The Coinage of the Gupta Empire and its Imitations c18.s6.12

c18.s6.12

At Nalanda a seal was found of king Samāchāradeva,¹ and a copper plate issued by him was discovered at Ghugrahatti in Faridapur district of Eastern Bengal, written in 6th century characters. Both the coins and the plate show some common palæographic features. On the coins the medial ā of mā is denoted by a superscript angular stroke, and of chā by a short perpendicular stroke to right. The plate also shows both these peculiarities. It is interesting to note that Ghugrahatti, where the plate was found, is situated only 30 miles from that place on the bank of the Arunkhali in Jessore district, where the Rajalīlā type coin of Samāchāradeva was recovered along with a coin of Śaśāṅka. We may therefore well presume that Samāchāradeva of the coins is identical with Samāchāradeva of the Ghugrahatti plates and also of the seal found in Nalanda. It would appear that in spite of his Śaiva persuasion, as suggested by the Bull standard on his Archer type, Samāchāra was interested in Buddhism and perhaps patronised the Nalanda establishment like kings Susthitavarman, Avantivarman and Harshavardhana, whose sealings also have been recovered at Nalanda.