134 V. A. Smith —Oold Coins of the hriperial Gupta Dynasty. [No. 2, 
coins of Knmara Gupta. Another coin of Paulina’s represents her in 
the character of Juno riding on a peacock, but the treatment of the sub¬ 
ject differs from that used by the Gupta artists.* * * § A standing peacock, 
like that on the first mentioned coin of Paulina’s, appears on a coin of 
Mariniana, {circa 250 A. D.)f ; and a coin of Manlia Scantilla Augusta 
(193 A. D.) exhibits a standing figure of Juno with sceptre in left hand, 
and holding in her right hand a patera over a peacock standing at her 
feet.J 
In the Boy and Battle-axe type of Samudra Gupta it is interesting 
to observe the reminiscence of Scythian influence in the form of the 
battle-axe, with which the king is armed, as representing the god of 
Death. The place of the usual bird on the top of the standard is taken by 
a crescent moon. The same crescent-tipped standard occurs on the reverse 
of the unique Tiger coin of the same king, on the obverse of which the 
king is depicted as slaying a tiger. § 
The obverse device of this coin is the model of three types of 
Chandra Gupta II, and two of Knmara Gupta Mahendra, in which the 
tiger is replaced by a lion. I believe that these devices had some sym¬ 
bolic meaning but am not able to make it out. They may have been 
suggested by the Greek representations of Hercules contending with a 
lion. 
In the Archer type of Chandra Gupta II we first meet with the 
reverse design No. V, which subsequently became a common conventional 
pattern, and was used almost exclusively by the obscure princes who 
rudely imitated the Gupta coinage. The device consists of the figure of 
a goddess facing front, seated cross-legged on an expanded lotus-flower, 
and holding in her left hand a lotus flower, and in her right the ‘ fillet ’ 
or ‘ noose.’ The scholars who give the name Parvati to the Ardokro 
goddess, of course bestow the same name on the lotus-throned divinity, 
but I cannot perceive in the latter device any symbolism specially sug¬ 
gestive of the attributes of Parvati, whereas the symbolism used is 
thoroughly appropriate to express the ideas personified as Lakshmi. In 
justification of my views regarding the symbolism of the reverse devices 
of the Gupta coins .1 may appeal to the following description of the at¬ 
tributes of Lakshmi, which is based on the best authorities :—‘ Laksh- 
* Ihid, ibid PI. XLYIII, figs. 5 and 4. 
f Ihid. ibid., PI. LII, 3. 
I Ibid, ibid., PI. XLI, 1. 
§ In his Kecords of the Gnpta Dynasty (1876) p. 21, Mr. Thomas calls the en¬ 
sign a ‘ Garnda standard,’ but I am satisfied (after examination of the coin), that the 
object on the top of the standard is rightly described as a crescent in the same author’s 
Eevised Catalogue (1858). 
