Silver drachm, Kumaragupta (c.407-51 CE), Northern Maharashtra?, Gupta Empire, India (F/T G7)

Bust of king, right, completely corrupt Greek inscription around / Formalized Garuda standing facing with spread wings, very crude partial legend. 13mm, 2.04 grams. Mint in southern Gujarat or northern Maharashtra. Todd/Fishman "The Silver Coinage of the Gupta Empire and Associated States in Western India" (2024) #G7.

The latest coins in the K1 series are the crudest of all coins of Kumāragupta I, with a disjointed portrait on the obverse and a very crude Garuḍa on the reverse. Find-spots for coins of this type are reported in southern Gujarat and north-western Maharashtra – it is possible that they were local imitations from that region or some crude tributary coins issued by the Traikūṭakas who controlled north-western Maharashtra by this time as these coins are stylistically related to the late issues of Traikūṭaka ruler Dahrasena.

The silver coinage of the Gupta Empire is notoriously complex, with numerous issues bearing similar legends yet struck to varying standards of weight and metal content. In their recent work The Silver Coinage of the Gupta Empire and Associated States in Western India (2024), Todd and Fishman undertook a comprehensive reclassification of the series, bringing much-needed order to this challenging field of study. The present coin is attributed in accordance with the system set out in their catalogue.

Kumaragupta I (Mahendraditya) was a ruler of the Gupta Empire in 415-455 CE. Like his father and predecessor, Chandragupta II, Kumaragupta was an able ruler. He retained, intact, the vast empire, which extended from Bengal to Kathiawar and from the Himalayas to the Narmada. He issued silver coins in the style of the newly conquered Western Kshatrapas, though the Kshatrapa symbols on the reverse were replaced with the Gupta symbol Garuda.