Art. I.—The Coinage of the Early or Imperial Gupta Dynasty of Northern India

Vincent Arthur Smith

doi:10.1017/S0035869X00165712

Art. I.—The Coinage of the Early or Imperial Gupta Dynasty of Northern India

Published online by Cambridge University Press: 15 March 2011

Vincent Arthur Smith

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My paper entitled ‘A Classified and Detailed Catalogue of the Gold Coins of the Imperial Gupta Dynasty of Northern India, with an Introductory Essay,’ written in 1883, and published in 1884 by the Asiatic Society of Bengal, gave a full account of the Gupta gold coinage, so far as it was then known. At that time it was not in my power to extend my investigations to the silver and copper coinage, and subsequent criticism and study showed that my discussion of the gold coins was in some respects defective, and erroneous. An interval of rest from official work has now given me an opportunity of resuming my numismatic studies, and of completing and bringing up to date my examination of the Gupta coinage.

Type: Original Communications
Information: Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society , Volume 21 , Issue 1 , January 1889 , pp. 1 - 158

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/S0035869X00165712 [Opens in a new window]
Copyright: Copyright © The Royal Asiatic Society 1889

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^{page 2 note 1} Mr. A. Grant's gold Gupta coins are now in the Ermitage Impérial at St. Petersburg.

^{page 5 note 1} I formerly followed other writers in calling this prince by the name of S'rî Gupta, that is to say, in treating the honorific prefix S'rî as an integral part of the name. But I now admit the validity of the arguments adduced by Mr. Fleet to show that his name was simply Gupta (Ind. Ant. vol. xiv. p. 94; Corpus Inscr. Ind. vol. ill. p. 8, note 3). I take this opportunity of correcting the mistake I made in supposing that Sir A. Cunningham agreed with Mr. Thomas in erroneously assigning a certain silver coin to (S'rî) Gupta. Sir A. Cunningham assures me that he never did so. I misinterpreted a passage in one of his letters.

^{page 6 note 1} The detailed proof will be found in the Introduction to volume iii. of the Corpus Inscriptionutn Indicarum, and in a less complete form in Ind. Ant. vol. xv. p. 279, etc.

^{page 6 note 2} The name Ghatotkacha is in form a compound of ghata and utkacha, with the nonsensical meaning of ‘a jar with hair on end.’ It is probably a foreign name Sanskritised. The name is of rare occurrence, but is given in the Mahâbhârata to the son of Bhfma by Hidimbâ (Ind. Ant. vol. xiv. 06, 1885)Google Scholar, and also designates a small group of caves near Ajantâ., dating from A.D. 500 or 600. (Fergusson and Burgess, Cave Temples of India, pp. 186, 346; Arch. Survey W. I. vol. iv. p. 60). The name of the king Ghatotkacha does not occur in the Tus'ani inscription, as was formerly supposed (Corpus Inscr. Ind. vol. iii. p. 269, No. 67).

^{page 6 note 3} Recent research has shown that two contemporary dynasties ruled in Nepâl. The Lichchhavi or Sûryavansî family had its capital at Mánagriha, and seems to have ruled Eastern Nepâl. The rival Thakurî family had its capital at Kailâsâkûtabhavana, and apparently governed Western Nepál. The Lichchhavî family used the era which was adopted by the Guptas, perhaps in the reign of Chandra Gupta I., while the Thakurî dynasty employed the era of Harsha Vardhana (A.D. 606). Our earliest Nepal inscriptions belong to the seventh century A.D. (Ind. Ant. vol. xiv. p. 349, and Corpus Inscr. Ind. vol. iii. Introduction).

^{page 7 note 1} The Gayât copper-plate inscription, dated in the year 9, purports to have been executed at Ayodhyâ by order of Samudra Gupta; but Mr. Fleet shows that the document is an ancient forgery, probably executed about the beginning of the eighth century A.D. The seal, however, “ is in all probability a genuine one of Samudra Gupta, detached from another plate.” But it is too much worn to be of value as a contemporary record (Corpus Inscr. Ind. vol. iii. p. 254, No. 60). The era in which the grant purports to be dated is not specified, but if the forger meant to use the so-called Gupta era, he must have believed that Samudra Gupta was reigning in A. D. 328–29, and it is hardly possible that the belief was correct. The former may have meant the regnal year.

^{page 8 note 1} The foregoing historical summary is hased on Mr. Fleet's work on the Gupta Inscriptions, vol. iii. of the Corpus Inscr. Ind.

