The Age of the Imperial Guptas c10.153

c10.153

Later Gupta coinage introduces us to the problems of identifications of these kings, beginning with Candragupta III and ending with Virasena. Unless some more inscriptions are discovered like the Mandasor inscription mentioning Govindagupta and Ghaṭotkacagupta and the Ghugrahati plate of Samācāradeva, there is no chance of identifying and locating these later Gupta emperors. Allan is inclined to assign the horseman type of the coins of Prakāśāditya to Puragupta, but so long as a coin of this type is not discovered bearing the name of Puragupta it will be difficult to accept this identification. The figure of the Horseman is quite different from that on the gold coinage of Candragupta II and Kumāragupta I. The specimens of the horseman type of Prakāśāditya all show a degenerate horse in which a rider is out of proportion and the horse a sorry specimen of the die-sinker's art. This certainly shows that these coins were issued at a time when the die-sinker's art had very much degenerated. It appears to me that the syllable *Ru* beneath the horse is the first syllable of the name of some other Gupta king (? Rudragupta) who is not known to us from any other source. The weight of the coins of Prakāśāditya vary from 136 to 146·2 grains which would certainly indicate some period of coinage between Kumāragupta I and Narasimhagupta Bālāditya :—