The Coinage of the Gupta Empire and its Imitations c8.23

c8.23

The so-called originality of the Chandragupta-Kumāradevī type is mostly due to political circumstances. It is admitted on all hands that the Guptas largely owed their rise to the imperial status to the matrimonial alliance of Chandragupta with the Lichchhavis, whose princess Kumāradevī was his crowned queen. When king William III consented to come over to England to govern it, he insisted on being the regnant king; so all the coins issued during the life of William III and Mary II have the names and the conjugate busts of both the king and the queen. It is quite likely that the proud Lichchhavis may have similarly insisted that not only the name and portrait of their princess, but also the name of their clan, should appear on the coinage of Chandragupta I. This explains the originality of the obverse in so far as it shows both the king and the queen.