The Gupta period, computing it roughly as lasting from A.D. 320 to 480, synchronises with a great revival of Hinduism, and along with it of literature, the arts and sciences. The Gupta monarchs, as is evident from their coins, although orthodox devotees of Vishṇu, were liberal patrons. Kālidāsa and other writers raised literary Sanskrit to a point of perfection never equalled before or since; the cave frescoes of Ajanta bear witness to the genius of the Gupta painters; the architecture and sculpture of the period show an equally high level of attainment; all the greatest Hindu mathematicians and astronomers flourished in the fifth and sixth centuries. It is, in fact, evident that when the Hindu of to-day harks back to the Golden Age of Hinduism, the picture he draws in his mind is coloured by traditions, which have come to him from books or hearsay, of the age of the Guptas, rather than by the fainter glimmerings of more heroic times from the Vedas or the great Epics. So, too, the splendid gold coinage of the Guptas, with its many types and infinite varieties and its inscriptions in classical Sanskrit, now appearing on Indian coins for the first time, are the finest examples of purely Indian art of this kind we possess.

The origin of the Gupta family is obscure. This much seems certain, that the family was not of high caste, perhaps of the lowest. The territory which the Guptas are first found ruling lay near Pāṭaliputra, the modern Patna; it was much enlarged by one Gupta, on the decline of the Kushāṇa power in its eastern territories; he was succeeded by a son, Ghaṭotkacha, who assumed the title of Mahārāja, which brings us out into the light of history; for with the year of his son Chandragupta I’s accession, A.D. 320, the Gupta era starts. It may appear strange that this monarch should have issued no coins of his own, but there seems little reason now to doubt that, to his son and successor, Samudragupta, the real founder of the Gupta Empire, should be assigned those coins (Pl. V, 4) which bear the portraits of Chandragupta and his wife Kumāradevī,[29] a member of the illustrious Lichchavi family reigning at Vaiśālī[30] as early as the seventh century B.C. Samudragupta’s conquests, as we learn from his Allahabad pillar inscription, carved out for him an empire which extended north to the base of the Himalayas, east to the Brahmaputra river, south to the banks of the Narbadā, and west to the Jumna and the Chambal, with a number of protected states on his frontier between those rivers and the Chināb. On the completion of his conquests he revived an ancient Hindu rite in celebrating the Aśvamedha, or Horse-sacrifice. Now the states under Samudragupta’s protection in the Panjāb were the districts of the old Kushāṇa Empire in which the gold coinage current at this time was, as we saw in the last chapter, a degraded form of the Kushāṇa “standing king” and “seated goddess,” Ardokhsho-Lakshmī type: it was from these coins (Pl. IV, 10) that the earliest and commonest form of Samudragupta’s issues, the Standard type (Pl. V, 2) was imitated. The earliest specimens, though much superior in workmanship, follow their model very closely: the “standing king” still wears Kushāṇa dress; a Kushāṇa symbol still appears on the reverse; only, on the obverse, in place of Śiva’s trident, appears a Garuḍa-headed standard (Garuḍadhvaja), emblem of the cult of Vishṇu. This coinage appears to have been introduced about the middle of the reign: such legends as “The invincible one, the lord of the earth” suggest, as indeed is obvious, that only rich plunder made such a varied and plentiful gold currency possible. Samudragupta struck only gold. In such abundance did the Kushāṇa kings mint copper money that it may be said without exaggeration to have remained in circulation in the Panjāb down to the nineteenth century; in the time of the Guptas the bazars must have been full of it. But for gold there is always an insatiable demand in India, and seven other distinct varieties appeared during this reign. Of these the Archer type, the commonest and most characteristic Gupta coin (Pl. V, 6), struck by at least eight succeeding kings, is a natural development of the Standard type, of which also further modifications are to be found in the Battle-axe and Kācha types. On the obverse of the former a second attendant figure is introduced, and a battle-axe instead of a standard is in the king’s left hand. In the Kācha coins the change takes place on the reverse, where a standing figure of Lakshmī facing left takes the place of the seated goddess: the reverses of the Tiger-slayer and Aśvamedha coins present variations of this motif. The Tiger-slayer type, of which four specimens only are at present known, is the prototype of the Lion-slayer issues of later kings, and represents the king, dressed for the first time in an Indian waistcoat and turban, trampling on a tiger as he shoots it. There remain the Chandragupta I, Aśvamedha (Pl. V, 5) and Lyrist types, all three obviously in the nature of commemorative medals, and perhaps intended as pious gifts (dakshiṇa) to Brahmans. The Lyrist coins (Pl. V, 3), the rarest of the three, merit special attention. Evidently intended as a graceful tribute to the king’s accomplishments, he is portrayed in Indian dress, sitting cross-legged on a high-backed rather ornate couch, playing on a vīṇā, or Indian lute. On the reverse appears the goddess Lakshmī seated to left on a mora (wicker stool). The excellent modelling of the king’s figure, the skilful delineation of the features, the careful attention to details, and the general ornateness of design in the best specimens constitute this type as the highest expression of Gupta numismatic art.

