treasures of the

gupta empire

A Catalogue of Coins of the

Gupta Dynasty

Sanjeev Kumar
Treasures of the Gupta Empire

A Catalogue of Coins of the Gupta Dynasty

and Later Guptas, Śaśāńka and Coinage of Bengal.

Sanjeev Kumar

Published by
The Shivlee Trust
2017
Attached are a few additional chapters from the book, which I
hope will further encourage students, researchers and scholars to
dig deeper into the history of India.
The book was released by the Honorable Prime Minister of India, Shri. Narendra Damodardas Modi
at his residence as well as at the National Museum New Delhi by the Minister of Culture, Director
General of the Archaeological Survey of India, Director General of the National Museum Delhi, as well
as the Chairman of the Archaeological Society of India.

The inscription by Mr. Modi reads 'Art, Civilization, culture and history are the foundations of the
future. Congratulations.
 Foreword

The coins of the Gupta Empire provide vital evidence for our understanding of the history of ancient
India. They are the most numerous surviving official documents of this important period in the
development of India as a nation. During the Gupta period Indian imperial power became defined in new
ways and the ancient religions of India became focussed through imperial patronage into the forms we
now recognize as Hinduism. It was a period that has been justly described by many as a golden age.

In spite of its importance, knowledge of this great empire only re-emerged from the mists of the past in
the nineteenth century when scholars began to recognise its place in India’s history. These scholars
discovered the inscriptions erected in the names of Gupta emperors and at the same time recognised the
coins issued by their administrations. By the early twentieth century an outline history had been
constructed from these two sources with the addition of the unclear references in contemporary literature,
archaeological excavations and art datable to their period.

Gupta India emerged as a period when a great empire ruled across a large part of northern India and its
patronage promoted the creation of great art and literature. Within its realm Hinduism, Buddhism and
Jainism flourished and gave rise to a new style of art which spread into all the surrounding regions, east
into Burma and Thailand, south into Andhra and Sri Lanka, north into Nepal and Tibet and west into
Afghanistan and central Asia. The same art created a coinage of great beauty and complexity.

This new volume marks another stage in the development of a modern understanding of that coinage as
one of the key components in the construction of a history of the Gupta Empire. Although there have
been many publications on Gupta coins, Sanjeev Kumar is here taking what is only the third important
step in presenting the Gupta coinage in a framework rendering the data preserved by the coins in an
accessible form. He now pushes forward the work done by John Allan (1914) and A.S. Altekar (1957),
integrating into their achievements a wide range of coins not known to those scholars, together with new
approaches to typological, metallurgical and metrological analysis which open up new aspects of
research.

I congratulate Sanjeev Kumar in this ambitious restatement of the historical and cultural importance of
Gupta coinage. Like the work of Allan and Altekar, this volume, this giant step, will remain an
authoritative tool for documenting one of the most important periods in the history of India for decades.

Joe Cribb
Retired Keeper of Coins and Medals, British Museum
Secretary General, Oriental Numismatic Society
Dr. B. R. Mani GOVERNMENT OF INDIA
MINISTRY OF CULTURE
Director General
National Museum
New Delhi, India

Foreword
The unification of kingdoms and political control over a vast territory of Indian Sub-continent
during the rule of the Gupta emperors brought about peace and prosperity and enabled the pursuit
of scientific, literary and artistic manifestations marking the time span as classical age of Indian
history and in other words the Golden Age of India which is credited for extensive inventions and
discoveries in science, technology, engineering, medicine, art, architecture, dialectic, logic,
literature, mathematics, astronomy, religion and philosophy. The creative genius of the Guptas is
also reflected in their coinage, which has become a source of study of art, economy, political
history and religion.

John Allan’s catalogue (1914) on Gupta coins and A.S. Altekar’s book The Coinage of the Gupta
Empire (1957) were landmark words on Gupta numismatics. Based on Altekar’s classification
other catalogues also appeared subsequently. But all of them were primarily concerned with
distinct collections or hoards. We must compliment Sri Sanjeev Kumar for publishing the present
catalogue, which is most comprehensive as it incorporates each known coin type of the Imperial
Guptas and later Guptas besides other contemporary dynasties.

