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EPIGRAPHIA INDICA.
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king's, name he reads hesitatingly (Sec. 165) as Saha or Samacha or Yamacha, and thus wants to connect it with the Rajalila coin on which he reads the king's name as Yamacha. The reverse legend he reads on both the coins as Narendraditya.
In the Archæological Survey Report for 1913-14, Mr. R. D. Banerji discusses these two coins again. He observes that the name of the king on the obverse of both the coins is the same, viz. Yama. The reverse legend is read as Narendravinata.
A careful study of the two coins will convince any scholar that the name of the king is the same on both the coins and it cannot be read as anything else than Samacha (r) and the reading is confirmed when we come to know of a contemporary king Samachara-deva by name, whose copper-plate inscription was discovered not far from the find-spot of one of these coins (the Rajalilä coin) and the lettering of whose name, as written on his copper-plate, closely agrees to the lettering on these coins. The coins may therefore be assigned to Samacharadeva of the Ghugråhäti plate and they furnish proofs, hitherto wanting, of his existence and reign and of the genuineness of the Ghugrahati plate. These coins may be described thus:No. 1. Coin of Samachara deva; alloyed gold; provenance unknown; wt. 148-2 gr. Diameter 9 in.
Obv.-The king, in traditional Gupta dress, standing in the Tribhanga pose with a halo round the head, to the left of which curls are shown. He has a necklace of pearls. A bow is shown in the left hand, while the right hand is offering incense at an altar. Below the left hand, in characters of the close of the sixth century A. D., is found Sama; between the feet is cha, and above the Bull of the Standard, probably ra. The a in ma is a superscript angular stroke and the a in cha is a short perpendicular stroke to the proper left, exactly as found on the Ghugrahati plate of Samachara-deva; but in this plate cha has the angular stroke and ma the perpendicular one. These methods of marking & appear to be indiscriminate.
To the right of the king appears a standard surmounted by a bull. The Bull Standard would indicate that the king was a devout Saiva and belonged to a line different from the Gupta line so long predominant.
Reverse:-A goddess, nimbate, seated on a full-blown lotus with a lotus bud in her left hand and a noose in the right. To the right of the head of the goddess is seen what appears to be an indistinct monogram and on the left margin occurs the legend Narendravinata.
No. 2. Coin of Samachara-deva; alloyed gold; slightly purer than No. 1; wt. 149 gr. Diameter 8 in.
Obv.: The king, nimbate, sitting on a coach in (for coins) a unique Rajalila pose, and looking to his right. His left hand is raised as if to fondle the female figure standing to the left by touching her chin. The right hand is placed on the hip. Above the left hand occur Sa ma, below the couch cha and beneath the feet of the female figure to the right of the king,
ra.
Reverse :-Goddess Sarasvati, nimbate, standing on a lotus bud in Tribhanga pose and looking to her right; the left hand rests on a lotus, while the goddess draws another lotus towards her face with her right hand. A lotus bud is on a stalk below the bend of the right hand, below which again is a Hamsa (swan) with neck stretched upwards. On the left margin occurs the legend Narendravinata. The reverse type is also unique.
Some conclusions force themselves upon the careful observer of these two coins:
(1) The king was certainly not of the Gupta lineage, though he may well have been a successor of the Guptas in the dominions where the Guptas had once held sway.
* Allan calls the figure Lakshant, but Haras (swan) is ordinarily associated only with the goddess of learning, Sarasvati,
