[5] Compare Mr. Fleet’s note in Corp. Ins. Ind. III. Ins. 8. [↑]
[6] Fleet’s Corp. Ins. Ind. III. 135. Mr. Fleet believes that the Lichchhavi family concerned was that of Nepál, and that they were the real founders of the era used by the Guptas. Dr. Bühler (Vienna Or. Journal, V. Pt. 3) holds that Chandragupta married into the Lichchhavi family of Páṭaliputra, and became king of that country in right of his wife. The coins which bear the name of Kumáradeví are by Mr. Smith (J. R. A. S. (N. S.) XXI. 63) and others assigned to Chandragupta I., reading the reverse legend Lichchhavayaḥ The Lichchhavis in place of Dr. Bhagvánlál’s Lichchhaveyaḥ Daughter’s son of Lichchhavi. On the Kácha coins see below page 62 note 2.
The Lichchhavis claim to be sprung from the solar dynasty. Manu (Burnell’s Manu, 308) describes them as descended from a degraded Kshatriya. Beal (R. A. S. N. S. XIV. 39) would identify them with an early wave of the Yuechi or Kusháns; Smith (J. R. A. S. XX. 55 n. 2) and Hewitt (J. R. A. S. XX. 355–366) take them to be a Kolarian or local tribe. The fame of the Lichchhavis of Vaísáli or Passalæ between Patna and Tirhút goes back to the time of Gautama Buddha (b.c. 480) in whose funeral rites the Lichchhavis and their neighbours and associates the Mallas took a prominent share (Rockhill’s Life of Buddha, 62–63, 145, 203. Compare Legge’s Fa Hien, 71–76; Beal’s Buddhist Records, II. 67, 70, 73, 77 and 81 note). According to Buddhist writings the first king of Thibet (a.d. 50) who was elected by the chiefs of the South Thibet tribes was a Lichchhavi the son of Prasenadjit of Kośala (Rockhill’s Life of Buddha, 208). Between the seventh and ninth centuries (a.d. 635–854) a family of Lichchhavis was ruling in Nepal (Fleet’s Corp. Ins. Ind. III. 134). The earliest historical member of the Nepál family is Jayadeva I. whose date is supposed to be about a.d. 330 to 355. Mr. Fleet (Ditto, 135) suggests that Jayadeva’s reign began earlier and may be the epoch from which the Gupta era of a.d. 318–319 is taken. He holds (Ditto, 136) that in all probability the so-called Gupta era is a Lichchhavi era. [↑]
[7] The figure of the Ganges standing on an alligator with a stalked lotus in her left hand on the reverse of the gold coins of Samudragupta the fourth king of the dynasty may be taken to be the Śri or Luck of the Guptas. Compare Smith’s Gupta Coinage, J. Beng. A. S. LIII. Plate I. Fig. 10. J. R. A. S. (N. S.) XXI. Pl. I. 2. [↑]
[8] The presence of the two letters क च that is ka cha on the obverse under the arm of the royal figure, has led the late Mr. Thomas, General Cunningham, and Mr. Smith to suppose that the coins belonged to Ghaṭotkacha, the last two letters of the name being the same. This identification seems improbable. Ghaṭotkacha was never powerful enough to have a currency of his own. Sarvarájochchhettá the attribute on the reverse is one of Samudragupta’s epithets, while the figure of the king on the obverse grasping the standard with the disc, illustrating the attribute of universal sovereignty, can refer to none other than Samudragupta the first very powerful king of the dynasty. Perhaps the Kacha or Kácha on these coins is a pet or child name of Samudragupta. Mr. Rapson (Numismatic Chron. 3rd Ser. XI. 48ff) has recently suggested that the Kácha coins belong to an elder brother and predecessor of Samudragupta. But it seems unlikely that a ruler who could justly claim the title Destroyer-of-all-kings should be passed over in silence in the genealogy. Further, as is remarked above, the title Sarvarájochchhettá belongs in the inscriptions to Samudragupta alone: and the fact that in his lifetime Samudragupta’s father chose him as successor is against his exclusion from the throne even for a time. [↑]
[9] Smith’s Gupta Coinage in J. R. A. S. (N. S.) XXI. Pl. I. 10. [↑]
[10] Compare Wilson’s Ariana Antiqua, Pl. XVIII. Fig. 8, which has the same legend with me for mama. [↑]
[11] Smith J. R. A. S. (N. S.) XXI. Pl. I. 11, 12. [↑]
[12] Smith J. R. A. S. (N. S.) XXI. Pl. I. 4. [↑]
[13] Smith J. R. A. S. (N. S.) XXI. Pl. I. Mr. Smith reads Lichchhavayaḥ (the Lichchhavis) and assigns this type to Chandragupta I. [↑]