The Coinage of the Gupta Empire and its Imitations c8.26

c8.26

We need not be puzzled by the circumstance of Chandragupta confining himself only to a single type in his reign. His coinage probably began late in his reign, when he formally assumed the title Mahārājadhirāja and started the Gupta era. Like Shivaji he probably did not live long after his formal coronation, and seems to have died within four or five years of that event. Coinage was quite a new administrative activity introduced in the Gupta empire and mint-masters had yet to acquire the necessary experience to embark upon new types. The political alliance with the Lichchhavis would also have rendered the discontinuance of this type very inadvisable, for it recognised the contribution of the Lichchhavis also to the foundation and growth of the new empire.