How do you justify the view that the level of excellence of the Gupta numismatic art is not at all noticeable in later times?
Numismatics involves study or collection of coins, tokens and related objects. It is used by archaeologists to ascertain about trade, economy and society of a region. Though archaeologists have found terracotta seals at the Indus Valley sites, there is no agreement whether these seals were coins.
The Gupta coins, like their predecessors, did not confine the images of emperors on coins, they also depicted socio-political events such as marriage, king performing ashvmedha yagya, king playing musical instruments and performing other leisure activities. While the reverse sides of the coin depict gods and goddesses like Lakshmi, Durga, Garuada.
Coins Post-Gupta period
The coins minted were aesthetically less pleasing due to the following reasons:-
- The continuous internal feuds among medieval kings had kept their kingdoms fragmented and treasury in poor state. Hence coins were minted in metal of inferior quality- usually nickel, copper and lead. Dynastic coins were minted and demonetized in haste because of frequent coups and succession. These factors left little time and little room for grand imaginations, vivid designs and unique motifs. For example:
- Rajput coin designs were confined martial motifs of bull and horseman type. Some of them had king’s name on obverse side and a Goddess on the reverse side.
- South Indian coin designs were confined to dynastic crests– boar (Chalukya), bull (Pallava), tiger (Chola), fish (Pandya), bow and arrow (Cheras) and lion (Hoysala). Usually, the other side of the coin had image of temple / Goddess or was simply left blank [e.g. Western Chaluykya.].
- Prohibition of idolatry in Islam severely limited the scope of inscribing motifs and images in the coins of Delhi sultanate and Mughal empire. Usually these coins bore only textual information such as name of the king and date of issue.
- The weakening of Mughal empire and subsequent fall of land revenue had forced Aurangzeb to debase his coins. The subsequent reduction in the content & quality of metal had further reduced the scope of border designs, luster and premium look- even in the coins of highest denomination. [Debasement means using less quantity of gold, silver and using metal of inferior quality such as copper, nickle and lead to mints the coins of same denomination. Watch My Lecture for more on this.]
- British-Indian coins were monotonous in design as they had textual information of coin denomination and year on obverse side and portrait of the king or queen on the reverse side. After independence, the king’s portrait was replaced by Lion Capital of the Ashoka Pillar and other indigenous motifs of sovereignty and freedom.
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