The Age of the Imperial Guptas c10.71

c10.71

The copper coinage of Candragupta II is much better known and more varied than that of his father Samudragupta. The first variety shows the bust of the king on the obverse and *Garuda* on the reverse with the legend *Mahārāja-Candraguptaḥ*. In the next type the three-quarters figure of the king is given attended by a dwarf. On the reverse we see *Garuḍa* with two hands in addition to the two wings. There are several varieties in this type, the distinguishing feature consisting of the presence and absence of human arms in the figure of *Garuḍa*. In the third type we find the three-quarters length figure on the obverse and *Garuḍa* on the reverse. While the legend on the first and second types is *Mahārāja-Candraguptaḥ* on the reverse,¹ that on the third type is simply *Śrī-Candraguptaḥ*, on the fourth type we find legends both on the obverse and the reverse with the bust of the king on the obverse. The obverse legend is *Śrī-Vikramādityaḥ* and the reverse legend is *Śrī-Candraguptaḥ*. Copper coins of the fifth type show *Garuḍa* standing on an altar with a snake in its mouth and the simple legend *Candraguptaḥ*. On the obverse we find the bust of the king as on type IV, but no legend. The sixth type shows no altar on the reverse but the return of the honorific epithet *Śrī* in the legend, the obverse legend being absent. Coins of the seventh type are very small, being approximately about one-third of an inch in diameter. On the obverse we see the head of the king and on the reverse the figure of *Garuḍa* holding a snake and the simple legend *Candraguptaḥ*. On the eighth type the name of the king only is given on the obverse in two lines *Śrī Candra* and the rest of it *guptaḥ* below Garuḍa on the reverse. In the last *i.e.*, the ninth type the name is still further shortened on obverse as *Candra* and we find a vase on the reverse.¹