Arguably, no event in Indian history is so elegantly portrayed on coinage as the advent of Candragupta I (r. c. 320-330), the first major king of the gupta empire. It is said that his rise to power was enhanced by his marriage to Kumaradevi, a princess of the powerful Licchavi lineage of Mithila. Although Candragupta himself probably did not issue his own coins, this union is illustrated in a gold coin initiated by his son, samudragupta. On the obverse, Candragupta offers Kumaradevi a ring. Their names are inscribed in the Brahmi script. Samudragupta (335-380) minted many coins, and their designs clearly show a debt to Kushan rulers. His coins were the same weight, about eight grams, as those of the Kushan kings and are of seven principal types, each of which illustrates an aspect of his life and achievements, for example, the king playing the lyre, the depiction of a battle ax to stress his military successes, and a horse sacrifice to celebrate victory The inscription on one of his gold coins reads, “the invincible king, victor of a hundred battles,” while the lyre issue was inscribed, “Samudragupta, great king of kings,” in Sanskrit. The king, an ardent Hindu, had Lak-shmi, goddess of wealth, shown on the reverse.
His successor, candragupta ii, or Vikramaditya (380-413), issued more gold coins than any other member of his dynasty. He expanded the Gupta empire by a famous victory over the western satraps states in western India. Many of his coins show him holding a bow and arrow, with Lakshmi on the reverse, seated on a lotus. Kumar-gupta, also known as Mahendraditya (415-455), continued to rule a large and prosperous empire and had himself proclaimed chakravartin, or supreme king of kings. He minted 14 different types of gold coins, which included images of the king as a tiger slayer, holding a bow and arrow as he stood over the tiger, and as a rhinoceros slayer, as well as the king playing on the lyre. The reverse of the tiger slayer coin incorporated the goddess Ganga feeding a peacock. The same image of a goddess feeding a peacock is found on a fine coin showing the king on horseback. He also minted silver coins, imitating the style and metal of the recently defeated western satraps. One coin shows the king’s face, while the reverse has an image of garuda, the eagle and symbol of the dynasty Skandagupta (455-67) inherited a rich and stable empire but had to cope with the invasion of the Huns. At first he was successful, and his coins show him victorious in association with the goddess Lakshmi as his wife. However, the Huns continued to press down on the Gupta empire as it went into a decline.
World History
