Catalog
See full images - free registration
Continue with Google - no registration!
or register with email
Why register? Just to keep bots out of our catalog. Your email stays private - we will never share it or send you anything uninvited. We guarantee you that!
AR Drachm - Madasena
| Issuer | Maitraka dynasty |
|---|---|
| Year | 400-500 |
| Type | Standard circulation coin |
| Value | Log in to see details |
| Currency | Log in to see details |
| Composition | Log in to see details |
| Weight | Log in to see details |
| Diameter | Log in to see details |
| Thickness | Log in to see details |
| Shape | Log in to see details |
| Technique | Log in to see details |
| Orientation | Log in to see details |
| Engraver(s) | Log in to see details |
| In circulation to | Log in to see details |
| Reference(s) | Log in to see details |
| Obverse description | Degraded bust of a king in profile facing right, derived from late Sasanian or Indo-Sasanian prototypes, wearing a distinctive winged or crescent-adorned helmet with flowing ribbon or streamer extending behind. The face is rendered in a stylized, schematic manner typical of post-Gupta western Indian coinage, with a prominent eye, nose, and simplified facial features visible in the field. Small pellets or decorative dots appear in the lower field, flanking the base of the bust. The design retains the essential iconographic elements of the Kshatrapa-derived drachm tradition, progressively abstracted through successive local imitation. |
|---|---|
| Obverse script | Log in to see details |
| Obverse lettering | Log in to see details |
| Reverse description | Log in to see details |
| Reverse script | Brahmi |
| Reverse lettering | Log in to see details |
| Edge | Log in to see details |
| Mint | Log in to see details |
| Mintage | Log in to see details |
| Additional information |
The Maitrakas established themselves at Valabhi in Saurashtra following the collapse of Gupta imperial authority in the western provinces, and their coinage reflects that transitional moment — debased Gupta types reworked under a new regional power that would eventually become one of the most significant ruling houses in early medieval Gujarat. Madasena is among the earlier rulers in the dynastic sequence, placing these issues close to the dynasty's foundation period.
Valabhi later became a noted center of Buddhist learning, its monasteries reportedly rivaling Nalanda.