Indische Palaographie von circa 350 a. Chr. – circa 1300 p. Chr. c25.4

c25.4

The gold coins, at first, follow the weight-standard which the Kuṣaṇas seem to have borrowed from the Roman *aurei* (v. sup. § 70); but, later, there comes in another class of gold coins which seem to represent the Indian *suvarṇa* (= 146,4 grains or 9,48 grammes) and to be due to a revival of the ancient native weight-standard (v. sup. § 4). It is possible that coins of these two standards were in circulation together, and that they are distinguished on the inscrr. as *dīnāras* and *suvarṇas* respectively (FLEET, CII. III, p. 265; SMITH, JRAS. 1889, p. 43). During the reign of Skandagupta, the Roman standard is abandoned; but it is not equally certain whether or not the re-introduction of the *suvarṇa* took place at the same time or previously (RAPSON, NChr. 1891, p. 57; SMITH, JRAS. 1893, p. 105). The Gupta silver coins, like those of the Kṣatrapas from which they are imitated, seem to be intended for 'hemi-drachms' of the Persian standard (v. sup. § 8). It seems probable that this silver Gupta coinage, which was originally instituted in Surāṣṭra and Mālwa in the reign of Candragupta II Vikramāditya, formed the pattern for a silver issue in the northern and central provinces of the empire during the two succeeding reigns. These silver issues — which may conveniently be called the western and the central — are distinguished by a difference in fabric, workmanship, and design: the latter are thinner and flatter, more carefully executed, and represent the peacock of the reverse with tail more fully expanded (SMITH, JRAS. 1889, pp. 121, 127; C.CMI. p. 17). A debased coinage of copper plated with silver bearing the names of Kumāragupta and Skandagupta, but having a trident instead of a peacock as *rev.* type, is probably to be attributed to Valabhī (v. inf. § 98) at a period when it was still a province of the Gupta empire (SMITH, JRAS. 1893, p. 137; cp. also BÜHLER, WZKM. V, p. 216). The copper coinage of the main portion of the empire shows a greater originality in its types, and appears to owe little to any preceding copper coinage (**Plate IV, 11**: Candragupta II Vikramāditya; SMITH, JRAS.