North Indian Inscriptions

POLITICAL HISTORY

and Parākrama to Samudragupta. Many combinations were formed out of Mahēndra as they were out of Vikrama and Parākrama. Thus, like Vyāghra-Parākrama of Samudragupta or Siṁha-Vikrama of Chandragupta, we have Siṁha-Mahēndra for Kumāragupta on the Lion-slayer Type. But what is noteworthy is that this Siṁha-Mahēndra is sometimes found reversed into Mahēndra-Siṁha, showing clearly again that it is a karmadhāraya compound, signifying that Kumāragupta is here described as “Mahēndra who is also Lion”. Further, what is strange is that he adopts the upamāna not only of Chandragupta II, but also of Samudragupta. Thus, he is styled not only Siṁha-Vikrama but also Vyāghrabala-Parākrama on some coins. This does not mean that he was a more powerful king or a more daring sportsman than any one of these predecessors. It may be that he carried on his hunting exploits sometimes in the Gir forest of Kāṭhiāwāṛ and sometimes in the Sunderban jungles of Bengal. The case is, however, different in regard to the Aśvamēdha Type struck by him. This is almost an exact imitation of the Aśvamēdha Type issued by Samudragupta. On the obverse there is a horse wearing breast-band and saddle and facing a yūpa or sacrificial pole, on an altar, carrying pennons, which float over the horse. On the reverse there is queen, nimbate, facing the sacrificial spear bound with fillets and holding chowrie on her shoulder. This celebration of Aśvamēdha, as in the case of Samudragupta, must be taken as an indication of the rank of Sārvabhauma, attained by Kumāragupta.

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And we have already seen that in an inscription¹ Indra is represented as being suspicious of Gōvindagupta, another name of whom was Kumāragupta, and that the latter must therefore be taken to have become a supreme ruler. In this connection, we have to note another type of his coins called the Peacock Type, on the obverse of which the king stands, nimbate, feeding a peacock from a bunch of fruit with a legend ending with Mahēndra-Kumāra and on the reverse Kārttikēya, riding on the peacock and holding a spear over his shoulder and with the name Mahēndra-Kumāra affixed to it. Anybody who studies this type carefully will be convinced that here the king is actually identified with Kumāra or Kārttikēya. Both on the obverse and the reverse it is not any mortal king that is figuring, but rather the god Kārttikēya feeding the peacock on the side and riding his vehicle on the other. It seems that the original name of the king was Gōvinda but that, being invincible in his fights with the enemies, he was taken to be identical with the god Kumāra and was thenceforth known by that epithet just as the son and successor of the Rāshṭrakūṭa Gōvinda III was known only by the epithet Amōghavarsha.² That the king was known for his world-conquests and that his was a glorious reign is indicated also by the great variety in his silver coins which “forms a striking contrast to the scarcity of his father’s silver coinage.” “Not only was the coinage of silver in the west considerably extended . . ., but he also introduced a silver coinage for the first time to the central provinces of the Gupta dominions” (the Ganges Valley), as John Allan has correctly remarked.³ They bear a superficial resemblance to the Kshatrapa prototype, and display great originality of treatment, not the least important feature of which is the discarding of the representation of Garuḍa, the family symbol in favour of a peacock standing facing with wings and tail outspread, an allusion, no doubt, to Kumāra (=Kārttikēya) with whom the king is completely identified. This accords with the fact that the Vaishṇava legend, in which the epithet Paramabhāgavata prominently occurs in his silver coinage in the west, is discarded in favour of the boast of victory recorded in verse on the gold Archer and Horseman Types in which the epithet Kumāragupta is prominently mentioned. Kumāragupta had at least two sons. One was Ghaṭōtkachagupta who was apparently in charge of Tumbavana, Tumain, in Gupta year 116 (=434-35 A.D.) in the lifetime of his
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¹ Ep. Ind., Vol. XXVII, pp. 12 ff.
² B.G., Vol. I, pt. ii, p. 401.
³ Catalogue of the Coins of the Gupta Dynasty, Intro., p. 349, line 10.