________________
98
EPIGRAPHIA INDICA
[VOL. XXXIII
gold coinage. But when did Hariraja-Harigupta issue his copper coin of the same type! The answer to this question may be that Harigupta issued the coins on the decline of Gupta power about the last quarter of the fifth century A.D. He seems to have selected some of the popular types of Imperial Gupta coinage prevalent in the area over which he ruled. Considering the problem of local conservatism in ancient Indian numismatics, it does not appear necessary to think that Hariraja-Harigupta's coins were issued shortly after the issue of their prototypes.
