[Pramāṇa](https://indike.org/pramana/) › [Studies](https://indike.org/pramana/ins) › [Archaeology, epigraphy and coins](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.epigraphy) › [The Coinage of the Gupta Empire and its Imitations](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.epigraphy.altekar-1957) › c8.13 # The Coinage of the Gupta Empire and its Imitations c8.13 The Coinage of the Gupta Empire and its Imitations c8.13 - **Language:** English ### [c8.13](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.epigraphy.altekar-1957.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? - [Previous: c8.12](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.epigraphy.altekar-1957.c8.12) - [Next: c8.14](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.epigraphy.altekar-1957.c8.14) - [Up: c8](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.epigraphy.altekar-1957.c8) --- Source: [https://indike.org/pramana/ins.epigraphy.altekar-1957.c8.13](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.epigraphy.altekar-1957.c8.13) · Pramāṇa