The Coinage of the Gupta Empire and its Imitations c18.s9.7

c18.s9.7

The findspots of the coins as well as their association with those of Samāchāradeva and Śaśāṅka in some finds show that the rulers who issued these rude pieces, held sway in Eastern Bengal. They were considerably influenced by Gupta numismatic traditions, but were not slavishly following them, as is shown by the eight-armed goddess on the reverse. In their weight and border of thick dots, they imitate the half-Śatamāna type of Śaśāṅka. We may, therefore, well attribute them to some local rulers in Eastern Bengal, who ruled after the death of Śaśāṅka. To judge from the uniformity of type, these rulers may well have belonged to one and the same dynasty. S. K. Chakravarti thought that the legend on B. M. No. 620 read Sudhanya standing for Sudhanyāditya. This ruler was, according to him, the founder of this dynasty, who performed the horse-sacrifice; other coins without the horse were issued by his successors, who had not performed the Aśvamedha.¹ The legend, however, is very indistinct; and the reading Sudhanya is very doubtful; Sudhanyāditya as a biruda is hardly known to us from any other source. It is, therefore, not easy to accept the reading Sudhanyā, unless it is confirmed by a clear specimen.