^{page 9 note 1} Guptas of Mahâ Kosala, or Central Provinces (Arch. Mep. vol. iviii. p. ivii; vol. xvii. pp. 17, 85, 87);of Orissa (ibid. vol. xvii. pp. 17, 85, 87); of Western Gauda, in Central Provinces (ibid. vol. ix. p. 156).

^{page 9 note 2} See post, coins of Kacha in Catalogue of Gold Coins, p. 74.

^{page 11 note 1} Brief notices of the coins of Bhîma Sena, Krishna Râjâ and Toramâna will be found post in the Supplement to my Catalogue of Silver Coins, pp. 135–138. No thorough account of the coins of Mihirakula has been published. The B.M. possesses a good many specimens. See Ind. Ant. vol. xv. pp. 245–252, and 345–348.

page 11 note 2 The coins of Îśâna Varmâ are noticed post in the Supplement to my Catalogue of Siver Coins, p. 136.

^{page 12 note 1} Formerly called by me Boy and Battle-axe.

^{page 12 note 2} Formerly named Solar Standard.

^{page 12 note 3} Formerly named Lancer.

^{page 12 note 4} Formerly called Swordsman and Umbrella.

^{page 16 note 1} Ind. Ant. vol. xiv. p. 93.

^{page 17 note 1} Proc. A.S.B. Nov. 1883, p. 144.

^{page 17 note 2} “Ares as a Sun-god, and Solar Symbols on the Coins of Macedon and Thrace,” by Percy Gardner (Num. Chron. vol. xx. N.S. p. 56, pi. iv. fig. 4).

^{page 18 note 1} I take this opportunity of remarking that an incidental reference of mine to Persian darics (J. A S.B. part i. vol. liii. p. 149) exaggerated the rarity of these coins. Sir A. Cunningham informs me that 300 were found in Xerxes’ canal at Mount Athos, and that there is no reason to suppose that Warren Hastings was mistaken in describing as darics the 172 gold pieces found near Benares, which he sent home to the Court of Directors, and which speedily disappeared.

^{page 18 note 2} Line 27 of the Allahabad Pillar inscription in Corpus Inscr. Indie. vol. iii. p. 14, notes 1 and 2. Lines 6 and 16 of the same inscription also refer to the mental gifts of Samudra Gupta.

^{page 19 note 1} Corpus. Inscr. Ind. vol. iii. pp. 3, 4.

^{page 19 note 2} Not ‘Se,’ as formerly read. It also occurs on a late Indo-Scythian coin from the Panjab in A. C. cabinet (Ind. Ant. vol. xiv. p. 94).

^{page 19 note 3} Ibid, pp. 44, and 27, 28. I erroneously supposed formerly that the passage in the Bilsar inscription referred to Kumâra Gupta.

^{page 19 note 4} According to MrHewitt, J. F., Indra, “appears to be the special god of the warrior tribes, as opposed to the Brahmans” (J.R.A.S. Vol. XX. N.S. p. 335)Google Scholar.

^{page 20 note 1} Cf. the introduction of Demeter in the coins of Demetrius of Syria. Monsters like that on which the coin goddess stands are not uncommon in early Indian sculpture.

^{page 21 note 1} Cf. the mention of the later Kumâra Gupta in 1. 5 of the Âphsar inscription of Aditya Sena —lrdquo;That king begat one son, hy name the illustrious Kumâra Gupta, of renowned strength, a leader in battle; just as (the god) Hara begat a son (Kârttikeya), who rides upon the peacock.”— Corpus Inscr. Ind. vol. iii. p. 206.

^{page 22 note 1} Trésorde Numismatique, Iconographie dea Empereurs Bomains, pi. xxii. 11.

^{page 22 note 1} Ibid. plates xlviii. 4, 5; lii. 3; xli. 1.

^{page 24 note 1} Ind. Ant. vol. xiv. p. 93.

^{page 24 note 2} Corpus Inscr. Ind. vol. iii. p. 14, note 3.

^{page 24 note 3} The word dînâr is used in Gupta inscriptions for a gold coin. The Garhw& (Gadhwâ) inscription from the Allahabad district is remarkable for expressing certain endowments both in dînâras and suvarnas (Corpus Inscr. Ind. vol. iii. p. 266, No. 64).

^{page 24 note 4} Cf.the coins of Antiochus I. (J.A.S.B. vol. 1. part i. p. 178, pi. xviii. 14, 15).

^{page 25 note 1} J.A.S.B. vol. liv. part i. pp. 84–92.

^{page 25 note 2} In illustration of the fact that the cornucopiæ was a foreign symbol I may mention that in M. Williams' English-Sanskrit Dictionary the word has to be rendered by a long periphrasis. No Sanskrit name for the symbol is adduced.

