1884.] V. A. Smitli —Gold Coins of the Imperial Gupta Dynasty. 139 
naturally suggested itself. Wilson noticed tliat tlie three and four¬ 
pronged patterns of monogram were continued from the coins of the Indo- 
Scythian sovereigns Kadphises, and Kanerki on those of the Gupta 
kings, and observed that “ agreeably to the purport which there seems 
reason to assign to these monograms, the recurrence of this emblem on 
all these coins should denote the place of then* coinage.”* 
But he hesitated to adopt this theory because it appeared to him that 
the Indo-Scythian dominions must have lain far to the northwest of the 
Gupta kingdom, and he suggested the alternative hypothesis that the 
Gupta monograms might be merely “a proof of imitation” of the Indo- 
Scythian coinage, and “ introduced without any definite object.” Such a 
suggestion is, on the face of it, improbable, and it is at once disproved 
by a careful examination of the monograms. A mere copyist would 
have tried to copy the Indo-Scythian monograms as they stood, and, 
however he might have failed in the mechanical execution, the evidence 
of the attempt to copy would have been unmistakeable. But, as I have 
already remarked, and as any one can readily verify by comparing my 
plate of monograms with that in the Ariana Antiqua, the Gupta mono¬ 
grams, while following the Indo-Scythian in the general pattern, differ 
in detail, and it is incredible that the systematic variety which exists 
could be the result of chance caprice. Moreover, the mechanical execu- 
cution of the Gupta monograms is nowise inferior to that of the Indo- 
Scythian. No one can study the designs of the better types of the Gupta 
gold coinage without seeing that the artists who cut the dies, though 
indebted in some respects to foreign models, yet possessed considerable 
originality, and knew how to assimilate and nationalize the conceptions 
of alien art. The hypothesis that the Gupta monograms are the work 
of blind and unintelligent imitators may therefore be dismissed without 
doubt or hesitation. 
The hypothesis that the monograms indicate the mint-cities is much 
more plausible, but is not altogether satisfactory. The Indo-Scythian 
coins are found chiefly in the Panjab and neighbouring parts of Afghan¬ 
istan where Gupta coins are never found,f whereas the Gupta gold coins, 
as will be proved in a subsequent section, have been found for the most 
part in the province of Benares and the neighbouring districts. It is 
extremely improbable that the Panjab Indo-Scythian and the Gupta coins 
should have issued, to any considerable extent, from the same mints, or 
should bear cognate mint-marks. Indo-Scythian coins of Kadphises and 
* Ar. Ant. p. 418. 
t In Arch. Eep. XIY. p. 65, General Cnnningliam mentions the finding of one 
Gupta coin among upwards of 1,000 of other kinds at Sunit near Ludiana in the 
Punjab. 
