Gupta
Empire, Skandagupta, 455-467 AD, Gold Heavy Dinar (Suvarna) , 9.13g, Archer
type
Skandagupta
issued four types of gold coins: Archer type, King and queen type, Chhatra type
and Horseman type. His silver coins are of four types: Garuda type, Bull type,
Altar type and Madhyadesha type. The initial gold coinage was on the old weight
standard used by his father Kumaragupta of approximately 8.4 gm. This initial
coinage is quite scarce. At some point in his reign, Skandagupta revalued his
currency, switching from the old dinar standard to a new suvarna standard that
weighed approximately 9.2 gm. These later coins were all only of the Archer
type, and this standard and type was followed by all subsequent Gupta rulers.
OBV: King
with halo standing to left in 'dvi-bhanga' (dvi - two, bhanga - bend) posture,
bare headed wearing a buttoned coat with sash round his waist that falls down
to feet, wearing ornaments like earnings, necklace, armlet etc, holding a bow
in left hand and arrow in right hand, the 'Garud-dhwaja'(royal standard) with
sash attached and flying to the left visible behind the right hand. Legend
'Skanda' below the king’s left hand, Circular legend 'Parhitkari raja jayati
divam shree kramaditya' partially visible on the coin flan.
REV: Seated Laxmi on lotus flower, left hand on hip, right
hand holding noose, symbol on right, legend 'Kramaditya' visible on left.
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Skandagupta also continued issuing coins in silver in the
Western Kshatrap model however the bust profile shows a departure from the
typical hat-bearing busts of the Kshatrap rulers.
Skandagupta
(died 467) was a Gupta Emperor of northern India. He is generally considered
the last of the great Gupta Emperors.
Skandagupta's
antecedents remain unclear. Later official genealogies omit his name, and even
the inscriptions of his own age omit the name of his mother. Another
contemporary record notes that the "goddess of sovereignty, of her own
accord, selected him as her husband, having in succession discarded all other princes."
This has been interpreted as suggesting that Skandragupta was the son of a
junior wife. It may even be that he was simply a successful general who
promoted himself into the ruling Gupta clan.
The
Junagadh rock contains inscriptions of Ashoka (fourteen of the Edicts of
Ashoka), Rudradaman I and Skandagupta.
He
certainly faced some of the greatest challenges in the annals of the empire
having to contend with the Pushyamitras and the Hunas (a name by which the
"White Huns" were known in India). He defeated the Pushyamitras, a
tribe who were settled in central India but then rebelled. He was also faced
with invading Indo-Hephthalites or Hunas, from the northwest. Skandagupta had
warred against the Huns during the reign of his father, and was celebrated
throughout the empire as a great warrior. He crushed the Huna invasion in 455,
and managed to keep them at bay; however, the expense of the wars drained the
empire's resources and contributed to its decline. In particular, coinage
issued under SkandaGupta is seriously debased.
Skandagupta
died in 467 and was succeeded by his half-brother Purugupta (467–473 CE),
Kumaragupta II (473–476 CE), Budhagupta (476–495? CE) and Narasimhagupta, whose
kingdom in the plains of Northern India was continuously attacked by the Hunas.
Skandagupta's name appear in the Javanese text Tantrikamandaka, and Chinese
writer, Wang-hiuen-tse refers that an ambassador was sent to his court by King
Meghvarma of Sri Lanka, who had asked his permission to build a Buddhist
monastery at Bodh Gaya for the monks traveling from Sri Lanka.
Sources: Wikipedia
Blog post Author: Mitresh Singh