The Coinage of the Gupta Empire and its Imitations c17.s1.1

c17.s1.1

The term ‘symbol’ is conventionally used to denote a small geometric type of drawing occurring on the reverse of Gupta coins¹ and consisting of a circle or parallelogram, usually hanging down from a line with a number of prongs or dots above it. Some early writers like Smith had used the term monogram to denote this drawing, as it bears a striking resemblance to the monograms occurring on the Indo-Greek and Indo-Scythian coins, where they are obvious combinations of Greek or Kharoshṭhī letters. It is, however, hardly possible to interpret any symbol on the Gupta coins as a combination of Gupta letters. We therefore prefer to call this drawing a symbol.