One can imagine the hard work and professional excellence involved in compiling this work
which the author has completed after his study of collections in various museums and institutions
and moreover in many private collections in India and abroad. He has compared the coinage and
has also analyzed various connected issues. Before the beginning of the catalogue of coins of
individual rulers, the author has devoted a considerable part of the book on significant notes on
designs and art, chronology, metrology, metal analysis and weights etc.

I wish and hope that the present work would become an index of Gupta coinage and would
certainly get attention of scholars and general readers.

Director General
National Museum, New Delhi
Ministry of Culture
Government of India
 Foreword

The coins of the Gupta Empire provide vital evidence for our understanding of the history of ancient
India. They are the most numerous surviving official documents of this important period in the
development of India as a nation. During the Gupta period Indian imperial power became defined in new
ways and the ancient religions of India became focussed through imperial patronage into the forms we
now recognize as Hinduism. It was a period that has been justly described by many as a golden age.

In spite of its importance, knowledge of this great empire only re-emerged from the mists of the past in
the nineteenth century when scholars began to recognise its place in India’s history. These scholars
discovered the inscriptions erected in the names of Gupta emperors and at the same time recognised the
coins issued by their administrations. By the early twentieth century an outline history had been
constructed from these two sources with the addition of the unclear references in contemporary literature,
archaeological excavations and art datable to their period.

Gupta India emerged as a period when a great empire ruled across a large part of northern India and its
patronage promoted the creation of great art and literature. Within its realm Hinduism, Buddhism and
Jainism flourished and gave rise to a new style of art which spread into all the surrounding regions, east
into Burma and Thailand, south into Andhra and Sri Lanka, north into Nepal and Tibet and west into
Afghanistan and central Asia. The same art created a coinage of great beauty and complexity.

This new volume marks another stage in the development of a modern understanding of that coinage as
one of the key components in the construction of a history of the Gupta Empire. Although there have
been many publications on Gupta coins, Sanjeev Kumar is here taking what is only the third important
step in presenting the Gupta coinage in a framework rendering the data preserved by the coins in an
accessible form. He now pushes forward the work done by John Allan (1914) and A.S. Altekar (1957),
integrating into their achievements a wide range of coins not known to those scholars, together with new
approaches to typological, metallurgical and metrological analysis which open up new aspects of
research.

I congratulate Sanjeev Kumar in this ambitious restatement of the historical and cultural importance of
Gupta coinage. Like the work of Allan and Altekar, this volume, this giant step, will remain an
authoritative tool for documenting one of the most important periods in the history of India for decades.

Joe Cribb
Retired Keeper of Coins and Medals, British Museum
Secretary General, Oriental Numismatic Society
 Contents

Foreword
Preface 1
Numismatic Terms 7

Maps: Gupta Empire 4th Century AD 10

Gupta Empire and Neighboring Kingdoms 3rd – 4th Century AD 11
Gupta Empire 5th-6th Century AD 12

1. Genealogy:
Genealogy Tree - Kings of the Gupta Dynasty 13
Dates and Coinage by Gupta King 14

2. History of the Gupta Dynasty 15

Dates as proposed by other key scholars and historians 16

3. The Role of Coins in rewriting Gupta History 25

4. The Legendary King Vikramādityaḥ 32
5. Biruda's, Titles and Epithets used by the Gupta Kings - Tables 35-36

6. Evolution of Design on the Gupta coins and symbols on Gupta Coins 37

Akshāmālā 37
Chakravartin and Sudarśhan Chakra, Chakradhvaja 37
Crescent and the Crescent-topped Triśūla Standard 38
Caste of the Gupta Kings, Yajñopavītam and numismatic clues? 40
Fire Altar and the Vedi and the Yajña 41
Garuda and the Garudadhvaja – The Garuda Standard 42
Kalaśa 43
Lakshmi - Iconography of different forms on Gupta gold coins 45
Evolution from Goddess Ardoksho as seen on coins 45
Evolution from Goddess Nana into Siṁhavāhinī Goddess 46
Cornucopia and the evolution from Roman coins 48
The River Goddess Ganga on Gupta coins. 50
The Birthplace of the Gupta Empire and numismatic context 51

