The Coinage of the Gupta Empire and its Imitations c15.s1.t2.7

c15.s1.t2.7

If the personages on the obverse were the king and the queen, their names would have been given there as on the coins of Chandragupta I.⁴ Such is not the case. The view of Smith that the letter near the king’s head *Ska* is standing for *Skanda* and that the letters near the lady’s head were perhaps *priyā* forming part of the queen’s name is untenable.⁵ The former letter is clearly *nva* of the word *sudhanvī*; *Priyā* cannot be read with certainty near the lady’s head on any specimen. It may be further pointed out that on the King-and-Queen type of Chandragupta I and Kumāragupta I, the king is always on the right and the queen on the left, and it is the former who is offering a present to the latter. On the present type of Skandagupta, he occupies the place on the left and it is the lady who is offering him some object, to which he is looking with intense interest and curiosity. The recipient is generally inferior in status, as is also shown by the Chakravikrama type of Chandragupta II. The lady being superior in status should therefore be presumed to be a goddess, *viz.* Lakshmī. It is possible to argue that Lakshmī having been shown on the reverse, her appearance again on the obverse is superfluous. The king's expression is not one of humility and devotion and so the personage before him, who has no halo, can hardly be Lakshmī. On the whole, however, it appears more probable that this type is intended to illustratrate graphically the poetic idea of Skandagupta being chosen as her lord by the goddess Lakshmī, which we find expressed in his Bhitari inscription. Ladies of fashion no doubt often held a lotus in their hand, but that would not stand in the way of our identifying the lady here with Lakshmī. The Garuḍa standard in the centre and the bow and arrow in the king's hands would probably suggest that the scene is one of the battlefield and that the mint-master intended to give a visual representation of the goddess Jaya-Lakshmī making her appearance on the battle-field and offering him some object indicative of success and sovereignty,—possibly paṭṭabandha or diadem.