The Coinage of the Gupta Empire and its Imitations c9.s6.3

c9.s6.3

The conception and execution of the Lyrist type is completely original; save for the presence of the cornucopiæ in the hand of the goddess, it shows no trace of any Kushāṇa influence. His Majesty is represented as seated on a high-backed couch playing on a lute. He wears hardly any dress on his torso; probably the idea was to represent the emperor as seated on the terrace of his palace in a summer evening and engaged in spending his rare leisure hours in the pastime of music, which was one of his favourite hobbies. This type provides a numismatic corroboration of the claim of the Allahabad inscription that Samudragupta could excel even Nārada and Tumburu in his musical skill.