The Vakataka–Gupta Age (circa 200–550 A.D.) c16.s8: 8. The Coinage of the Imperial Guptas
The Vākāṭaka–Gupta Age (circa 200–550 A.D.) c16.s8
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8. The Coinage of the Imperial Guptas
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We now procceed to consider the coinage of the Guptas. With the assumption of the imperial title *Mahārājādhirāja*, Chandra-gupta I started his gold coinage. The view of Allan¹ that the coins bearing the figures of Chandra-gupta and his queen Kumāradevī on the obverse are commemorative medals struck by his son Samudra-gupta is untenable. Chandra-gupta I owed his imperial status, to a considerable extent, to the valuable assistance that he had received from the Lichchhavi relations of his wife; it was, therefore, but natural for him to issue throughout his reign a joint coinage, whose type would be acknowledging the Lichchhavi help in a suitable manner. Had Samudra-gupta issued these coins as commemorative medals, the name of the commemorator would naturally have appeared somewhere upon them, as it does on the admittedly commemorative issues of Agathokles and Eukratides. As it is, Samudra-gupta's own name is conspicuous by its absence on these coins.²
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¹ *CGD.* pp. lxiv-lxviii.
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² For a detailed discussion of this controversy see Altekar in *Num. Suppl.* XLVII, 105-111.
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On the obverse of the coins of Chandra-gupta I, we see the king and his queen Kumāradevī standing and facing each other; the king is probably giving the marriage ring to his consort. The names of both are engraved by their sides. On the reverse there is Durgā seated on a lion (Pl. II, 7). The legend is *Lichchhavayaḥ*, which is probably in acknowledgement of the help the Guptas had received from their Lichchhavi relations.³
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³ See *ante*, pp. 118-19.
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In the realm of numismatics, conservatism was a very strong force in ancient times; the early gold issues of the Guptas, therefore, closely resembled those of the later Kushāṇas to whose imperial position they succeeded in the north. The obverse of the Kushāṇa prototype, the king standing and offering incense at the altar, is very common in the earlier stages of the Gupta coinage. The Hindu king is also to be seen wearing the Kushāṇa overcoat and trousers. His name is written perpendicularly under the arm, as on the Kushāṇa prototype. The reverse is again a close copy of the Kushāṇa type, which has Ardoksho seated on a high-backed throne. The Kushāṇa monograms also reappear with only slight variations (cf. Kācha-type, Pl. II, 8)
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There was, however, a definite move to Hinduise the type soon afterwards. The Greek legend on the Kushāṇa prototype was replaced by the Brāhmi one from the very outset. The peaked Kushāṇa cap was never put upon the head of the Gupta emperor. Ardoksho on the reverse was hinduised usually by transforming her into the goddess Lakshmī and seating her on a lotus. Lakshmī, that was thus introduced on the reverse, was destined to figure on the gold coinage for more than a millennium we find her not only on the coins of the Chedis and Gāhaḍavālas, but also on some coins of Muhammad bin Sam (Pl. II, 9).
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The Kushāṇa prototype, king offering incense at the altar, lingered on for a few decades, but side by side with it, the Gupta mint-masters introduced a number of original artistic types. Samudra-gupta's new types were the Archer type, the Battle-axe type, the Couch type, the Tiger-slayer type and the Aśvamedha (Horse sacrifice) type (Pl. III, 1). Chandra-gupta II added the Lion-slayer (Pl. III, 2), the Horseman and the Chhatra (Royal umbrella) types. The coins of most of these types are quite original in their conception and show no foreign influence whatsoever. Their execution is generally very fine, and the high-water mark of Hindu numismatic art may be seen in the Aśvamedha type of Samudra-gupta and the Lion-slayer type of Chandra-gupta II (Pl. III, 1 & 2), which are by far the best specimens of coins struck in ancient India. The art, however, began to decline in the reign of Kumāra-gupta I. The latter no doubt introduced two new types, the Peacock type and the Elephant-rider type, but his coins show a definite artistic deterioration, which was later accentuated by the declining fortunes of the empire. Skanda-gupta was content to issue coins of two types only, the King and Lakshmī type and the Archer type. His gold coins are heavily debased, a natural consequence of the depleted condition of the imperial treasury due to prolonged wars. The successors of Skanda-gupta were usually content to issue gold coins only of one type, the Archer type being the favourite one.
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The Gupta gold coins at first followed the Kushāṇa weight standard of 120 grains, but in the reign of Chandra-gupta II it was raised to 124 gr. Some types of Kumāra-gupta I weigh as much as 132 gr. Skanda-gupta raised the weight to 144 grains and thus transformed his gold coins into *suvarṇas* of the traditional Indian standard of eighty *ratis*. Later Gupta rulers usually followed this standard.
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The poetic renaissance, which was gathering strength in the Gupta age, is seen reflected in the coin legends, the majority of which are metrical and possess considerable poetic merit. One of them, introduced by Kumāra-gupta I, viz. ‘*Vijitāvaniravanipatiḥ Kumāragupto divaṃ jayati*’ was destined to have a long life of more than two centuries. It was copied with the necessary change of the proper name not only by later Gupta kings, like Skanda-gupta and Budha-gupta, but also by the Hūṇa invader Toramāṇa and the Maukhari kings, like Īśāna-varman and Avanti-varman. Even king Harsha requisitioned the same line for his coin-legend.
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Silver coinage was started by the Guptas towards the end of the reign of Chandra-gupta II, when they came into contact with the silver currency of the Western Kshatrapas. The size, weight and fabric of these coins are closely similar to those of the Kshatrapa ones; and no wonder, for they were originally intended to circulate only in those provinces which were once included in the Kshatrapa kingdom. They, therefore, bear the Kshatrapa bust on the obverse, as also the meaningless traces of the once significant Greek legend. The year of issue is however given in the Gupta era and the *Garuda*, the emblem of the conquering dynasty, replaces the three-arched-Hill on the reverse (Pl. III, 3).
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In the reign of Kumāra-gupta I, silver coinage was started also for the home provinces of the Gupta empire, and a new type was introduced which was naturally free from all foreign influences. The meaningless traces of Greek letters were discarded and the Kshatrapa bust was discontinued. The *Garuda* on the reverse was replaced by the peacock (Pl. III, 4), which is the mount (*vāhana*) of god Kumāra, after whom Kumāra-gupta himself was named. Towards the middle of the 5th century financial stringency compelled the Guptas to issue silver-plated coins; they have the Trident on the reverse. Among the later Gupta rulers only Skanda-gupta and Budha-gupta continued the silver coinage of the Peacock variety, but both its type and legend were continued by the Hūṇas, the Maukharis and the Puṣyabhūtis, as observed above already.