^{page 26 note 1} Birdwood, Industrial Arts of India, vol. i. p. 58.

^{page 26 note 2} I am indebted to Mr. E. J. Kapson for the quotation of this epithet.

^{page 27 note 1} M. Williams, English-Sanskrit Dictionary, s. v. Lakshmi.

^{page 27 note 2} Babylonian and Oriental Record, vol. ii. p. 43Google Scholar.

^{page 28 note 1} Translated from p. 230 of Die Nachfolger Alexanders des Grossen in Baktrien und Indien, von Alfred von Sallet, Berlin, 1879.

^{page 28 note 2} J.A.S.B. vol. liv. part i. p. 85.

^{page 28 note 3} Cunningham, Arch. Rep. vol. ix. p. 26; and Fleet, Corpus Inscrip. Indie, vol. iii. p. 11. Both Chandra Gupta and Kumara Gupta indifferently turn their Horseman devices right and left. I doubt, therefore, whether any significance can be attached to the fact that the head on Toramana's coins is turned to the left.

^{page 29 note 1} Cunningham, , Arch. Rep. vol. ix. pp. 23, 31Google Scholar.

^{page 29 note 2} J.Bo.R.A.S. vol. vii. p. 23 (1862). The reference is to Mr. Newton's paper ‘On the Sah, Gupta, and other Ancient Dynasties of Kattiawar and Guzerat,’ which gives a very careful account of the Satrap coins, with a plate. The Satraps used erroneously to be called the Sâh Dynasty, owing to a misreading of the cognomen Sinha. See also Mr. Newton's paper ‘On Recent Additions to our Knowledge of the Ancient Dynasties of Western India,’ in Bo.J.R.A.S. vol.ix. p. 1 (1868).

^{page 31 note 1} The above lists differ considerably from those given in J.A.S.B. vol. liii. part i. pp. 137, 138, subsequent discoveries and observations having rendered correction necessary.

^{page 31 note 2} A mark like an iota occurs commonly on the coins of the Satraps of Saurashtra before the date, and occasionally on the Gupta silver coins, “which Mr. Newton supposed to be a mint-mark.

^{page 33 note 1} Gardner, Greek and Scythic Kings of Bactria and India, pi. xviii. 11.

^{page 34 note 1} J.A.S.B. vol. xxxiv. part i. pi. xi. nos. 10 and 14. The same plate was also published in Numism. Chron. n.s. vol. iv. pi. xi.

^{page 34 note 2} A valuable table of alphabets, including the characters of some of the Satrap and Gupta inscriptions, is given in plate v. of vol. iv. of the Archaeological Survey of Western India.

^{page 35 note 1} In inscriptions of the Gupta period t and h, when followed by r, are often fdoubled, e. g. the AÎirgarh seal of Sarvavarman (Corpus Inscr. Ind. vol. iii. p. 20).

^{page 38 note 1} Corpus. Inscr. Ind. vol. iii. p. 27, note 4.

^{page 44 note 1} The pana in copper was the same weight as the suvarnain gold, and the equivalent in value of 80 cowrie shells, or a handful (Arch. Rep. vol. x. p. 78; vol. xiv. p. 17).

^{page 45 note 1} See post, Chapter X. Supplement to Catalogue of Copper Coins, p. 144.

^{page 46 note 1} Proc. A.S.B. April, 1886, p. 68. Information respecting this hoard was first given me by Mr. E. Rose, of the P. W. D.

^{page 46 note 2} Proc. A.S.B. July, 1887. I had not an opportunity of correcting the proofs of this paper, and regret that it is consequently disfigured by some misprints in the references.

^{page 47 note 1} Proc. A.S.B. for 1887, p. 221.

^{page 47 note 2} Scilicet those with reverse device of peacock with expanded tail, which I call Fantail Peacock coins.

^{page 47 note 3} Haridwâr (Hurdwar), a famous place of pilgrimage, is in the Sahâranpur District of the North-Western Provinces.

^{page 47 note 4} The rest of Sir A. Cunningham's valuable note-books were destroyed by the shipwreck of the P. and 0. steamer Indus.

^{page 49 note 1} Letter dated 27th January, 1888. Sankisa is in the Farrukhâbâd District, N.W.P.; Sultânganj is in the Bhâgalpur District, Bengal; Kosam is in the Allâhâbâd District, N.W.P.; Ahichhatra (Râmnagar) is in the Barelî District, N.W.P.; and Sunit is in the Lûdiâna District, Panjâb. The copper coin of Kumâra, collected by Tregear, is in the Bodleian cabinet.

