Catalog
Dinar - Sashanka Deva Assam
| Issuer | Gauda Kingdom (Indian Hindu Dynasties) |
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| Year | 600-630 |
| Type | Standard circulation coin |
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| Obverse description | Central field depicts a humped bull (Nandi) in right-facing profile, rendered in bold relief in the late Gupta artistic tradition. A figure, likely a deity or royal personage, is shown seated or standing above the bull, with details suggesting association with Shaivite iconography. The coin is struck on an irregular planchet with a distinctive beaded border encircling the entire design. Brahmi legend ŚAŚĀṄKA appears within the field, identifying the issuing ruler. The overall fabric is characteristic of early medieval Indian hammered gold coinage. |
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| Reverse script | Brahmi |
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| Additional information |
Sashanka ruled Gauda — roughly modern Bengal — as one of the few regional powers capable of resisting Harsha of Kanauj in the early seventh century. The two were active antagonists, and Harsha's court biographer Banabhatta portrays Sashanka in conspicuously hostile terms, accusing him of cutting down the Bodhi tree at Bodh Gaya and expelling Buddhist monks. Whether accurate or polemical, these accounts place Sashanka at the center of the period's sharpest political and religious tensions.
His gold coinage draws heavily on Gupta weight standards, a deliberate claim to legitimacy in the post-Gupta vacuum.