Chandragupta II Vikramāditya (= Sun of Power), who succeeded to the throne in A.D. 375, extended still further the boundaries of the empire, and at some time during his long reign, which lasted till A.D. 413, removed the capital from Pāṭaliputra to Ayodhyā. His gold coinage is even more abundant than his father’s, two of whose types, the Archer and Lion-slayer (Tiger-slayer), he continued; but on his later Archer coins (Pl. V, 6) the goddess Lakshmī sits upon a lotus instead of a throne; and in the second type, besides the substitution of a lion for a tiger, there is a change on the reverse, Lakshmī being seated on a lion in various attitudes. The figure of the Lion-slayer on the obverse is sometimes turned to the right and sometimes to the left; and a unique coin in the Lucknow Museum shows him attacking the lion with a sword. The very rare Couch design of Chandragupta is a derivative of Samudragupta’s Lyrist type. In the new Chattra type coins (Pl. V, 7) we have yet a further variant of the Standard type: on the obverse of these, behind the “standing king,” appears a boy or dwarf, holding an umbrella (chattra) over his head; the reverse shows the goddess Lakshmī standing on a lotus. An entirely new design is furnished by this king’s Horseman coins (Pl. V, 8). A king on horseback was, as we have seen, employed by the Indo-Greeks, and was characteristic of the issues of the Śakas. The Gupta rendering of the motif is new and spirited. The horse is fully caparisoned, facing in some coins to the right, on others to the left, and the king, either fully clad or sometimes only in a waistcoat, carries either a sword or a bow; the reverse resembles that of the Lyrist type.

Kumāragupta I (413-455) struck a few very rare Aśvamedha coins, closely resembling those of Samudragupta, except that they are far inferior in execution, and the sacrificial horse on the obverse is standing to the right instead of to the left.

He also continued to issue the Archer, Horseman and Lion-slayer (Pl. V, 9) types of his predecessors. Kumāragupta’s Tiger-slayer coins closely resemble their prototype struck by Samudragupta, except that on the reverse the goddess Lakshmī is depicted feeding a peacock. Four new designs appear on the gold of this reign. The Swordsman coins present still another modification of the Standard type, their distinguishing mark being that the king’s left hand rests on his sword-hilt instead of grasping a standard; on the reverse is the usual goddess seated on a lotus. Kumāragupta held the god Kārttikeya, one of whose names was Kumāra, in special veneration. The Peacock type (Pl. V, 10) bears evidence to this, for on the reverse the god himself appears riding on his peacock, Paravāṇi, and on the obverse the king is shown standing and feeding a peacock from a bunch of grapes. The rare Elephant-rider type shows the king on the obverse riding on an elephant trampling on a tiger; and the obverse of the still rarer Pratāpa type, so-called from the legend on the reverse, is evidently an adaption from some foreign, probably Roman, model.

