1887.] V. A. Smith— On Gold Gupta Coins. 183 



occnpation of the country. In the south- west of the Basti District the 

 Rajput and other mediaeval settlers displaced Bhars. In parts of 

 Gorakhpnr and Basti the Doms or Dom Katars were the ruling tribe, 

 which had to give way before the immigrants from the west. Conse- 

 quently in some places ruined mounds will be ascribed to Bhars or 

 Doms instead of Tharus, but nowhere is there any trace of a genuine 

 continuous tradition handed down from the times of Budhhist ascen- 

 dancy and civilization. So far as appears, the Gorakhpur and Basti 

 Districts lapsed inte jungle during the disturbances which accompanied 

 the extinction of Buddhism, and remained for centuries unoccupied 

 by settled or civilized inhabitants. 



The thread of tradition was thus broken, and nothing can be 

 learned of the past history of the country except from coins, and such 

 other fragments of antiquity as may have survived. 



In the course of three and a half years' residence in the Basti 

 District I have not succeeded in discovering a single inscription. Coins 

 are therefore of special importance in the eastern districts of the N.-W. 

 P. from being almost the only legible memorials of the past which have 

 survived. 



The hoard of sixteen coins which is the subject of this notice is 

 remarkable for the variety of types included in it. No less than 

 seven distinct types are comprised in this small batch of coins. They 

 all belong to the reigns of Chandra Gupta II, and Kumara Gupta 

 Mahendra of the Imperial or Early Gupta dynasty. 



If Mr. Fleet is right in placing the beginning of the dynasty in 

 A. D. 318 — 319, the approximate date of these coins is A. D. 400, but 

 I refrain from expressing any opinion on this subject pending the 

 completion of Mr. Fleet's great work on the Gupta Inscriptions. 



In the following description the references are to my Catalogue 

 published in Part I. of the Society's Journal for 1884. 

 Nos. 1—5. 



Chandra Gupta II. Archer Type, Class II, var. a. 



On Nos. 1 and 2 the monogram is 10a, on Nos. 3 and 4 it is 19&, 

 and on No. 5 either Sb or 106. At first I thought that No. 5 was a coin 

 of Skanda Gupta's, but closer examination showed that it is a poor 

 specimen of Chandra Gupta's coinage. 



(Catalogue, page 180, Plate III, 1.) 



No. 6. 



Kumara Gupta Mahendra. 



Archer Type, Class I, ? var. a. Obv. ' Ku ' with crescent under 

 kiug's arm. On 1. margin, outside arrow, 4 characters of which the 



