While coins have existed for over 2,000 years in India, coinage of the Gupta dynasty stands apart
in design and complexity as truly masterful works of art. The coins are struck in gold, silver,
copper, and lead. Beginning with the first of the Gupta monarchs, Chandragupta I, the powerful
Gupta kings succeeded in creating a coinage that was unrivaled by anything in Hindu India either
before or after them. The coins of the Kuṣāṇa dynasty originating in the northwestern regions of
the greater Indian subcontinent (present-day Pakistan and Afghanistan) in the first century ad,
served as the inspiration for the beautiful coin designs struck in the fourth century ad by the
Gupta kings who proceeded to issue and replace the local currency with their new currency as
the Gupta Empire grew. These new and innovative coin designs served both as an economic
currency as well as a medium of propaganda for the Gupta kings to proclaim themselves as the
most devout, valorous, just, and all-powerful kings of the land.
This was a period in ancient India when powerful and long-lasting religious changes were
taking place in the revival of the Vedic beliefs and rituals, the conflict between the brāhmaṇic
belief systems and Buddhist and Jain forms of worship. The period from the fourth to the sixth
century ad was a time when Hindu iconography was also evolving and firm rules governing
the imagery of the Hindu gods and goddesses were being established. This evolution of design,
primarily influencing Gupta art, is captured in the designs of the Gupta gold coins and
provides us with a window into the vast tidal wave of change sweeping through ancient India.
This book is designed to serve as a guide for collectors, scholars, and historians alike to fully
appreciate the vast and beautiful coinage of the Gupta Empire as well as to fully understand
its important contribution to India’s history.
If I am travelling again in the direction of coins now, it is because a meticulously worked, richly illustrated,
recently published book on the Treasures of the Gupta Empire landed on my desk a few weeks ago. Put
together by Sanjeev Kumar, it is truly a comprehensive catalogue of the gold and silver coins of the Guptas.
—B. N. Goswamy, Indian Art Critic and Historian.
