Epigraphia Indica Vol 33

SR No.: 032587
Original Sutra Author: N/A
Author: D C Sircar
Publisher: Archaeological Survey of India
Publication Year: 1959
Total Pages: 514
Language: English
Classification: Book_English
File Size: 29 MB

Page 142

No. 17-COPPER COIN OF HARIGUPTA
. 11 Plate) D. C. SIRCAR, OOTACAMUND
(Received on 6.2.1958) A copper coin of a king named Harigupta,stated to have been found at Ahichchhatra (modern Ramnagar in the Bareily District, U. P.), was published by Cunningham in his Coins of Medieval India. Its weight is given as 41 grains and size 6 inch. The obverse of the coin contains the representation of a pürna-kumbhal on a pedestal while the legend in two lines on the reverse was read as (sri)-mahār[āja)-[Ha]riguptasya. Allan who entered the coin in his Catalogue of the Coins of the Gupta Dynasties, however, observed that the reading of the legend is very uncertain, guptasya alone being clear. But, as regards the reading, we are inclined to agree with Cunningham. Elsewhere in the same work, Allan admits his inability to offer any suggestion regarding the identity of the king who issued the coin, but observes that the palaeography of the legend suggests & date in the fifth century A.D.
Assuming the correctness of the reading of the name Harigupta in the legend, we have to see what relations the ruler might have with the Imperial Gupta dynasty of Magadha. It has to be pointed out that the Abichchhatrā coin of Harigupta is not without resemblance with the copper coinage of the Imperial Guptas in type and style. One type of copper coins issued by the Gupta emperor Chandragupta II (circa 376-414 A.D.) shows a purna-kumbha (with flowers or leaves hanging down its sides) within a dotted border on the obverse and the legend Chandra beneath & crescent within a similar border on the reverse. Elsewhere Allan suggests that, this type was probably struck in Malwa in imitation of the Malava tribal issues just as Chandragupta II imitated the coins of the Saka rulers in his silver coinage meant for circulation in Western India conquered from the Sakas.? The vase within a dotted border is a well-known feature of the coins of the Malavas. It has to be admitted that the weight of the seven coins of this type of Chandragupta II in the British Museum cabinet varies between 33 and 180 grains, while the weight of the Ahichchhatri coin of Harigupta is 41-0 grains. But a number of copper issues of the Gupta monarch are known to weigh between 40-5 and 49.5 or more grains. Now we have to determine whether Harigupta imitated the copper coinage of Chandragupta II or whether he ruled over a tract near about the Malwa region and imitated the tribal issues of the Mālavas.
In this connection we have also to see whether Harigupta of the Ahichchhatrā coin W88 related to another ruler of the Malwa region who bore a name ending with the word gupta and some of whose coins have been discovered in East Malwa. Some years ago, six copper coins of a ruler named Rāmagupta were discovered in a locality near Bhilsa (near the capital of the ancient Akara or Dasārņa country comprising East Malwa) and were published in the Journal of the Numismatic Society of India. Their obverse exhibits, within a dotted border, a lion sitting, facing left, with its tail raised and curled, while their reverse shows the legend Rāmagula or Rāmagupta beneath
1 Seo p 19, Plate II, No.6. * This is often described as a flower vase. • Cf. p. 152, No. 616; Plate XXIV, No. 16. See p. lxi. Cf. p. cv. • Ibid., p. 60: Plate XI, Nos. 21-26. Allan describes the pürna kumbha as & flower-vato.
Catalogue of the Coins of Ancient India, p. ovl. • See Smith, Catalogue of the Coins in the Indian Museum, Vol. I, pp. 171 f.
Cf. Allan, Cat. (Gupta Dynasties,) pp. 52 ff., Nos. 141-45, 147-48, 152-53, 160-61. 16 Vol. XII, PP. 103 ff.
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