The Age of the Imperial Guptas c6.54

c6.54

The emblems used on these seals is extremely interesting. Garuḍa, the vehicle of Viṣṇu was the emblem or Lāñchana of the Imperial Gupta family. This will be seen in the upper part of the silver seal of Kumāragupta II and that attached to the Gayā plate of Samudragupta. Fleet regarded the seal as genuine but thought that the inscription on the plate was forged.² Evidently the ladies of the Imperial house did not use the emblem of the Gupta family because on the seal of the Great Queen Dhruvasvāminī discovered by Bloch at Vaiśālī we find a seated lion facing right above the legend. On this seal Dhruvadevī or Dhruva-svāminī is called "the wife of the Mahārājādhirāja, the illustrious Candragupta, the mother of the Mahārāja, the illustrious Govindagupta." In the case of the official seals the figure of Lakṣmī predominates. In the case of the four different classes of Kumārāmātyas the standing figure of Lākṣmī with or without attendants is always present. But in the case of the Commander-in-chief, equal in rank to the Heir-apparent, the place of Lakṣmī is taken by a vase. On the seal of the office of the Master-General of Military Stores the figure of Lakṣmī attended by elephants and dwarfs once more occupy the central space. The private seals of officials do not bear the official lāñchana; symbols of the Sun and Moon on that of Vinayaśūra, a humped bull couchant in the case of the judge Agnigupta and a boar and a conch with the symbols of the Sun and Moon on that of Yakṣavatsa. In the case of provincial officials Lakṣmī with elephants and dwarfs appear on the seals of the more important offices; the seal of the viceroy or Uparika of Tirabhukti, the Censor of Public Morals of the same province and that of the Kumārāmātya of the province. But the lāñchana is quite different in the case of the office of the government of (the city of) Vaiśālī where we find a hemispherical object, "perhaps money-chest," and that of the office of the district (viṣaya) of Vaiśālī in which case we get a wheel with symbols of the Sun and the Moon. Spooner discovered a seal of the office of a court of law with the legend Dharmmāsan-ādhikaraṇasya in which case the lāñchana is a tall vase.¹ Among the few official seals discovered by Spooner the most important is the unique seal of a new class of Kumārāmātyas. The legend is Vaiśālī-nāma-kuṇḍe Kumārāmāty-ādhikaraṇasya; but it is impossible to translate it because we do not know what nāma-kuṇḍe exactly means.¹ In this case we find Lakṣmī with elephants. It appears therefore that while Garuḍa, the vehicle of the god Viṣṇu, was the lāñchana of the Gupta Imperial family, Lakṣmī, the consort of that god, was the emblem of the Imperial offices. The lower provincial officials were not allowed to use it.