49S On the Coins of the Gupta Dynasty. [No. 6. 



the double lines of the old £, which constitutes the essential dis- 

 tinction between the two letters. 



Class 23.— J. A. S. B. IY. PI. XXXIX. fig. 26. 



Obverse. The King is seated on a species of couch, or chair, 

 the back of which is placed on the right hand side of the figure, in 

 which arrangement it assimilates with certain forms of the throne 

 of Parvati. The Monarch is engaged in playing on the Vina, or 

 Indian Lyre.* 



legend. ^TCT^iftrerw ^f} *r [*j] ^ ron 



Reverse. Parvati, with cornucopia and regal fillet, seated on an 

 Indian Morha. 



Legend. ^?pj ^i 



Class E.— J. A. S. B. IV. XXXIX. 31. 32. A. A. XVIII. 2. 



Preeling, "W. 115 gr. 



Obverse. A richly bedecked horse standing before an Altar. 



Legend *r cj "5T H *p ^I^Tfsr^T^r ^fSRt f^T^T ^; below the 

 horse ^j. 



Beverse. Female holding a Ohaori, the figure is draped in the 

 light garments of the Chandra Gupta 1st style (class A). 



Legend gj^ifEi TPCTsfiT* The Hero of the Aswamedha.f 



I have but little hesitation in attributing this coin definitively to 

 Samudra Gupta. 



The Baralcrama title on the reverse would in itself go far to 

 justify such an assignment, but the obverse title of Prithivi Vijaya- 

 tya distinctly associates the identity of the monarch with Samudra, 

 who has applied to him a similar style of eulogy in the Allahabad 

 Pillar Inscription, where we read, t%] ^EfJR'Jf TTH^ ^nf^f^T^t ft- 



* Samudra's " accomplishments in singing and playing" are eulogised in the 

 24th verse of the Allahabad Inscription. J. A. S. B. VI. 980. 



f Wilson observes in regard to this type of join, '« That the steed represents one 

 dedicated to the Aswamedha, or solemn sacrifice of a horse performed only by 

 paramount sovereigns cannot be doubted, from the inscription Aswamedha-para- 

 krama, he who has the power of the Aswamedha rites (A. A. 421.)" See also Tod, 

 I. 63, 76, 583, &c. 



t J. A. S. B. VI. U78. 