^{page 50 note 1} Kanauj is in the Farrukhâbâd or Fatehgaṛh District of the North-Western Provinces. An account of its history and a description of the few remains now existing on its site will be found in Cunningham's Arch. Eep. vol. i. pp. 279 seqq.

^{page 52 note 1} Cunningham, Arch. Rep. vol. x. pp.49, 51; Corpus Inscr. Ind. vol. iii.

^{page 52 note 2} Cunningham, Arch. Rep. vol. ix. p. 26. The unique coin of Bhîma Sena has been presented by Mr. H. Bivett-Carnac to the British Museum, which also possesses the only two known specimens of Toramâna's coinage.

^{page 52 note 3} Now in the Indian Imperial Museum, Calcutta.

^{page 52 note 4} Cunningham, Arch. Hep. vol. x. p. 127.

^{page 53 note 1} Cunningham, Arch. Rep. vol. x. p. 81; Corpus Inscr. Ind. vol. iii. p. 88, No. 19.

^{page 54 note 1} Sir A. Cunningham reads the date of one as 53, but I agree with Mr. Fleet in reading the dates on both specimens as 52. The character = which stands for 2 is a little blurred on one coin. Mr. Fleet reads the date on Budha Gupta's coins as 175, but Sir A. Cunningham's reading of 174 is supported by the evidence of an inscription dated in words and figures.

^{page 55 note 1} Cunningham, Arch. Rep. vol. i. p. 317. Fergusson, , Archæology in India (Trübner, London, 1884), pp. 110–115Google Scholar. Mr. Fergusson's suggestion that excavations should be made in the numerous mounds which exist in Lucknow deserves attention. I am inclined to think that he was right in identifying Lucknow with Sâketa.

^{page 55 note 2} See Hewitt on Early History of Northern India in J.R.A.S. Vol. XX. N.S p. 356. The Vajjian or Vrijjian confederacy included nine tribes of Lichchhavis and nine tribes of Mallis. Mr. Hewitt thinks that these tribes were of Kolarian race. Some ill-supported speculations of Mr. Beal on the subject will be found in J.R.A.S. Vol. XIV. n.s. p. 39.

^{page 55 note 3} Arch. Rep. vol. xi. p. 99. The forged Gayâ inscription of Samudra Gupta purports to have been executed at Ajodhya, and issued from the camp of Samudra Gupta there. This shows that at the begining of the eighth century A.D. Ajodhya was believed to have been one of the chief cities of Samudra Gupta.

^{page 56 note 1} Corpus Inscr. Ind. vol. iii. p. 5.

^{page 56 note 2} E g. in the Nepâl inscription of Jaya Deva dated Samvat 153 (scilicet of S'rî Harsha era=a.d. 759–60), published in Ind. Ant. vol. ix. p. 180.

^{page 57 note 1} I have not seen the cahinet of the Asiatic Society of Bengal, and am dependent for my knowledge of it on rough notes supplied hy Dr. Hoernlé, and a few published notices of individual coins.

^{page 57 note 2} See the detailed catalogue post p. 61.

^{page 57 note 3} The India Office collection has been presented by the Secretary of State for India to the British Museum. Mr. E. J. Eapson has given me much assistance in examining the coins under his care.

^{page 57 note 4} The Royal Asiatic Society collection contains no coins of value.

^{page 57 note 5} I am specially indebted to Sir A. Cunningham for the liberality with which he placed his knowledge and cabinet at my disposal.

^{page 62 note 1} Indian Antiquary, vol. xii. Jan. 1883.

^{page 62 note 2} J.A.S.B. vol. liii. part i. p. 172, plate iv. 6.

^{page 62 note 3} I am indebted to Mr. E. B. Nicholson, the Bodleian Librarian, for the grant of special facilities for the examination of the four trays containing Gupta coins, and for perusal of a book of manuscript correspondence concerning the Elliott collection. The Bodleian coin cabinet has, unfortunately, been mnch neglected in the past, and, until it is properly arranged, its contents can be of little use to numismatists. The Muhammadan coins have recently been arranged by Mr. Stanley Lane Poole, whose catalogue has been published. The other Indian coins are, as yet, in confusion, and no dependence can be placed on such labelling as has been attempted. The Librarian intends, I understand, to proceed with the arrangement of the whole cabinet, and to take steps for making it more accessible to students than it used to be.

^{page 69 note 1} Formerly I classed as a separate variety the coins of which the legend is parallel to the javelin, but the distinction is not well marked in some of the Bodleian examples, and I have now combined in one class the coins formerly arranged as varieties 1 and 3.

