1884.] V. A. Smith —Oold Ooins of the Imperial Gupta Dynasty. 127 
The coins of Ghatot Kacha possess no distinctive Hindu character¬ 
istics. The king, who sacrifices at a fire-altar, grasps a peculiar rose¬ 
headed standard, which seems obviously intended to symbolize the rayed 
sun. The Sun and Fire are in mythology almost convertible terms, and 
I think it may fairly be assumed on the evidence of the coins, that Gha¬ 
tot Kacha (though he may have been a Hindu) was a worshipper of the 
solar fire, as his Indo-Scythian predecessors undoubtedly were. I am 
also disposed to believe that in most of the types of the Gupta gold coins 
the figure of the king on the obverse is intended to represent him 
idealized as a god, and that in the case of Ghatot Kacha, he is represented 
in the character of the solar god, shedding beneficent influences upon 
his subjects. 
The standing goddess on the reverse bears a lotus-flower and cornu¬ 
copia. The lotus-flower is an emblem very commonly used in Hindu my¬ 
thology, but is especially appropriate to the Sun* * * § and to Sri or Lakshmi, 
the goddess of good fortune.f The Sun (Siirya) may himself be regard¬ 
ed as a form or manifestation of Vishnu the Preserver, the lord of 
Lakshmi. The cornucopia undoubtedly indicates Western influence, but 
whether the design was borrowed directly from Greek, or Homan, or 
Syrian coins, it is not easy to decide. Cornucopias occur on the coins of 
the Seleucid dynasty of SyriaJ, but it is perhaps most probable that the 
device was borrowed directly from Homan aurei. In the Gupta series 
the cornucopia appears for the last time in the rare coins forming Class I 
of the Archer type of Chandra Gupta II, which were probably struck 
early in his reign. It is perhaps possible that a close comparison between 
the forms of the Homan and the Gupta cornucopia might help in settling 
the great question of the Gupta dates.§ According to the chronology 
wliich I adopt, the last appearance of the cornucopia on the Gupta coins 
is to be dated about 240 A. D. I regard the standing goddess on the 
reverse of the coins of Ghatot Kacha as the equivalent of the Greek and 
Seleucid rvxy, and of the Homan Fortuna, and believe her to be a copy, 
in part, of the Fortuna Augusti and similar figures on Homan coins, and, 
in part, of the elemental goddesses on the reverse of the Indo-Scythian 
coins. If she must be given a Hindu name, I have no doubt that she 
must be named SH or Lakshmi, the consort of Vishnu the Preserver. 
* “ The Indian mythology connected the lotus in all manner of forms with the 
sun.” Thomas in Num. Chron. for 1880, p. 26 note. Cf. Burgess Arch. Eep. for W. 
India for 1874-5, p. 216 and PI. LXY. 
t Birdwood, Industrial Arts of India, Vol. I, p. 58. 
J Gardner’s Catalogue of Seleucid Coins, p. 46, PI. XIV. Prof. Gardner informs 
me that Seleucid coins have been found in India. 
§ See Thomas, Early Faith of Asoka, in J. R. A. S. Vol. IX, N. S. pp. 212-217. 
R 
