The Coinage of the Gupta Empire and its Imitations c17.s2.5

c17.s2.5

The reader of this work must have noticed that we have often referred to the standards of 121, 124 and 127 grains being followed in the reigns of Chandragupta II and Kumāragupta I. It may well be asked whether these were three different weight standards or only accidental variations in weight due to the admitted carelessness of the mint-masters in fixing the weights. We think that the former alternative is likely to be the more correct one in view of the circumstanace that some varieties are seen to be rigidly conforming to one of these standards. Thus in the Archer type of Chandragupta II, all the coins of class I, where the goddess is seated on a throne, weigh in the vicinity of 121 grains; there are none which weigh 123 or 124 or 126 or 127 grains. All the coins of this type, where the king holds a sword by his side, are seen to weigh about 126 or 127 grains. All the coins of Kumāragupta I of the Archer type, class I, var. A, where the king holds the bow at the top, weigh about 124 grains; there are none which weigh in the vicinity of either 121 or 127 grains. It is therefore reasonable to assume that there were three different weight standards in the reigns of Chandragupta II and Kumāragupta I; why this should have been the case, we are not in a position to explain.