164 V. A. Smith —Gold Coins of the Imperial Gupta Dynasty. [No. 2, 
investiofation.* * * § It seems to me that in the voluminous discussions re < 
specting the date of the Guptas sufficient stress has not been laid on the 
paleeography of their lapidary and numismatic inscriptions. A good 
book on the Elements of the Paleeography of Northern India is badly 
wanted. 
A minute study of the epigraphy of the coins might perhaps lead to 
a more satisfactory chronological arrangement of the several types of 
each reign than I have been able to make. The types are arranged in my 
Catalogue in an order which seemed to be not inconsistent with chrono¬ 
logical succession, but the arrangement does not profess to be satis¬ 
factory, and in many respects is arbitrary, and open to correction. 
The materials used in the compilation of my Catalogue are detailed 
below :— 
I. Published Coins, vi^. :— 
1. Col. Tod’s paper in Trans. Poy. As. Soc. (1827), Yol. I. p. 340, 
and PI. XII, 4th series.f 
2. H. H. Wilson’s paper in Asiatic Researches, Yol. XYII, and 
PL l.t 
3. Marsden’s Numismata Orientalia, Nos. ML-MLIX inclusive.§ 
4. Wilson’s Ariana Antiqua, PI. XYIII.|| 
* Some desultory observations concerning the palaeography of the Gupta coins 
generally will be found in Mr. Thomas’s essay on the Coins of the Gupta Dynasty 
(J. A. 8. B. XXIV, pp. 491, 505, 510 ; 512 and 517), and concerning that of the silver 
coins in Cunningham’s Arch. Rep. IX, 21-26. In one corner of India, the Punjab 
hills between the Indus and the Jumna, the Gupta alphabet has^ never been changed, 
and “ the Baniyas of the hills still keep their accounts in Gupta characters.” {Gunn. 
Arch. Rep. XIV, p. 121). This very remarkable fact should be borne in mind by all 
palasographers. 
f Fig. 1, Kumara Gupta Mahendra (Archer, class I a) ; fig. 2, Chandra Gupta 
II (Archer, class II a ) ; fig. 3, Chandra Gupta II, (Lion-Trampler, var. a ) ; fig. 4, 
ditto (ditto, var. y ). 
if Fig. 5, Samudra Gupta (Javelin, var. 1 ) ; fig. 7, ditto, (ditto, var. 2 ) ; fig. 12, 
Skanda Gupta (King and Queen, = P. B. XXIII, 24) ; fig. 13, Chandra Gupta II 
(Archer, class II a) ; fig. 17, Prakasaditya. (Lion and Horseman) ; fig. 18, Kumara 
Gupta Mahendra (Horseman to Left) ; fig. 19, Samudra Gupta, (Lyrist). 
§ ML, Chandra Gupta II (Archer, class II a) ; MLI and MLYI, Chandra 
Gupta ? (Archer, barbarous ) ; MLII and MLIII, Kumara Gupta ? (Archer, bar¬ 
barous) ; MLIV, Kara Gupta, (Archer, barbarous) ; MLV, Skanda Gupta ?, (Archer, 
barbarous) ; MLVII, Chandra Gupta II (Archer, class I ^ 8 ) ; MLYIII, Chandra 
Gupta I (King and Queen) ; MLIX, Kumara Gupta Mahendra, (Horseman to Right, 
var. 7 .) 
II Fig. 1, Chandra Gupta II, (Swordsman and Umbrella) ; fig. 2 , Samudra 
Gupta (Aswamedha) ; fig. 3, Chandra Gupta I, (King and Queen) ; fig. 4, Chandra 
Gupta II (Archer, class II ) ; fig. 5, Chandra Gupta II, (Lion-Trampler, var. o ) ; 
