Gupta Period

During the beginning of 4^th century, the new dynasty came in to existence naming ‘Gupta Dynasty’, the reign of the kings of ‘Gupta Dynasty’ is known as the ‘Golden Era’ of the Indian history. The main kings belonging to ‘Gupta Dynasty’ were ‘Chandra Gupta 1^st’,’Samudra Gupta’, ‘Chandra Gupta 2^nd ‘,’Kumar Gupta’,’Skanda Gupta’, ’Budha Gupta’ followed by ‘Chandra Gupta 3^rd’ , ‘Prakasaditya’, ‘Vainya Gupta’, ‘Narasimha Gupta’, ‘Kumar Gupta 3^rd’ and ‘Vishnu Gupta’.

The kings belonging to this dynasty mainly circulated the coins in gold. They issued gold coins so profusely that a contemporary poet has allegorically termed the phenomenon a “Rain of gold”. The coins stroked by the kings of ‘Gupta Dynasty’ were very well designed and were class of beauty in themselves. They were quite original in their contents and are of artistic excellence in their appearance. The coins use to bear some ‘Figure’ on one side and usually ‘Devi Lakshmi’ on the other side. Also in one type King and Queen are portrayed. Usually these types of coins are circulated by ‘Chandra Gupta’, ’Kumar Gupta’ and ‘Skanda Gupta’. In the coins circulated by king ’Samudra Gupta’, and ‘Kumar Gupta’ the king is shown seated on the couch playing the ‘Veena’. In some coins the portrait of king holding a ‘Bow’ in left hand and ‘Arrow’ in his right hand or king hunting wild animals is portrayed.

The reign of the kings of ‘Gupta Dynasty’ was on its peaks till 5^th century but during the middle of 5^th century to 6^th century due to the invasion of ‘Hunnas’ and weak successors it started fading.

From Malwa i.e. modern Madhya Pradesh, a large number of tiny copper coins have came to light in recent years bearing the name of King ‘Ram Gupta’. As per to some historians ‘Ram Gupta’ was the elder brother of ‘Chandra Gupta 2^nd ‘ and the first husband of the queen ‘Dhruva Devi’. These coins might belong to him; but some scholars are hesitant in accepting this theory. These coins are known in several varieties- a lion seated to left, a lion standing to right, a Garuda with spread wings, a vase with or without a creeper, etc.