This coin belongs to a series that has still not been properly attributed. L.C. Gupta and S.J. Mangalam (Silver Coins of Sri Gupta) attributed it to the founder of the Gupta dynasty. They based this on their reading sri gupta on the coins and the fact that some of these coins were apparently found in Bihar. However, other examples have been found in Punjab, and the coins have no relationship to any coins from Magadha in the 3rd century. Mitchiner assigns the coins to a "Gupta succession state north of Malwa." However, the coins are most closely related to the very similar Hunnic coins of Sind or Multan in the name of Yashaditya and Prachandendra, and the earliest coins of the Amirs of Sind, which look essentially like these coins, but with the addition of an Arabic legend below the altar. It is quite possible that these coins were issued by the Rais of Alor, the rulers of Sind at the time of the Islamic invasions. |