7. Religion and numismatic context 52

The Diadem, Noose, Fillet, Pāśa and Crowns on the Gupta Coins 53
The goddess Durga – Mahishāsuramardinī 53
The Aśvamedhá sacrifice, numismatic context and Śaktism 56
The Vaishnavite, Śaivite and Jain iconography on Gupta coins 59
The War God Kārttikeya 60
Mahā-Śakti and Rathā-Śakti 62
 Śanka 63
Śrivatsa 64
Key Gupta Era inscriptions – Religious context with dates - Table 65

8. Coins and Currency of the Gupta Era 67

9. Metrology, Metal Analysis and Weights of Gupta Era coinage 69

Historical context, Kushanas gold coinage, Reassessment of the prior studies 70-76
The Gupta gold coinage 77
Summary Table of Weight Range and Total Quantity for Gupta gold coins 78
Alloys and Question of Debasement of Currency 79
A comparative weight analysis - Gold coins 83
Archer Type Gold coins with Obverse symbols - Chandragupta II, III, IV 84
Database Master Summary of Gupta gold coins - Table 91-92
Low weight coinage – an aberration? 93
XRF data - dataset of Gold Coins by Gupta King and coin type 94-95
Silver coinage of the Kshatrapas and Guptas 98-102
Data by Dates, Silver Purity and Graphs 103

10. Historical Trade Routes of Ancient India 105

Find Spots and Gupta Gold Coin Hoards 107
Capital of Gupta Empire - numismatic hoard and find spot context 111
Reassessment of the Kalighat Hoard 112
Recent Gold Coin Hoards as yet unpublished 114
Summary of All Gupta Coin Hoards - Table and Reference list 115

11. Dates on Gupta Inscriptions and Coins

Correcting Gupta Chronology based on Gupta Coins with Dates 117
Brahmi numerals used on Gupta coins 118
Reassessment of the Mathura Pillar Inscription of year 61 of Chandragupta II 120
Different era's used in Gupta Inscriptions - Table 122
Summary of all known Gupta coins with dates - Table 123-124

12. Poses and Postures as seen on Gupta Coins 125

13. Tamagha's and Symbols on Gupta coins 126
14. Transition from Kushana Gold Coins - Mint Marks and Control Marks 127
The Question of a Standard vs. Javelin vs. Rajadanda 130
Kushana Gold Coinage as prototypes for Gupta Gold 136
Transition to Gupta Gold 137
Fakes in Gupta Gold 139
Fractional Gold Coinage and Half Dināras 141
Classification System and rarity 142

15. ŚrīGupta Coin, Seals and Sealings 143

16. Ghatotkacha 146
17. Chandragupta I 147
The problem of attribution and the problem of Śrīvikramaḥ 148
The All or Non Theory 150
King & Queen on Couch Type 154
Archer - Goddess on Throne Type 158
Archer – Quiver Type 161
Transitional Coins with biruda’s of other Kings 163
Rajadanda Type 164
King on Couch Type Group 1 and transition of design to Chandragupta II 167
King and Queen Type of Chandragupta I and Samudragupta 171
Fakes in coins of CGI 179
Lion Slayer Type of Chandragupta I and/or II? 180
Copper Coin of Chandragupta I 182

18. Samudragupta
Javelin Type 183
Archer Type – Goddess on Throne 196
Aśvamedhá Type 200
Stone Horse sculpture of Samudragupta 205
Battle- Axe Type 206
Lyrist Type 212
Rajadanda Type 214
Tiger Slayer Type 216
Clay sealing's and Copper Coin of Samudragupta 218
Fake Coins 219

19. Rāmagupta – Kāchagupta, the forgotten King 221

Evidence for this existence and case to include in Genealogy 223
Gold Coins of Kāchagupta - Chakradhvaja Type 225
Gold Coins of Kāchagupta - Garudadhvaja Type 229
Copper coins of Rāmagupta 230

