Altekar, in his corpus of Gupta coins breaks down this Type into 4 Classes. However, in addition to these, there is now a 5th Class of Coins. This is the ONLY type of Gupta Coin where the King is shown facing to the front.
CLASS I:Kumara under left arm of King. Legend is in prose Maharajadhiraja-sri-Kumaraguptah
CLASS II:Kumara in vertical legend outside of bowstring which is held by middle, bowstring facing outside. Legend Guneso mahitalam... jayati Kumarah ... Prominent in merit,... Kumara conquers the world.
CLASS III:Ku under the arm of the King.
Var A - Legend: Vijitavaniravanipatih Kumaragupto divam jayati - King Kumaragupta, who has conquered the earth, wins the heaven.
Var B - Legend: jayati mahitalam Sri-Kumaraguptah
Var C - Legend: Jayati mahitalam Sri-Kumaraguptah sudanvi - The excellent Archer Kumaragupta conquers the earth.
Class IV: No Ku or Kumara under Kings Arm on obverse.
Var A - Legend: Paramarajadhiraja-Sri- Kumaragupta - Kumaragupta the great king of kings.
Var B - Legend: Jayati mahitalam Sri Kumaraguptah.
Reverse:
Goddess seated on a Lotus with noose in right hand, lotus in left hand. Sometimes she is seen scattering coins with right hand or holding a flower. Legend: Srimahendrah
CLASS V:
Obverse: King facing to the front, standing in the tribanga pose, resting right hand on waist and holding bow in the left hand at top of bow. Garuda banner is in right field. 8.01gm.
Reverse: Goddess Lakshmi holds noose in right hand, and flower in left hand. Sri Mahendra.
KUMARAGUPTA BRAHMI TEXT
Class II
KUMARAGUPTA ARCHER COIN
Kumaragupta Archer Coin
Class III 'Ku' under Arm
KUMARAGUPTA I ARCHER GOLD COIN
Exceptional strike. Legend starting at 1 O'clock - Vijita... ending at 12 O'clock by Kings head with "[su] dhanvi ".
Note the wings on the Garuda bird... Ku under Kings arm. Beautiful strike on reverse - Sri-Mahendrah.Goddess holding a flower in her right hand, with long stalk originating from the head of a makara.
Makara: An elephant headed fish monster living in river Ganges, shown in early Indian & Buddhist Iconography as the source of the Lotus plant.
Legend starting at 1 O'clock [Paramarajadhiraja] shri ku ma ra gu [ptah:]
Reverse: Shri Mahendrah
Class V King facing to the front
KUMARAGUPTA I - ARCHER TYPE, CLASS V
The coin shown above is one of the 2 coins known to exist and the only one in private collection. (the other coin is in the Indian Museum (IM112,10)
King shown as tall and bare chested young man in a youthful, limber pose. 8.01gm.
The King holds an arrow in right hand (at waist) and is shown wearing a dhoti. He wears a crown, with pearl necklace and big earrings and holds a small bow grasped in his left hand at the top of bow.
Kumara under left hand.
Reverse shows Lakshmi holding a noose and a flower. Sri-mahendrah
Ellen M. Raven, Gupta Gold Coins with a Garuda Banner, Edbert Forsten, Groningen, 1994, plate no. LI, # 121. (Indian Museum IM112,10).
Images and design copyright Shivlee Collection
A comprehensive collection of rare gold coins from the Gupta Empire of India.
