The Coinage of the Gupta Empire and its Imitations c9.2

c9.2

Numismatic activity, which started late in the reign of Chandragupta I, was continued with renewed zest and vigour by his illustrious son and successor Samudragupta. The political conditions which compelled Chandragupta I to confine himself only to one coin-type did no longer exist in the reign of Samudragupta, who was an heir to both the Lichchhavi and the Gupta kingdoms. The new king therefore issued a number of coin-types during his long reign. Of these the Standard type was the most popular; it was an adaptation of the late Kushāṇa type prevailing in the eastern Punjab, as already pointed out earlier (pp. 29-30). The Archer and the Battle-axe types were further modifications of the Standard type, where the king is shown as holding a bow and a battle-axe respectively, instead of the standard. These three types may be labelled as the military types. As a natural consequence of the victories in the battle-field, he performed the Aśvamedha sacrifice, which resulted in the issue of the Aśvamedha type. The emperor was a great sportsman and a gifted musician; he decided to proclaim these hobbies of his to his subjects as well as to posterity on some of his coins, and the result was the Tiger-slayer and the Lyrist types.