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Debased Dinar - Vigrahatunga
| Issuer | Kidarite Kingdom |
|---|---|
| Year | 600-800 |
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| Composition | Log in to see details |
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| Reference(s) | Mitch AC#3650 , ANS Kushan#30 |
| Obverse description | Highly stylised effigy of the king facing right, rendered in a heavily schematised late Kidarite manner in which naturalistic detail has been largely abandoned in favour of abstract form. The royal bust is depicted with a pronounced elongated torso and a simplified facial rendering, with a trident-like symbol visible at the lower right of the bust. The field surrounding the effigy is filled with a variety of symbolic devices including pellets, curvilinear motifs, and abstract ornamental elements characteristic of late Kidarite coinage. The entire design is enclosed within a plain border, reflecting the debased and increasingly schematic artistic tradition of this late emission. |
|---|---|
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| Reverse script | Brahmi |
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| Additional information |
The Kidarites entered the historical record as successors to the Kushano-Sasanian kings in Bactria, and their coinage tells the story of a dynasty under sustained fiscal pressure. This piece, struck sometime within a two-century window, sits at the extreme end of a long debasement sequence: what began as near-pure Kushan gold dinars had by this point collapsed to a tri-metallic alloy barely qualifying as gold coinage by any ancient standard. The debasement was not sudden — it tracks the political fragmentation and repeated Hephthalite incursions that eroded Kidarite territorial and economic control across the region.