History of India, c. 150 A.D. to 350 A.D.: Naga–Vakataka Imperial Period c15.s2.t1.45.2

c15.s2.t1.45.2

The period which Samudra Gupta occupied as a small rājā, living in Sāketa or between Benares and Sāketa, is determined by his coins of the Tiger type. On these coins he is described merely as ‘Rājā Samudra Gupta’. He had not yet adopted the Garuḍa standard or any of the figures which appear on his imperial coins. The reverse bears the figure of Gaṅgā standing on a Gangetic dolphin (śiśumāra). Gaṅgā and Yamunā were the imperial marks under the Vākāṭakas. Gaṅgā is found on the Bhāraśiva coins and also on the coin of Pravarasena. It seems to have been adopted by Samudra Gupta in his feudatory capacity as an imperial Vākāṭaka mark, which is not repeated in his own imperial coinage. There are very few coins of the Tiger type, yet from the examples found, we are sure that there were at least two issues of this coin. In the Tiger type coins, Samudra Gupta has not assumed the imperial armour-robes like his father, which also shows that Samudra Gupta assumed the humbler rôle of an orthodox Hindu rājā of the United Provinces, quite in line with the other feudatories of the Vākāṭakas. Dating Chandra Gupta I cir. 320 to 340 A.D. and assigning 4 years to the two issues of the Tiger type coinage of Rājā Samudra Gupta, we arrive at 344 A.D., which was a critical date for Samudra Gupta.