20. Chandragupta II 232

Chakravikramaḥ Type 234
Couch Type 236
Archer – Goddess on Lotus Type 237
Chhatra Type 252
Horseman Type 259
King & Queen Type 266
Lion Slayer Type 268
Copper Aśvamedhá coins – possible fakes 277
Silver Coins with dates in Śaka Era and Gupta Era 279
Chandragupta II Copper Coins 280
Chandragupta II Lead Coins 284
21. Kumaragupta I 286
Apratigha Type 287
Archer Type 290
Aśvamedhá Type 297
Chhatra Type 299
Elephant Rider Type 300
Elephant Rider Lion Slayer Type 302
Garuda Type 303
Horseman Type 310
Kārttikeya Type 315
King & Queen Type 318
Lion Slayer Type 319
Lyrist Type 325
Rhinoceros Slayer Type 326
Swordsman Type 327
Tiger Slayer Type 329
Silver Coins with dates in Śaka Era and Gupta Era 331
Copper Coins and uninscribed coins from Gujarat region 335
Lead Coins 338

22. Ghatotkachagupta Gold Coins and the Vākāṭakas connection 341

The Archer Type Coins 342

23. Skandagupta
Archer Type 343
Chhatra Type 348
Garuda Type 349
Horseman Type 350
King and Lakshmi Type 351
Lion Slayer Type 353
Silver Coins 354
Lead Coins 358

24. Chandragupta III Gold Coins 361

Archer Type 362
Horseman Type 364

25. Gupta Kings after Skandagupta 365

Jaya (Gupta ?) 367
Numismatic Summary and Analysis of the Archer Type coins - Table 368
Narasimhagupta I 369
Samudragupta II 371
Kumaragupta II 372
Budhagupta Archer Type Gold & Silver Coins with Dates 373
26. Hūṇa Kings issuing coins as Gupta Kings - the so called 'Nameless Coins' 375
Prakāśaditya, Parākramadityaḥ, Vikramādityaḥ, Toramana 376-384
Prakāśaditya Horseman Lion Slayer Type 381
Prakāśaditya Archer Type 382

27. Chandragupta IV 384

28. Vainyagupta 386

29. Narasimhagupta II 387

30. Kumaragupta III 388

31. Vishnugupta 389

32. The Later Gupta Dynasty and its Gold Coinage

Mahāsenagupta 390

33. Coinage of Bengal – Post Gupta 6th – 8th Century AD

Samāchāradeva Archer Type, Chauri Type, Rājalīlā Type 391
Śaśāńka - Śiva riding the Bull Type 393
Jayanāga and Jaya(gupta ?) 395
Samatata - Another King named Chandra 397
Sri Rajaya Triśūla Battle-Axe Type 398
Conch Standard Anonymous Coins from Kings of Samatata 398-401
Gold Coins of Khadga Dynasty of Samatata 402
Gold coins of Balamrigāńka of Deva Dynasty 403
Gold coins of Pala Dynasty 403
Gold coins of Ratnattraya 403

34. Gold coins of the Kidarite Hūṇa Kings of Kashmir - 404

Tuysina/ Tujina (I or II?), Meghamah, Pravarasenah, Toramaṇa 405

Bibliography 407
Brahmi letters seen on Gupta coins and Inscriptions 417
Legends seen on coins and Brahmi letters used on Gupta coins 419
Index 425
 Gupta Empire
4th century AD

Map 1: Gupta Empire, 4th Century AD. (Courtesy Huntington Archive)

10
 Map of Neighboring
Kingdoms & Gupta Empire
3rd-5th century AD.

Map 2: Neighboring kingdoms and Gupta Empire, 3rd-5th century AD.

(Courtesy Huntington Archive)

11
 Gupta Empire
6th century AD.

Map 3: Gupta Empire, 6th Century AD. (Courtesy Huntington Archive)

12
KINGS OF THE
GUPTA DYNASTY

Genealogy of Gupta Dynasty with primary coin currency coded by color.

Primary currency issued by King: Yellow= Gold, Grey = Silver, Brown = Copper.

13
The list of Gupta Kings and dates assigned to each king are shown below based on numismatic and epigraphical
evidence as available. The Gupta era started with the ascent of Chandragupta I to the throne in 319AD and the dating
of this year along with the re-evaluation of the very important Mathura Pilaster Inscription of Chandragupta II with a
revised date of 383AD is discussed in detail in the section dealing with Dates on Gupta Coins and Inscriptions, as
well as in each section by king. Based on numismatic evidence, we find that there may have been two kings named
Samudragupta. For simplicity sake, the second Samudragupta has been referred to as Samudragupta II.

