JOURNAL 



OF THE 



ASIATIC SOCIETY, 



No. VI.— 1855. 



On the Coins of the Gupta Dynasty. — By Edwarb Thomas, Esq., 



B. C. S, 



Of the numerous coins, contributed by India at large, so ad- 

 mirably delineated by James Prinsep, and published in the early 

 volumes of the Journal of the Asiatic Society of Bengal, the great 

 majority were either conclusively deciphered and attributed by that 

 versatile scholar, or advanced some stages towards such eventual 

 explication and assignment. One of the few exceptions to this, al- 

 most unvarying success, presents itself in the class of money, I am 

 now about to notice. 



I refer to the small silver coins with the reverse device of a Pea- 

 cock* of the type associated with the recognised Saurashtran 

 model. 



Prinsep, while he correctly classed these pieces, in virtue of their 

 typical assimilations, freely admitted that he was unable to master 

 their legends ; neither has Professor Wilson afforded us any assist- 

 ance in this direction, as none of these coins formed part of the 

 collection of Mr. Masson, to the description of which the " Ariana 

 Antiqua" was specifically devoted. 



In the year 1848, I had occasion to advert incidentally to this 

 series of Indian mintages, and on examination, detected the name of 

 Budha Gupta amid the imperfectly outlined letters of their le- 



* J. A. S. B. III. PI. XVIII. fig. 20, p. 230. Vol. IV. PI. XLIX. figs. 10, 

 11, 12, p. 687. 



No. LXXVIL— -New Series. Vol. XXIV. 3 s 



