Drachm - Bhattaraka Maitrakas of Vallabhi

The Maitrakas rose to power as governors under the late Gupta empire before asserting independence around 470 CE, establishing Vallabhi — in present-day Gujarat — as a capital that would eventually rival Pataliputra as a center of Buddhist learning. These early drachms retain the debased silver fabric inherited from late Gupta regional coinage, struck at weights already significantly reduced from the classical standard. The Mitchiner reference places this squarely in the foundational Bhattaraka period, before the dynasty's later rulers adopted more elaborate royal titulature.