List of the Kings of Imperial Gupta Dynasty with approximate dates of reign

14
 The Legendary King Vikramāditya

Before we proceed further to study coins issued by each of the Gupta kings and to better understand the
attribution of coins to specific Gupta kings, it is very important to first and foremost understand the
Legend of the great Indian king Vikramādityaḥ. If you were to ask ten scholars on Indian history this
question - Who was King Vikramāditya? - You will get ten different answers, and in most cases they
would all be partially correct! The reality is that in the time from the 1st century BC to 8th century AD,
there were many kings who took on the title of Vikramāditya. Some were major kings who ruled over vast
territories, whose domain encompassed vast tracts of the Indian sub-continent and some were very minor
kings who are mostly known from fleeting references in epigraphs or coins. The memories of all of these
kings synthesized to form a common legendary personality of a famous Indian king called Vikramāditya,
whose legends dictated that he was the Paramabhāgvata - the most devout devotee of Lord Vishnu,
Benevolent, Powerful, Valorous, Charitable, Just and Gifted in the Arts and above all the Bravest of all
the kings.

The earliest use of the name Vikramāditya comes to us from the chief of the Mālwā tribe of Ujjayinī who
is assumed to have initiated the Vikrama Saṁvat (Vikrama era) in 57 BC. However, this Mālwā chief was
not big enough or powerful enough to have been solely accredited with this legendary name. The actual
use of the name 'Vikrama Saṁvat' is only first seen in the 9th century AD in the dated Dhaulpur
inscription of King Chandamahasena of 841AD (Goyal 2005: 365-72). However, in this period there
ruled one of the greatest dynasties of India - the Gupta dynasty, which had it's own share of
Vikramādityas! From the 3rd through 6th century AD, multiple Gupta kings used and reused the titles Śrī
Vikramaḥ and Vikramādityaḥ, leading to a consolidation of the historical facts into the legend of the
mighty Vikramādityaḥ who came to represent not one king but an entire dynasty (Raychaudhuri 1997:
484).

In fact, Goyal suggests that this time period should be called 'The Age of the Vikramādityas' (Goyal 2005:
367). Raychaudhuri suggested that the Vikramādityacharita "sums up the historical and traditional
achievements of a dynasty (the Guptas), rather than that of one single individual ruler", a conclusion I
also came to and suggested as such using the coins as examples in 2010 at the Conference on the Gupta
Dynasty in Chandigarh. The evolution of this legend is best seen through the coins issued by the Gupta
kings which list their birudas - the imperial titles on these gold, silver, copper and lead coins that were
widely distributed across northern, western and central India and in use for approximately 250+ years.

While Chandragupta II is considered as the most famous of the Gupta kings to have used the titles Śrī
Vikramaḥ and Vikramādityaḥ, in fact you will see in the following pages that this title was used by his
grandfather, Chandragupta I, prior to him as well as many of the later Gupta kings. This fact was mostly
ignored in the past by eminent scholars such as John Allan, A.S. Altekar, P.L. Gupta, etc., and led each of
them to erroneously attribute all coins which featured the legend Chandra and Śrī Vikramaḥ to just one
king: Chandragupta II.

In the following pages you will see coins issued by Chandragupta I, Samudragupta, Chandragupta II,
Kumāragupta I, Skandagupta, Chandragupta III, Budhagupta, an additional new king known only as
Vikramāditya from his coins, Chandragupta IV, and Vainyagupta, covering a period from 319 AD to
507+ AD, where all of their coins featured biruda, Śrī Vikramaḥ or versions thereof. Goyal points out that
Samudragupta's title Parākramanka also means Vikramānka or Vikramāditya (Goyal 2005: 242). In
addition, the biruda Vikramādityaḥ was used by both Chandragupta II and Skandagupta on their coins.
We also know of coins issued in the name of Samudragupta and Kumaragupta I with the biruda Śrī
Vikramaḥ on the reverse. Similarly, the literary works that followed in the coming centuries eulogizing
the famous Gupta kings, added to the confusion by continuing to refer to the different Gupta monarchs
with a singular name, Vikramādityaḥ. The Kathāsaritsāgara and the Bharatkathāmanjarī narrate the
wide conquests of the famous King Vikramādityaḥ (which matches up quite well with the conquests of
Samudragupta), while the Devi-Chandraguptam of Viśaka and the legends found in Vetālapanchavinśatī
and Vikrama-kathā use the title Vikramāditya for Chandragupta II. Similarly in the Kathāsaritsāgara, the
noble King Vikramāditya is described as the son of King Mahendrādityaḥ (which of course refers to
Skandagupta as son of Kumāragupta I).