^{page 71 note 1} Corpus Inscr. Ind. vol. iii. p. 12, note 2.

^{page 75 note 1} Ind. Ant. vol. xiv. p. 95 (March and June, 1885); Corpus Inscr. Ind. vol. iii. p. 27, note 4.

^{page 75 note 2} 2 Ind. Ant. vol. xiv. p. 95. Mr. Fleet observes that the name Kâcha is of rare occurrence, but that two kings or chieftains of the name are mentioned in an inscription of the fifth or sixth century A.D. in the Ajantâ caves, published in Arch. Survey of Western India, vol. iv. p. 130. The name Kacha, with the short vowel, occurs in the Mahâbhârata. See Dowson's Classical Dictionary of Hindu Mythology, etc., sub voce.

^{page 77 note 1} “With regard to the meaning of Vikrama, which is properly ‘heroism,’ it may be observed that it is often used in a way where ‘king’ or ‘hero’ alone can be signified by it; thus Vikramâditya is as often called simply Vikrama as not… The word is applied also attributively as Dîpalearnir iti khyâto râjâ bhûà râjyavihramah, ‘There was a king named Dîpakarṇi, the Vikrama of the realm.’”— (Wilson, Specimens of the Theatre of the Hindus, vol. i. p. 196.)

^{page 86 note 1} Corpus Inscr. Ind. vol. iii. p. 217, etc.

^{page 94 note 1} Arch. Eep. vol. viii. p. 24.

^{page 102 note 1} The above extract gives Dr. Hoernlé's account of the coin. The collotype figure is too indistinct to allow of the obv. legend being read, but I do not accept the reading rathipâda.

^{page 108 note 1} Dr. Hoernlé in Proc. A.S.B. for 1888. The references are to my Catalogue of Gupta Gold Coins.

^{note 108 note 2} Identified with Paundra Vardhana, a city mentioned by Hiuen Tsiang, the capital of the country known as Paundra desa, or Varendra, or Eastern Gauda, supposed to be the region called Mahâ Kântâra in the Allahabad Pillar Gupta inscription. (Arch. Eep. vol. xv. pp. 102–112.)

^{page 114 note 1} Corpus Inscr. Ind. vol. iii. No. 79, p. 284.

^{page 115 note 1} Ind. Ant. vol xv. p. 252.

^{page 115 note 2} Ibid., p. 346.

^{page 115 note 3} Ibid., p. 246.

^{page 116 note 1} Arch. Eep. vol. i. p. 40, note; and Corpus Inscr. Ind. vol. iii. p. 217.

^{page 119 note 1} Gardner, The Coins of the Greek and Scythic Kings of Bactria and India in the British Museum, p. lxviii.

^{page 121 note 1} This coin was erroneously labelled as belonging to Kumâra Gupta.

^{page 122 note 1} The discovery of the coin is mentioned in Arch. Eep. vol. x. p. 127. Sir A. Cunningham informs me that it is now in the Indian Museum, Calcutta.

^{page 125 note 1} Mr. Burgess has recently presented these coins to the B.M.

^{page 132 note 1} Cunningham's, Arch. Rep. vol. ix. p. 29Google Scholar, pl. v. 26, with reference to J.Bo. Br.R.A.S. vol. xii. p. 214.

^{page 132 note 2} Coins of the Nine Nûgas, by Cunningham (J.A.S.B. vol. xxiiv. p. 122, with plate). Figures 5 and 6 of the plate represent the coins of Brihaspati Naga, and 13 and 14 those of Deva Nâga. See also Arch. Rep. vol. ii. pp. 307–310, and vol. vi. p. 178.

^{page 133 note 1} Cunningham, , Arch. Rep. vol. ix. p. 24, pi. v. 8Google Scholar.

^{page 135 note 1} See Corpus Inscr. Ind. vol. iii. p. 88, No. 19.

^{page 136 note 1} For the Eran inscription of the reign of Toramāna see Corpus Inscr. Ind. vol. iii. p. 158, No. 36. He is also mentioned in the Gwalior inscription of his son Mihirakula (Ibid. p. 161, No. 37.)

^{page 144 note 1} Corpus Inscr. Ind. vol. iii. The name used to be read Bhâva or Dhâva.

^{page 145 note 1} Bo.Br.J.R.A.S. vol. ix. pp. xiv, xv, xviii.

^{page 146 note 1} Ibid p. 4, and fig. 4 of unnumbered plate, ‘On Eecent Additions to our Knowledge of the Ancient Dynasties of Western India.

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Art. I.—The Coinage of the Early or Imperial Gupta Dynasty of Northern India

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