1885 .] 
the gold coins of the Guptas. 
89 
merely of accident or inferior execution. On this point Mr. Smith, 
pertinently remarks : 44 The suggestion that the figure of the Ardokro 
goddess was adopted by Samudra in mere imitation of a foreign design 
does not appear tenable. The coins with this reverse undoubtedly show 
evident traces of foreign influence, but they are far from being mechani¬ 
cal copies of alien design.” 
If this view is correct, as is probably the case the question arises, 
whether this constant difference in type of the 4 cornu-copise ’ symbol 
which is found to exist on the Indo-Scythian and Gupta coins respective¬ 
ly, does not mark a corresponding divergence of ideas, represented 
respectively by each type of the 4 cornu-copiee * symbol ? That such is 
the case with the £ nllet ’ there are, as has been shown good grounds for 
supposing, and in like manner a close examination of the Gupta 4 cornu¬ 
copias ’ suggests that the idea it represents is entirely different from that 
of plenty and abundance, and that it stands really for, and in an adoptive 
and conventional mode of representing the native object of symbolical 
worship, the snake or ISTaga. 
The point wherein the 4 cornu-copise ’ symbol on the Gupta coins, 
diverges from its classic prototype on the Indo-Scythian coins is this, 
that whereas the latter has always the appearance of a receptacle stored 
with the kindly fruits of the earth, among which, in the best executed 
examples, heads of grain may distinctly be recognised, the Gupta symbol 
is closed above by a more or less convex line ornamented by a variable 
number of approximately equal and equidistant pellets or dots, blow 
bearing in mind that the symbol may be intended for the divine ISTaga, 
it is by no means an undue stretch of the imagination to regard these 
pellets as a conventional mode of representing a polycephalic ISTaga, 
whether we regard each pellet as corresponding, to one of the heads or a 
mere jewel or ornament indicative of as many heads as pellets. Of the 
coins figured by Mr. Smith on PI. II, fig. 3 displays 5 pellets, figs. 3, 7, 8, 
show 7 pellets and figs. 1 and 11,8 pellets and similarly in the figures 
given in A. A. PI. XVIII, the number of pellets ranges from 5 to 8. 
It yet remains to connect this Gupta 4 cornu-copies ’ with the ISTaga 
and though Mr. Smith does not allude to any such idea yet both his own 
Plates and Plate XVIII of the Ariana Antiqua furnish on close exami¬ 
nation sufficient evidence to establish this rather startling conclusion. 
In A. A. PI. XVIII, fig. 6 the curved body of a snake is indicated on the 
right hand side of the figure, the entire animal being above the couch or 
throne whereon the goddess is seated. In fig. 8 of the same Plate, the 
body of the snake seems to pass behind the back of the goddess and come 
out in front of the right instep whence it curves np over the left knee, 
the tail resting on the throne. In fig. 9 a somewhat similar arrangement 
