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