“THE EPIGRAPHIC records of ancient India are extremely important for a student of history, as these make any reference contextual,” said Prof MNP Tiwari, renowned art historian and head of the Department of History of Arts, BHU.
He was delivering a lecture on the third day of the 10-day special course on Gupta inscriptions organised by the Jnana Pravaha, Centre for Cultural Studies and Research, in Samne ghat area on Friday.
Prof Tiwari said the importance of epigraphic records could be understood by a simple example that Chandragupta could not be identified on a coin if the legend or inscription was missing. He said Ramagupta was not accepted as a Gupta ruler by historians until the three figures of the Jain Teerthankaras were unearthed from Vidisha where the inscriptions recorded him as ‘Maharajadhiraja Shri Ramagupta’.
Earlier, Jnana Pravaha director Prof RC Sharma threw light on the Bayana hoard unearthed in Bharatpur, Rajasthan. “This treasure contains gold coins of almost all the Gupta emperors which bespeak the prosperity of the empire,” he said.
“The peaceful foreign contacts and flourishing trade resulted in lot of import of gold, especially from Rome,” he said and quoted the verses from ‘Raghuvansha’, the contemporary work of Kalidas, in which the poet established the prosperity of the period through the dialogue between Raghu and Kausta on “rain of gold coins”.
{{/usCountry}}“The peaceful foreign contacts and flourishing trade resulted in lot of import of gold, especially from Rome,” he said and quoted the verses from ‘Raghuvansha’, the contemporary work of Kalidas, in which the poet established the prosperity of the period through the dialogue between Raghu and Kausta on “rain of gold coins”.
{{/usCountry}}“The Gupta gold coins are not just coins, but are an authentic source of understanding the Gupta period. These also let us know about the garments, hairstyle, weapons, ornaments, musical instruments, metallurgy etc. beside the interests and beliefs of the emperors,” he said.
He said while the portraits on the coins of Kushana were static, those on the Gupta coins were full of movement, which reflected the busy and dynamic society engaged in various activities.