CDS (II) 2020 General Knowledge · Question 67 of 120

Correct — D, The largest number of coins issued by the Guptas were of copper. That is the statement that fails. The Guptas are remembered as the great gold coiners of ancient India: their standard piece was the eight-gram gold dinara, modelled on the Roman denarius, and it survives in enormous numbers — the Bayana hoard found in Bharatpur district alone yielded around two thousand Gupta gold coins. Copper is the opposite case. Gupta copper coinage is scarce and is mostly confined to the reign of Chandragupta II, which is precisely why numismatists treat Gupta copper pieces as uncommon finds. Gold, not copper, accounts for the bulk of the surviving Gupta coinage, so the claim in option (d) is not correct and is the one the stem is asking for.

• (a)Gupta kings issued large number of gold coins known as Dinar. — Correct as printed, so not the answer. The Gupta gold coin was the dinara, a name taken from the Roman denarius, and it is the type on which the whole Gupta series rests.
• (b)Chandragupta II, Kumaragupta I, Skandagupta and Budhagupta issued silver coins. — Correct. Silver coinage began under Chandragupta II after he overthrew the Western Satraps and took over their silver-using economy in Gujarat and Malwa; Kumaragupta I, Skandagupta and Budhagupta continued it. The silver rupaka weighed about 2.27 grams and was reckoned at one-sixteenth of a dinara.
• (c)The obverses of coins are carved with the images of the kings and on the reverse are carved deities. — Correct. The obverse carries the king — as archer, lyrist, tiger-slayer, horseman or performing the ashvamedha — and the reverse carries a deity, usually Lakshmi seated on a lotus or throne, with Garuda and the peacock appearing on the silver types.

Gupta coinage is the most detailed visual record of the dynasty and one of the main sources for its history. The gold dinara is the backbone of the series, struck by eight successive kings, with the archer type the most characteristic. Silver came in with Chandragupta II and the conquest of the Western Satraps, whose silver currency the Guptas simply took over and re-issued. Copper was struck sparingly. The gold content of the coins declined over time, from roughly ninety per cent purity under the early Guptas to around seventy-five to eighty per cent by Skandagupta's reign.

A 'which statement is not correct' item on coinage is usually decided by one fact rather than four, and the fact here is that the Guptas issued more gold than anyone else in ancient India. Once that is fixed, the copper claim collapses without any need to check the other three. It also helps to know why each metal appears when it does: gold from the start as a prestige and high-value currency, silver only after Chandragupta II absorbed a silver-using region, and copper thinly and mostly in that same reign. The imagery on the coins — king on the obverse, deity on the reverse — is the other examinable half of the topic.

• The Gupta gold coin was the dinara, about 8 grams, named after the Roman denarius; Skandagupta later introduced a heavier 9.2-gram suvarna.
• Silver coinage began under Chandragupta II after his defeat of the Western Satraps; the silver rupaka weighed about 2.27 g and was worth one-sixteenth of a dinara.
• Gupta copper coinage was limited and largely confined to the reign of Chandragupta II.
• The Bayana hoard, found in Bharatpur district of Rajasthan, produced roughly two thousand Gupta gold coins — the single largest such find.
• Gold purity fell from about ninety per cent under the early Guptas to about seventy-five to eighty per cent by Skandagupta's time.

• Assuming the commonest metal in any ancient coinage must be copper. For the Guptas it is gold.
• Crediting Samudragupta with silver coins; he struck in gold only, and silver begins with Chandragupta II.
• Confusing the rupaka with the karshapana or pana, which are earlier punch-marked and copper denominations.

As a 'not correct' statements item on Gupta coinage, or as a straight recall of the name of a Gupta gold or silver denomination.

• practice — not a real PYQ

  Silver coinage was introduced in the Gupta empire by which one of the following rulers?

  • (a)Chandragupta I
  • (b)Samudragupta
  • (c)Chandragupta II
  • (d)Skandagupta

  Answer(c) Chandragupta II — he began silver issues after overthrowing the Western Satraps, whose silver currency circulated in Gujarat and Malwa.

• practice — not a real PYQ

  The Bayana hoard, one of the largest finds of ancient Indian coins, consisted mainly of coins of which metal and dynasty?

  • (a)Silver coins of the Western Satraps
  • (b)Gold coins of the Guptas
  • (c)Copper coins of the Kushanas
  • (d)Punch-marked silver coins of the Mauryas

  Answer(b) Gold coins of the Guptas — about two thousand Gupta gold coins were recovered from Bayana in Bharatpur district, Rajasthan.