The title Śakahari king Vikramāditya applies to Chandragupta II who started the wars against the
Kshatrapa king and also to Kumāragupta I who finally vanquished the last Kshatrapa king Rudrasiṁha III
(Goyal 2005: 242). Skandagupta was the Vikramāditya who was supposed to have vanquished the revolt
from the local Nāgās of eastern Mālwā and Śakas/Vākātākās who had rebelled against the Guptas after
the death of Prabhāvatiguptā in 443AD (more on this will be discussed ahead; the Invasion by the Hūnas,
a possible mis-characterization of the invasion of the Gupta Empire at the end of Kumaragupta I's reign).
Numismatic evidence shows us that, after the death of Kumāragupta I, Skandagupta issued silver coins
using this Vikramādityaḥ title for himself on his Garuda Type silver coins, a term that is also used on his
Supia pillar inscription of GE141, and concurrently we see another Chandragupta (III) who uses the same
biruda, Śrī Vikramaḥ (Bhandarkar 1981: 318). To add to the confusion of the legends, other later Gupta
Kings like Budhagupta also use this same biruda Vikramaḥ. From numismatic evidence we find that two
additional later Vikramādityas that follow: a Hūṇa king who gives himself the title of Vikramādityaḥ who
issued his coins in the chaotic period after Budhagupta but before Vainyagupta, and another king using
the name Chandragupta (IV) known from his coins of the Archer Fire Altar Type, who also adopts this
same biruda Śrī Vikramaḥ! This repetitive use of the epitaphs and titles by successive Gupta kings helped
to create this legend. It is clear that over the span of 241 years, the exploits, conquests and victories,
marital alliances, historical facts and events of the Gupta kings all merged into one common legend - the
legend of the powerful king called Vikramādityaḥ. Even after the end of the Gupta Empire, the title of
Vikramādityaḥ was resurrected for Harṣavardhana (606-647 AD) as chronicled in the Kashmiri text
Rājataraṅgiṇī (Stein 1900).

Over the last century, scholars have used the royal titles, biruda's and epitaphs to make their case of
whether a king was in a position to issue coins. A detailed study of the titles, names, biruda's and epithets
used for the Gupta kings shows us that the Gupta kings did not limit themselves to a singular title as is
the general belief, but rather freely used the most appropriate title or epithet that suited the occasion.
While it is generally assumed that Samudragupta's biruda was Parākramaḥ and Chandragupta II's biruda
was Śrī Vikramaḥ, it will be seen that they were not limited to just these singular titles. Similarly, the

33
greatest of the Gupta kings, Samudragupta, is given all of these royal designations: Rājā, Mahārājā,
Mahārājādhirāja, as seen in inscriptions and coin legends. If Rājā and Mahārājā can be used for the
mighty Samudragupta, then why is it assumed that his grandfather, Mahārāja Śrīgupta was just a petty
king who had used the title Rajña? According to Altekar he "was too insignificant to issue any coinage"!
(Altekar 1957: 2), an assertion that is wrong.

