The Coinage of the Gupta Empire and its Imitations c16.s8.5

c16.s8.5

The cumulative effect of the above evidence seems to point to the identification of Prakāśāditya with Purugupta,¹ the brother of Skandagupta, who probably ruled between c. 467 and 468. He was sufficiently close in time to his father Kumāragupta I and could have adopted his Rhinoceros-slayer type with a slight variation. The style of the folded feet of the goddess may have been borrowed by him from the later issues of Skandagupta and the fashion may have been continued by his son Narasimhagupta. No other known Gupta king of the latter half of the fifth century is so far known not to have issued gold coinage, and it is therefore not unlikely that Prakāśāditya of gold coins may be Purugupta of the Bhitari seal.² Purugupta was ruling over an undivided Gupta empire and the coins of Prakāśāditya have been found from Rampur to Banaras. Purugupta had most probably a short reign; the coinage of Prakāśāditya is also not copious.