1855.] On the Coins of the Gupta Dynasty. 503 



I next proceed with the various series of silver money of the 

 Gupta princes. 



Sri Gupta? 



Class a ; Silver, weight 31 grains, Freeling, unique and un- 

 published. 



Obverse. — Device, the original type of the Sah head, apparently 

 unchanged in outline or details. 



Legend, as usual, in imperfect Greek characters, the concluding 

 six letters of which alone are visible, thus — ACIOIO. 



Reverse. — Device, a singular figure that may possibly represent 

 the early design of the Gupta peacock as rendered by the local 

 artists, beneath which is a linear scroll of three semi-circles similar 

 to that seen in continued use on certain silver coins of Skanda 

 Gupta,* above the main device are retained the Sah cluster of stars 

 and a minute half moon seemingly borrowed from the same source. 



Legend—^ — "^TR^ms^ ^ffJTHli"^^^. 



Prof. Hall proposes to amend the legend, thus — 



To this he assigns the following translation : " The auspicious, 

 Kilalendra, son of the auspicious Wanda Gupta, (who was) an 

 Indra in prowess." Thus reading the Sri Gupta as the mere title ; 

 I should prefer to consider it as the regal designation, accepting 

 Kilalendra as the personal name, the use of which may well have 

 been discontinued in the subsequent family inscriptions. The name 

 of Sri Gupta's father is of but little import, we may, therefore, for 

 the present let it stand as Nanda. 



There is probably no coin in the entire Gupta series, of which we 

 are at present cognizant, that possesses so much historical import- 

 ance as this diminutive piece. 



The absolute identity of the execution of the obverse device with 

 that of the fixed Sah model necessitates a concession of an almost 

 immediate succession of some portion of the Gupta family to the 



* J. A, S. B. IV. PI. XLIX. figs. 4, 5, VII. PI. XII. fig. 19 ; J. R. A. S. XII. 

 PI. II. figs. 43, 44 ; A. A. XV. 20. Prof. Wilson in speaking of the reverse 

 device of this particular coin describes it as " an ornament like a disintegrated 

 Chaitya." 



