1883.] V. A. Smith— Ool J Goins of blie Oupta Dynasty. 169 



Gupta gold coins is collated and tabulated, with the result that the over- 

 whelming majority of the coins, concerning the locality of which anything 

 is known, are shown to come from the eastern parts of Oudh and the North 

 West Provinces or from Bengal. Only five or six specimens can be traced 

 to Kanauj, while about 470 (excluding rude barbarous coins) are known to 

 come from eastern districts. 



As an inference from this result, and from the evidence of the Puranas 

 and of the distribution of architectural remains, and for other reasons, the 

 conclusion is reached that Kanauj was not, as is usually supposed, the Gupta 

 capital, and arguments are adduced for believing that Patna (Pataliputra) 

 may have been the capital and chief mint city, which must have been 

 situated east of Kanauj. 



The Catalogue comprises notices of all the published coins of the series 

 discussed, and of all the specimens of the same in the collections of the 

 British Museum, India office, Asiatic Society of Bengal, Sir E. C. Eayley, 

 A. Grant, Esq., W. Theobald, Esq., J. Hooper, Esq., and General Cunning- 

 ham, and of a few other coins, including some of those in the Bodleian 

 collection. 



Each type is defined by a full general description, which is followed 

 by definitions of the several varieties, and by brief particulars of individual 

 coins. Questions of disputed attribution and the like are discussed as 

 occasion arises. 



The catalogue exhibits a fulness of detail which would be out of place 

 in a treatise on European coins, but, in consideration of the position which 

 numismatic evidence must take in the reconstruction of the ancient history 

 of India, the writer has thought it desirable not to suppress details. Every 

 reader has thus the opportunity of examining for himself the evidence on 

 which the opinions expressed are based. The fulness of detail has the 

 further advantage of giving information, for the first time, as to the relative 

 rarity of the various types and varieties, and as to the deficiencies in the 

 public collections. 



The coin plates have been prepared by the Antotype Company from 

 plaster casts of coins in the British Museum and India office collections, 

 and, so far as the incompleteness of the series in those cabinets permitted, 

 one coin at least of each type has been figured. The opportunity has been 

 taken of figuring some hitherto unpublished varieties of well-known types. 

 The writer is much indebted to the officials of the Coin Room in the Bri- 

 tish Museum for the permission to have casts taken of as many coins as 

 he might desire, and to Mr. J. R. Sawyer, Director of Works of the Anto- 

 type Company, for the skill and care bestowed on the production of the 

 plates. The assistance received from other gentlemen is duly acknow- 

 ledged in the concluding section of the Introductory Essay. 



This paper will be published in full in the Journal, Part I. 



