History and Doctrines of the Ajivikas: A Vanished Indian Religion c19.9

c19.9

The latter statement is strikingly confirmed by the coins themselves. For at least two centuries Harṣa’s predecessors had issued only a bronze coinage, bearing on the obverse a seated goddess, and on the reverse a standing king.⁶ Harṣa’s bronze coins, probably issued early in the reign, bear the same devices, but he also issued a plentiful gold and silver coinage, which generally bears new types. The first of these, in gold only, has the device of a horseman, which was probably borrowed from the Śāhi dynasty of Gandhāra; while the second type, both in gold and silver, bears on the obverse a standing elephant and on the reverse the inscription only.¹ The latter type, according to Rapson, was borrowed from the coinage of Koṅgudeśa.²