JOURNAL 
OF THE 
ASIATIC SOCIETY OF BENGAL, 
Part I.—HISTORY, LITERATURE, &e. 
No. II.—1884. 
A Classified and Detailed Catalogue of the Gold Coins of the Imperial 
Gupta Dynasty of Northern India, with an Introductory Essay .—■ 
By Y. A. Smith, B. A. Diibl., B. C. S. 
{With 4 Plates and a Table of Weights.) 
Inteoductoet Essay. 
Section I. — Dreliminary. 
The imperial Gupta dynasty is known to have consisted of a lineal 
succession from father to son of seven sovereigns, not including Budha 
Gupta, a local ruler in the country between the Jamuna and the I^armada, 
nor various other princes who retained a grasp on the eastern portions of 
the Gupta empire, after the decadence of the imperial family. 
hlo coins are known to exist which can be referred with certainty to 
the founder of the dynasty, who is in the inscriptions simply named 
Shi Gupta.Ghatot Kacha, Chandra Gupta I, and Samudra Gupta who 
* A gold coin found in Jessore was formerly attributed to Sri Gupta, (J. A. S. 
B. XXI, p. 401; PI. XII, 10), but this attribution cannot be maintained. The unique 
silver coin, belonging to Mrs. Freeling, which was at one time believed to belong to the 
reign of Sri Gupta, is plainly a coin of Skanda Gupta {Records of the Gupta Dynasty, 
pp. 49, 50). General Cunningham, nevertheless, still assigns to Sri Gupta an unpub¬ 
lished coin in his cabinet. In the case of this prince the word Sri would seem to be 
an integral part of his name, for the past participle ‘ Gupta ’ can hardly stand 
alone. Sri Gupta would therefore mean ‘ protected by Sri ’ or Lakshmi. In the 
names of the succeeding princes the word ‘ Sri ’ is used only as the customary hono¬ 
rific prefix, which is, in my opinion, best left untranslated. I-tsing speaks of the 
king who preceded his time by 500 years as ‘ Sri Gupta,’ not simply as ‘ Gupta.’ 
(J. B. A. S. Vol. XIII, N. S. p. 571.) 