Skandagupta, the last of the great Gupta kings, who succeeded his father in A.D. 455, was occupied during the earlier part of his reign in defending his empire against the inroads of the Huns, over whom he appears to have gained a decisive victory. This probably accounts for the comparative scarcity of his gold, of which only two types are known. He continued the favourite device of the Archer with the “seated goddess” reverse, and introduced a new type, on the obverse of which the king appears standing on the left, facing the goddess Lakshmī on the right, with the Garuḍa standard between them. But in this reign the gold coinage underwent an important change of a different character. Hitherto all the Gupta gold pieces had been dināras and followed the weight standard adopted by the Kushāṇa kings from the Romans. All Skandagupta’s coins are, on an average, heavier than those of his predecessors; and certain of his Archer coins evidently represent a new standard of about 142 grains, based, perhaps, on the ancient Hindu suvarṇa; but along with the increase in weight there is a corresponding depreciation in the purity of the gold.

The successors of Skandagupta—Puragupta, Narasiṅhagupta, Kumāragupta II, Chandragupta III and Vishṇugupta, whose relationship and dates are somewhat doubtful, struck gold coins only of the Archer type, showing a gradual deterioration in design and execution. On a few coins of the same type are found portions of names, such as Ghaṭo and Jaya, even more difficult to identify. A certain Prakāśāditya, perhaps identical with Puragupta, struck coins on which the king appears on horseback slaying a lion, a combination of the Horseman and Lion-slayer types (Pl. V, 11).

The inscriptions on Gupta coins are scarcely inferior to the designs in interest: they vary with each successive type and frequently bear a close relation to them. Thus on Samudragupta’s Battle-axe issue the king is described as “Wielding the axe of Kṛitānta” (= Yama, the god of Death), while on his Tiger-slayer coins he is given the title Vyāghraparākramaḥ, “He who has the prowess of a tiger.” Sometimes varieties of the same type are marked by a difference in the inscription: no less than seven different legends are found on Kumāragupta I’s Archer coins alone. The obverse legend, which encircles the design, usually takes the form of a verse in Upagīti or some other Sanskrit metre, celebrating in highly ornate language the king’s glory on the earth and his future bliss in heaven, attained through his merit acquired by sacrifice. On the gold of Samudragupta six such metrical legends appear; Chandragupta II has only three; while at least twelve are employed by Kumāragupta I. As an example the obverse inscription on one class of Chandragupta II’s Chattra coins (Fig. 4) may be taken: “Vikramāditya, having conquered the earth, wins heaven by good works”; or the more ornate legend on a variety of Kumāragupta I’s Horseman type: “The unconquered Mahendra, invincible, the moon in the sky of the Gupta line, is victorious.” When a verse appears on the obverse, the reverse legend is distinct, consisting of a title, sometimes the repetition of one which appears already in the metrical obverse inscription, such as Apratirathaḥ, “The invincible one,” on the Archer coins of Samudragupta. Sometimes the king’s name and titles only appear, and then the legend on both obverse and reverse is often, though not always, continuous, but here again the reverse inscription, which appears to the right of the device, consists of a single title. Thus on Chandragupta II’s Archer type appears the following: obverse, Deva-Śrī-Mahārājādhirāja-Śrī-Chandraguptaḥ; reverse, Śrī Vikramaḥ. Entirely distinct in point of their inscriptions from all other Gupta coins are those struck by Samudragupta in memory of his father and mother, known as the Chandragupta I type; on the obverse appear the two names Chandragupta and Kumāradevī, and on the reverse his mother’s family name, Lichchavayaḥ. This relationship was evidently a matter of pride to the striker. Finally, on the obverse of all coins of the Archer and most of the allied types appears vertically, under or near the king’s left arm, part of the king’s name, as Samudra, Chandra or Kumāra. This vertical method of inscription can be traced back through the later Kushāṇa coins to a Chinese source.[31]

Whether the symbols which occur regularly on all Gupta gold are anything more than ornaments is doubtful.

