The Coinage of the Gupta Empire and its Imitations c8.13

c8.13

All earlier numismatists had attributed Chandragupta-Kumāradevī coins to Chandragupta I. Mr. Allan, however, maintained that these coins were commemorative medals struck by Samudragupta in commemoration of his father and his own Lichchhavi descent.¹ The present writer has examined in detail Mr. Allan's various arguments in order to show how his theory rests on slender evidence.² A commemorator, while commemorating his parents or predecessors, rarely fails to indicate his own identity by giving his own name on the reverse. Agathocles (Pl. I. 1), Antimachos Theos³ and Eucratides (Pl. I. 2) have all given their own names on the reverse of their commemorative medals; Samudragupta would have obviously done the same, and added a small legend on the reverse like *Mātāpitṛbhaktaḥ Samudraguptaḥ*. On the Aśvamedha coins, where he does not put his personal name, he is careful enough to indicate the identity of the issuer by the significant legend *Aśvamedhaparākramaḥ*. Why should he completely obliterate himself on this type alone?