The Coinage of the Gupta Empire and its Imitations c14.s2: Copper Coins of the Silver Type (?)
The Coinage of the Gupta Empire and its Imitations c14.s2
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Copper Coins of the Silver Type (?)
c14.s2.1
Dr. Buhler, who had collected a very large number of copper Gupta coins closely resembling the silver issues in and around Valabhi, thought that those coins were real copper pieces, issued not by the Guptas, but some later rulers who succeeded them at Valabhi.¹ The manufacture of copper coins, however, was such a tedious and unprofitable process in ancient India that it is very unlikely that they could ever have been issued in so large a quantity by some petty local dynasties in Kathiawar or by private moneyers, Even governments were reluctant to take the trouble of minting them. Smith is therefore right in maintaining that they must have been issued by some public authority and must have served as an authorised coinage.²
c14.s2.2
¹ *J.R.A.S.*, 1893, p. 138.
c14.s2.3
² *Ibid.*, p. 139.
c14.s2.4
While admitting that some of these coins were originally silver-plated pieces, Smith maintained that the vast majority of them represented a genuine copper currency exactly identical in weight, size, devices and legend with the silver one. Mr. Allan does not agree with this view and holds that all the coins, now appearing as copper, were originally silver-plated pieces intended to pass as silver coins.³ We hold the same view and have therefore described these coins as class VII of the silver currency (p. 232).
c14.s2.5
³ *B.M.C., G.D.*, Introduction, p. xcvii.
c14.s2.6
The usual practice prevalent in ancient India was to have different types and devices for the gold, silver and copper currencies. The Guptas usually followed this convention and it is very unlikely that they would have departed form it in the reigns of Kumāragupta I and Skandagupta. It would have been particularly unwise and inadvisable for them to issue copper coins exactly resembling the silver type. Owing to financial stringency they had started issuing silver-plated copper coins intended to pass for silver. Had they simultaneously started issuing copper currency also of the same type, there was the danger of their financial fraud being suspected and detected by the public.
c14.s2.7
Nor was there any well-established practice in Gujarat and Kathiawar of issuing coins of the same type both in silver and copper. After carefully investigating the available evidence Smith could come across only a single copper coin of Chashṭana, which was an exact copy of his silver type.¹ It is, however, not unlikely that this so-called copper coin may also have been originally a silver-plated coin with all its silver coating washed off. A silver-plated coin of Chashṭana, exactly resembling his silver type, has been recently found.² Nahapāṇa, who was a near predecessor of Chashṭana, had issued some plated coins exactly resembling his silver pieces³ and Chashṭana, who had to struggle hard to establish the power of his house, did the same.
c14.s2.8
¹ *J.R.A.S.*, 1893, pp. 137-44. This coin has not been referred to by Rapson in his *B.M.C.*, *A.K.*, p. cviii or in Pl. IX.
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² *J.N.S.I.*, Vol. XV. p. 98.
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³ Bhagwanlal possessed one such coin; *J.R.A.S.*, 1890, p. 643.
c14.s2.11
But even supposing that Chashṭana had issued some copper pieces exactly imitating his silver issues, it is very unlikely that the Guptas would have imitated his example. All the successors of Chashṭana were in the habit of generally selecting a different type for their copper currency and it is very unlikely that Kumāragupta would have influenced ced by the practice of a ruler who flourished three hundred years before his time, and not by the uniform practice of the latter's numerous successors. Administrative prudence required that nothing should be done which would have raised the least suspicion about the real nature of the silver-plated issues, and this circumstance alone would have prevented the Gupta mint authorities from sanctioning a type in copper exactly resembling the silver one.