The silver coinage of the Guptas starts, as has been already noticed, with the overthrow of the Western Satraps by Chandragupta II. His issues follow those of the conquered nation very closely, except that on the obverse appears a figure of Vishṇu’s sacred bird, Garuḍa, in place of the chaitya, and the dates are computed in the Gupta instead of in the Śaka era. Obviously these were intended for circulation in the recently annexed provinces. Kumāragupta, while striking large quantities of the Garuḍa-type coins in the west (Pl. VI, 1), extended the silver coinage to the Central Provinces of his Empire. This latter class of money is entirely distinct in character: the head on the obverse is drawn in a crude but quite original manner, and is probably intended as a portrait of the king; on the reverse the king’s devotion to Kārttikeya is once more displayed in the representation of a peacock with outstretched wings. A third class of silver-plated coins, with a rude figure of Garuḍa on the reverse, seems to have been intended for the tributary state of Valabhī.[32] Skandagupta continued the Garuḍa and Peacock types (Pl. VI, 2) of his father, and introduced two new ones. The coins, of very base silver, with Śiva’s sacred bull Nandi on the reverse, were probably current in Kathiawar; but commoner than any of the preceding are certain ill-shaped pieces with an altar on the reverse. None of the direct descendants of Skandagupta appears to have struck silver, but a few coins of the Peacock type were issued by Budhagupta, a king of Eastern Mālwā, about A.D. 480. The dates which appear on these coins to the left of the obverse head in the Western, and to the right in the Central, issues are frequently defective or illegible. Inscriptions are confined to the reverse, on the Peacock type always a metrical legend, on all other types the king’s name accompanied by high-sounding titles.

The copper coinage, which is practically confined to the reign of Chandragupta II, is far more original in design. Eight out of the nine types known to have been struck by him have a figure of Garuḍa on the reverse, usually accompanied by the name of the king, while the obverse is occupied by the bust or head of the king, or by a three-quarter length portrait. In one class this is varied by the reproduction of the gold Chattra type obverse (Pl. V, 13). The tiny coins which constitute the ninth type have the word Chandra in the obverse and a flower vase (kalaśa) on the reverse. Only four copper pieces are at present known of Kumāragupta.

After the death of Skandagupta, in A.D. 480,[33] the Gupta Empire rapidly broke up. The inferiority and comparative scarcity of his own gold coins, the still more debased issues of his brother Puragupta and subsequent kings, and the disappearance of silver money, bear ample evidence to their curtailed territory.

The impression produced by the magnificent coinage of the Guptas upon the peoples of Northern India was undoubtedly as great as that created by the currency of their Kushāṇa predecessors; but, after the general devastation caused by the inroads of the Huns, few princes could have retained sufficient wealth in their treasuries to imitate it. It is significant then that the most notable imitations were the product of a mint, secured by its remoteness from the ruthless hand of the invader, in Central Bengal. These remarkable and not uncommon coins, with Śiva reclining on his bull Nandi on the obverse, and the goddess Lakshmī seated on a lotus on the reverse (Pl. V, 12), were struck by Śaśāṅka, king of Gauḍa (circ. 600-625), notorious as the assassinator of Harshavardhana’s elder brother, and a great “persecutor of Buddhism.” In Bengal, too, for many years after the passing of the Gupta Empire, were current flat gold pieces with crude reproductions of Gupta designs, and, with the exception of the word Śrī on the obverse, completely illegible inscriptions. Another rather striking coin connected with the Gupta series, with a standing bull on the obverse, bears the name Śrī Vīrasena, but who Vīrasena was is at present unknown. A modification of the seated goddess motif was preserved on the gold coinage of certain mediæval Rājpūt kingdoms.