1884.] V. A. Smith —Oold Goins of the Imperial Gupta Dynasty. 147 
the assumption that the full weight of Diq purdna was 57, or 58, or 59 
grains, and must confess to remaining unconvinced by his reasoning, 
which seems to make insufficient allowance for loss of weight by wear. I 
believe General Cunningham’s 1'823 grain to be the nearest possible 
approach to the true value of the rati, but, for convenience, would adopt 
Mr. Laidlay’s value 1'825, which only differs from the other by g^th 
of a grain. The scale of Hindu gold coins and weights, will then stand 
as follows ;— 
5 rails = 1 mdsha = 9T25 grains. 
80 rails = 16 mdslias = 1 suvarna = 146'000 ,, 
The silver purdna will thus be equivalent to 58*4 grains, a result ap¬ 
parently quite consistent with the weights of existing specimens when 
allowance is made for wear. These results are, I submit, much nearer 
to the truth than the figures 8'75 and 140 and 56 respectively, as adopted 
by General Cunningham in his later publications and by Mr. Thomas, 
and they happen to be very nearly as convenient for purposes of calcu¬ 
lation. I would urge, however, that mere convenience of calculation 
does not justify any appreciable modification of the results arrived at by 
scientific investigation, and that our business is to get at the truth so far 
as possible, and to make our arithmetic conform. Tried by this test our 
coins obviously appear to be intended for suvarnas. To make the point 
clear I repeat the weights :— 
Suvarna = 80 ratis @ 1'825 grs. = 
Av. wt. of Chandra barbarous coins = 
Kumara 
,, Skanda 
Kara 
Prakasaditya ,, 
jj 
J? 
J) 
5? 
JJ 
n 
55 
55 
55 
146’00 grains. 
145- 66 „ 
146- 30 „ 
141-40 „ 
145-66 „ 
145-60 
It is true that some specimens weigh as much as 148-7, and that a 
base metal coin of the Kumara type weighs 150-3, but, considering the 
rude execution of these coins, and the inferiority of the metal in many 
instances, I do not think that this excess of weight invalidates the 
reference of these coins to the suvarna standard. Whether I am right 
or wrong on this point, the discussion at least proves that an investiga¬ 
tion in detail of the weights of the coins of the Gupta period is not with¬ 
out interest, and may lead to conclusions of some importance. 
It is to be regretted that the materials for the discussion are at 
present comparatively scanty, and I hope that collectors of Indian coins 
may be induced to pay more attention to the weights of their coins than 
has hitherto been customary. 
