Obverse: King is shown in shooting stance with Lion falling on the it's back. King is wearing a Crown, long sash flowing at the waist and shorts.
Legend: Kumara....
Reverse: Goddess seated in tribangha pose on a Lion. Lion facing right. Arm resting on waist and holding lotus stalk with leaves in outstretched right hand. Legend: Sinhamahendrah
Kumaragupta Lion Slayer
CLASS I, Variety C
Lion Slayer Type - King without Nimbus, Lakshmi without Nimbus.
(7.99 gm; 20 mm).
King Kumaragupta standing right, drawing bow towards lion, which falls backwards on right.
The goddess Lakshmi, holding lotus and dropping coins, seated facing on lion reclining right; tamgha to left.
Obverse Legend: Kumaragupto yudhi simhavikramah
Reverse Legend: Simhamahendrah
Kumaragupta I Lionslayer Class I, Var C
Class I, Var C
Obverse: King is shown in shooting stance with Lion falling on the it's back. King is in janghia with Pearl necklace, earrings, armband.
Legend: Kshitipatirajitamahendrah Kumaragupto divam jayati - Kumaragupta, unconquered Mahendra, being (already) the lord of the earth, wins heaven.
Reverse: Goddess seated in tribangha pose on a Lion. Lion facing right. Arm resting on waist and holding lotus stalk with leaves in outstretched right hand. Legend - Simhamahendrah
KUMARAGUPTA I LION SLAYER TYPE COIN
Class I, Var. C
Reverse Legend: Sanhamahendrah 8.5gms Unusually high weight for this Variety.
Class II - Lion Trampler Type
Kumaragupta I Lion Trampler Coin
Variety A
Obverse Legend: Narasimha as it were incarnate, the lion like Mahendra, is ever victorious - Sakshadiva narasinhah sinhamahendro jayatyanisam
Reverse Legend: Srimahendrasimhah
8.17gms.
KUMARAGUPTA LION SLAYER
Lion-slayer type - Class II, Variety B
King shown with Nimbus (halo), Lakshmi shown with Halo.
Kumaragupta, nimbate, standing left with flexed knee, turning to draw his bow in a "Parthian shot" at a lion which sprawls over backward.
Weight: 8.13gm
Legend: Sri Mahendrasinah
The object in Lakshmi's hand is unclear, and described as a "garland" in Altekar's Bayana Hoard catalogue. But when he produced his Corpus a few years later, Altekar offered the suggestion that the object was the mundamala, a necklace of skulls worn by Shiva as a symbol of that god's power over life and death. This conflation of the attributes of Lakshmi, the goddess of prosperity, and Shiva appears in no other aspect of Gupta or Hindu art.
