QUES . How do you justify the view that the level of excellence of the Gupta numismatic art is not at all noticeable in later times? UPSC MAINS 2017 GS I
HINTS:
The Gupta period is considered as the “Golden Age” of classical India. Similarly their art is regarded as the high point of classical Indian art, and their coinage as among the most beautiful of ancient India.
Departing from the previous rulers the Guptas depicted events such as marriage, Ashvmedha, Veena playing,etc. on their coins .Whereas the coins issued by previous rulers contained images of kings as Archer, Lion-slayer or Horse-rider. Also the other side of the Gupta coins carried images of Gods and Goddesses including Durga, Lakshmi, Ganga, Garuda and Kartikeya.
Gupta coins were usually minted in gold and silver.
Howover the coins minted in Post Gupta period are usually unexciting and less interesting. The coins issued by medieval kings contained metal of inferior quality- usually nickel, copper and lead.
Rajput coin designs were confined to 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.
British-Indian coins were pedestrian 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.
Thus, with the aforementioned observations of dynastic coins in the Northern, Southern and Western kingdoms of Medieval India, we can conclude that the level of excellence of Gupta numismatic art is unparalleled in the history of Indian coinage.
The comparative scarcity of Gupta coins shows that there was hardly any easy medium through which people of one town could enter into exchange relations with those of the other. The gold coins issued by the Gupta rulers could be useful only for big transactions such as the sale and purchase of land in which gold coins were used. Smaller transactions were evidently conducted through the barter system of cowries.
Must read: Science & Technology in the Gupta Period
External link: https://www.mintageworld.com/blog/gupta-numismatic-art/
