of Kumāragupta, was given up later, unless we assume that the features of Skandagupta closely resembled those of his father.
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² Allan, *B.M.C.*, *G.D.*, p. xcv.
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On a few rare coins, however (Pl. XVII. 28), we see a combination of the Kshatrapa bust on the obverse with fan-tailed peacock on the reverse. Such coins are, however, very rare.
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(2) The meaningless traces of the unintelligible Greek legend never appear on the Madhyadeśa coins; they are usually to be seen on most of the issues of Western India with the exception of two varieties.
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(3) The date on the coins of the Western type, when given, is behind the king's head; it is in its front on the Madhyedeśa coins. Numerical symbols used are also different (cf. Pl. XVII. 1 with Pl. XVII. 22-3).
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(4) Garuḍa, the reverse device of the Western type, is replaced by Fan-tailed Peacock on the Madhyadeśa coins. If the representation of Garuḍa had a significant reference to the heraldic emblem of the Gupta dynasty, that of Peacock alluded to god Kumāra or Kārtikeya, whose mount was that bird; it was after this deity Kumāragupta, the issuer, was named.
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(5) The legend on the Madhyadeśa type is also different. On the Western issues it was a prose sentence *Paramabhāgavata-mahārājādhirāja-śrī-Kumāragupta-Mahendrādityaḥ*;¹ on the Madhyadeśa coins it was a metrical line, *Vijitāvaniravanipatiḥ Kumāragupto divaṃ jayati* (Pl. XXI. 20), borrowed from the gold Archer type of this emperor. This legend, with only the change of the issuer's name, was destined to be current for two hundred years in Madhyadeśa; for it was later adopted by Skandagupta, Budhagupta, Toramāṇa, all Maukhari kings, Pratāpaśīla and Harshavardhana.
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¹ It is slightly abridged on the Altar type of Skandagupta by the omission of the term *Mahārājādhirāja*, necessitated by the smaller size of the coins. *Mahārājādhirāja* is abridged into *Rājādhirāja* on one variety of Kumāragupta himself; see class III, var. B, p. 225.
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(6) There is no palæographical difference in the scripts used. But it is worth noting that the marks of medial vowels, which are usually shown very carefully on the Madhyadeśa coins (cf. Pl. XVII. 22-25), are never engraved on the dies of the Western type, even when there was ample room to accommodate them (cf. Pl. XVII. 3-4).
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The average size of the normal coins of this type varies between .55" and .6" and the weight between 29 and 31 grains. *B.M.C.* No. 396, however, weighs 36.5 grains and No. 398, 25.6 grains only. These are exceptional pieces, as far as their weights are concerned.
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The dates of issue, so far noted on these coins, are 122, 124, 128, 129, 130, 135, of the Gupta era corresponding to 440, 443, 447, 448, 449 and 454 A. D. They would suggest that the silver currency was introduced in the home provinces rather late in the reign of the emperor.
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The coins of the Madhyadeśa type are common in the Uttara Pradesh. They were obtained at Saharanpur, Mathurā, Kanpur, Banaras and Ayodhyā. Curiously enough they have been so far rarely found in Bihar, the home province of the Gupta empire, nor in Bengal, which continued under the Gupta sway even during the decline of the dynasty. It is not easy to explain this absence.
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Madhyadeśa type is divided into five varieties. In variety A, there is on the reverse an uncertarin object on left which is probably the conventional representation of a lotus. In variety B, this object is represented by three dots. In variety C, the field is empty. Variety D is like variety A, but has the peculiar feature of leaving a clear margin between the border of dots and the circular legend. The bust on the reverse is of the Kshatrapa type.
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We now proceed to describe the coins of these varieties, illustrated in our work.