The Coinage of the Gupta Empire and its Imitations c7.s1.11

c7.s1.11

The Lyrist, the Tiger-slayer and the Aśvamedha type coins of Samudragupta rank among the best specimens of ancient Indian numismatic art. R. D. Banerji describes them as ‘freak’ types, but there is no doubt that more careful thought and attention was bestowed in determining the details of these types than those of the Standard, the Archer and the Battle-axe types, which are regarded by Banerji as regular types. It is not clear as to what led Banerji to describe these types as freak ones.¹ It is true that they are rare, but such is also the case with the Archer and the Battle-axe types of the emperor, which are equally scarce. The Aśvamedha type coins are in fact more common than those of the Battle-axe or the Archer type.