Another example of the importance of titles and birudas is the case of Rāmagupta. He was assumed by
scholars to have never ruled as a Gupta king, till the Jaina sculptures were discovered with inscriptions
listing his title as a Mahārājādhirāja (Gai 1968-69: 250-251). The epigraphical data from the Jain
sculptures clearly confirms that he had assumed the title of a Mahārājādhirāja, a "King of Kings" and
finally included him into the list of known Gupta kings. The identity of Kāchagupta has been debated for
the past century with almost every major Gupta historian offering their opinions: Princep and Rapson
ascribed these coins to Ghatotkacha, Vincent Smith kept changing his views, Allan, Fleet and
Raychaudhuri thought he was the same as Samudragupta, Bhandarkar thought he was same as Rāmagupta
but changed his view later, Banerji and P.L. Gupta thought he was a brother of Samudragupta (Allan
1914/1967: xxxiii-iv, Fleet 1888: 27, Joshi 1992). The reality is that all of these debates were strictly
conjecture. None of the proposed attributions was based on evidence. This question of the identity of this
king is addressed later in the book where the coins of Rāmagupta-Kāchagupta are discussed in detail to
prove that both of them were one and the same person. There are many such quandaries one has to
consider when trying to walk through the maze of the history of ancient India. Our interpretation of the
data is only as good as the next new piece of information that comes to light through new inscriptions,
seals or coins.

The tables in the following pages attempts to summarize the titles, biruda's and epithets as used for/by the
Gupta kings on Inscriptions, seals and sealings, coins and copper-plates. It will show that so many of the
arguments proposed over the years can be struck down just by a simple review of these tables. The
problem with assuming that a single title applied to a single King has led many scholars and historians to
errant conclusions. For example, the use of Sarvarājochchhettā as an epithet (assumed by scholars and
historians to have been only used by Samudragupta) seemed to be the reason for scholars to argue that
Kācha coins should be attributed to Samudragupta (instead to the King Kāchagupta). However, as shown
in the biruda table, this epitaph was not exclusive to just Samudragupta but also used for Chandragupta II,
in the Poona copper plates of Prabhāvatiguptā where on line 5 she uses this title to refer to her father
(Mirashi 1963: 7). Altekar's argument was that the Poona plates were not "official" gupta records and
hence they should be rejected (Altekar 1967), a weak argument as official Vākātākās inscriptions should
be considered as reliable as official Gupta inscriptions, especially one written by Chandragupta II’s own
daughter Prabhāvatiguptā.

In William Shakespeare’s play Romeo and Juliet, Juliet's line "What’s in a name? That which we call a
rose, by any other name would smell as sweet" encapsulates perfectly what the legend of the title
Vikramādityaḥ meant to the common man in ancient India. It was not just a name but also a title that
immediately signified a king who was a brilliant, courageous, faithful and devout, fearless, and powerful,
and above all a statesman who united the land.
Biruda's, Titles and Epithets used by Gupta Kings

35
36
 Coins and Currency of the Gupta Era

The main currency during the Gupta era was the gold dināra. We find the term dināra used frequently in the
Gupta era inscriptions recording gifts made by the kings for supporting various religious activities and land
transactions. The Kushāna kings also referred to their gold coins as dināra, and Rapson proposed that the
term was derived from the Denarius Aureus which is worth 25 silver denari. The Kushāna gold coins were
struck to a weight standard based on the Roman aureus of 120 grains (1 grain = 0.06479 grams).

The 4th century AD text Añgvijja uses the terms Dināramāsaka and Dināri. The 2nd–3rd century Bakshāli
manuscript refers to the Dināra and its various forms as dināra, dināraka, di etc. It provides the ratio of the
Suvarṇa and Dināra as 1: 2/3 or 1 Dināra equals 66.67% of a Suvarṇa. The Sanchi stone inscription, dated 93
GE, of Chandragupta II, refers to a donation of 25 dināras and states that just the interest of these dināras
would be sufficient to feed five bhikshus and let a lamp burn at the Jewel House. Various other Gupta
inscriptions provide us with useful data that the going rate for one Kulyavapa of barren land at that time was
sometimes two and other times three dināras (see table on Inscriptions of Religious donations pg.65).

