1884.] V. A. Smith —Gold Goins of the Imperial Gupta Dynasty. 131 
been S'aiva. But the translation of the Bhitari inscription is avowedly 
imperfect, and, until it has been revised by a competent scholar, is of 
little use for historical purposes.* 
The interpretation of the device of the throned goddess requires 
no assumption as to the sectarian preferences of the early Guptas, for the 
attributes of the figure are manifestly those of Lakshmi rather than of 
Parvati, and I venture to affirm that but for the ‘ half-S'iva ’ interpre¬ 
tation of the word Ardokro, no one would ever have thought of calling 
the fi gure Parvati. The suggestion that the figure of the Ardokro god¬ 
dess was adopted by Samudra in mere imitation of a foreign design does 
not appear to be tenable. The coins with tliis reverse undoubtedly show 
evident traces of foreign infiuence, but they are far from being mechani¬ 
cal copies of alien designs. If Samudra Gupta’s die engraver had been 
a mere copyist he would naturally have copied from the coins of Samu- 
dra’s father and grandfather, but the reverse devices of their coins are 
totally different both from the Ardokro figure and from each other. 
Samudra himself em23loyed four distinct reverse devices, and evidently 
adopted each of them deliberately. 
Mr. Thomas’ remaining evidence in favour of his interpretation con¬ 
sists in proofs of the S'aiva preferences of Kumara Gupta and Skanda 
Gupta. But the facts that one of these princes placed on his coins effigies 
of Kumari Devi and of Durga, and that the name of the other is a syno¬ 
nym of Kumara Deva, by no means prove that all female figures on the 
reverses of other Gupta coins are intended for forms of Parvati. I have 
discussed above some of the representations of standing goddesses, none 
of whom can with any probability be identified with Parvati. The pea¬ 
cock of Kumari Devi, and the lion of Durga are never associated with 
the throned Ardokro goddess. She occurs only on the Javelin and 
Archer coins of Samudra Gupta, and on the unique Couch coin, and the 
rare coins forming Class I of the Archer type of Chandra Gupta II. 
An emblem, which is very characteristic of the Gupta gold coins, 
makes its first appearance on the obverse of Samudra’s Javelin type. 
This is a standard bearing on the top the figure of a bird, and having a 
general resemblance to a Homan eagle standard. 
Wilson (who is followed by General Cunningham) was inclined to 
interpret the bird as meaning Garuda, the winged vehicle of Vishnu ; 
but this interpretation appears to me forced and improbable. The object 
indicated is simply a bird, whereas the mythologists describe Garuda 
* For the Bhitari inscription see Prinsep’s Essays, Yol. I, pp. 240, seqq^. A 
revised facsimile is given in Cunningham Arch. Eep. I, pp. 97—99, and PI. XXX. A 
well-edited translation is much wanted, and it is surprising that the want has re¬ 
mained so long unsupplied. 
