The Coinage of the Gupta Empire and its Imitations c15.s2.t4.6

c15.s2.t4.6

Cunningham was a great authority on Indian numismatics and one cannot lightly set aside his reading. But he was himself not sure of the reading he proposed. After carefully examining the facsimiles of the coins published by Newton and Cunningham, which are reproduced in this work, I have come to the conclusion that no Gupta king, who was son of Kumāra, had issued these coins. They are really the coins of Dahrasena of the Traikūṭaka dynasty. The legend on the coins of this ruler reads *Mahārājendradattaputra-paramavaishṇava-śrī Mahārāja-Dahrasenasya*. Now it may be noted that Newton had actually proposed to read *Mahārājendra-putrasya*² on his coin and his facsimile makes it quite clear that the letters following are *datta*. On Cunningham’s coin the base line under the Chaitya comes immediately below the letters *ndradatta* and this has led to the amputation of the lower part of *ndra*; the next two letters can be read as *datta* by any student of the Traikūṭaka coinage. The name Skandagupta was not definitely read either by Newton or by Cunningham; the letters of the legend at this place were intended to be Dahrasena. They are blurred on the coin of Cunningham, hence his conjecture that the name may be Rudra, Nanda or Skanda. Cunningham's reading *mahāditya* is conjectural; the letters are all off the flan.