The gold dināras were issued by each of the successive Gupta kings. Over time, the weights and the gold
purity of these dināras varied widely, not just from king to king, but even within the coins issued by the same
king. It is not yet fully clear whether the value of a dināra during the Gupta era was mostly a function of its
implied value, rather than an economic value based on the weight and/or gold purity. Scholars and historians
firmly state that the value of Gupta currency continued to go down over time, implying that it continued to
be debased over the course of the successive Gupta kings. While the earliest of the gold dināras issued by
Chandragupta I (King and Queen Type) register a gold percentage of 94%, the same was not true for the
dināras issued by Chandragupta II, which averaged approximately in the low 80s% purity. However, this was
clearly in contradiction to the evidence seen from the Gupta era inscriptions that state that the land
transactions did not differentiate between the high purity dināras or the debased dināras issued by different
Gupta kings. Instead the inscriptions just use the term dināra as a currency — five dronas of land bought for
two dināras or one Kulyavapa of barren land sold for three dināras, either could be paid by gold coins struck
by any of the Gupta kings as they all seemed to be of the same implied value. (Of course, it is possible that
the seller may have objected to gold coins that visually appeared very debased and may have refused to
accept them, however, for the most part the value of the gold coins seems to have been accepted at face
value). This is discussed in more detail in the Metrology section ahead.

The silver coins issued by Kshatrapas were most commonly referred to as dramma, and is derived from the
Greek drachma, which equaled 67.5 grains (4.37 grams). The Indo-Greek kings issued silver coins referred
to as hemidrachmas (half of a drachma = 2.18 grams), which later became the standard weight for silver
coins issued by the Sātavāhanas, Kshatrapas, Guptas, Traikutakas and the early Kalachuri King Krishnarāja.
The Gupta kings issued these drammas in the western regions after capturing the territories controlled by the
Kshatrapa kings, and for the most part these Gupta silver coins are only found in the regions of Gujarat,
Mālwā and Kathiawar.
The Gupta kings also struck base metal coins in copper and lead. Copper coins are mostly found in western
and central India. The main source of lead was most probably the Zewar mines of Rajasthan (Hegde 1967,
63-66). Silver and lead invariably occur together and in the process of the extraction of silver from the
argentiferous galena, a large amount of lead is produced. (Bhardwaj:1987). As a result lead was readily
available in the western regions where the silver currency was quite established. Following in the Kshatrapa
tradition, the Guptas also issued lead coins in large numbers. However, as yet, we do not know what these
lead coins were referred to at that time. Another monetary unit in use during ancient time from the time of
Kautilya’s Arthaśāstra was the Kārshāpaṇa – mostly issued in copper and silver. Up until recently, it was
assumed that this monetary unit continued to be in use for smaller value transactions in the North, Central
and Eastern Indian parts of the Gupta empire, however, since no inscriptional data confirmed this fact, it was
just an assumption.

Mr. Alro Griffiths is an eminent epigraphist and indologist at the University of Groningen, the Netherlands
as well as a researcher at EFEO (French School of Asian Studies), specializing in the decipherment of the 4th
– 8th century Brahmi inscriptions. He is currently working on the deciphering of the inscriptional records of
Gupta era copper-plate land grants. While studying four of these plates, Griffiths discovered to his surprise,
that one of the earliest Gupta copper plates (Plate 1) is dated to approximately 5th century AD. This Gupta
plate for the first time recorded a transaction using paṇa as an monetary unit. Here, the terms kārṣapaṇaśata
‘a hundred kārṣapaṇas’, aṣṭapaṇa, ‘eight paṇas’, rūpakaśatadvayam ‘two hundred rūpakas’ are used to
describe the transactions. Mr. Griffiths is working on publishing the full details of these copper-plates in
upcoming papers soon. The use of these terms on these plates confirms that during the Gupta period,
kārṣapaṇas were in use.

A few related papers from Arlo Griffiths are available on-line on Academia.edu and have been published
recently on Gupta era and later copper plates found in India and also the greater Bengal region.

The Cowrie shells was another form of currency used at the lowest level of transaction. The cowrie shells are
still found in excavations of the Gupta era along with copper and lead coins. These cowrie shells were
primarily from the Maldives Islands and have been found mostly in the Central and Eastern Indian
excavations.

A new Copper Plate land grant from year 517-8AD (GE198) recording the purchase of 2 Kulyavapas of
land for a sum of 4 dināra. Private Collection. (Arlo Griffiths, 'Four more Gupta Era Copper plates from
Bengal', Pratna Samiksha, Vol.9, 2018)
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