First Edition of the Book released by Shri Narendra Modi, Prime Minister of India
This book will be released in September 2024 and is published by Archaeopress UK.
A special limited edition India edition is also available.
A leather-bound book is also available in limited quantities.
Praise for the Book:
Sanjeev Kumar’s Treasures of the Gupta Empire is the first attempt at a comprehensive type catalogue of Gupta coins for fifty years. Implicitly, it is a replacement for Allan and Altekar both in content (with a lot of new material in the last half century) and in terms of organization (also supported by a great deal of new scholarship).
As a comprehensive reference on the gold coinage of the Gupta’s it is no doubt a huge contribution. The enlarged images, relative ease of use, and comprehensive nature, will likely ensure the volume supplants any of its predecessors as the catalogue of choice. This is a volume that I would recommend as a standard reference to anyone with an interest in Gupta coinage.
—Robert Bracey, Curator, British Museum
Journal of the Oriental Numismatic Society No. 230.
It is the best book ever written on Gupta coinage, surpassing Ellen Raven’s work, which was the standard book on the subject. The book is well written and beautifully illustrated. Above all, it is a complete corpus, making it a magnum opus.
—Prof. Osmund-Christie Bopearachchi, University of California-Berkeley, Emeritus Director of Research, French National Centre for Scientific Research, Paris
CNRS-ENS, UMR 8546, Archéologies d’Orient et d’Occident.
His book on the imperial Guptas is a must-read.
—Prof. K. K. Thaplyal, Former Head of Department of Ancient History and Archaeology, University of Lucknow. Visiting Fellow at the Banaras Hindu University, Vikram University, and Kurukshetra University.
If I am travelling again in the direction of coins now, it is because a meticulously worked, richly illustrated, recently published book on the Treasures of the Gupta Empire landed on my desk a few weeks ago. Put together by Sanjeev Kumar, it is truly a comprehensive catalogue of the gold and silver coins of the Guptas.
—B. N. Goswamy, Indian Art Critic and Historian.
An interview with the author - Travel back in time to the awe-inspiring era of the Gupta Dynasty, and uncover their legacy through their stunning coins. Join Sanjeev Kumar, Numismatist, Historian, and Author, on a captivating journey, only on Live History India.
OSMUND BOPEARACHCHI ... "It is the best book ever written on Gupta coinge. You have surpassed Ellen Raven's work which was the standard book on the subject for a long time. Your book is well written and beautifully illustrated and printed. Above all, it is a complete corpus, making it a magnum opus.
PROF. DEVENDRA HANDA, Dept of Ancient Indian History, Punjab University.
" ...It goes to the credit of Sanjeev Kumar to publish the most comprehensive catalogue of the Gupta coins including all coin-types published earlier and preserved in numerous museums of the world and even unpublished ones in some museums, personal and individual collections for which access to all those sources, resources and numismatic knowledge was a great requirement. One can well imagine the vast resources and efforts to accomplish such a task and he has been lucky to receive the support and encouragement from his family. Sanjeev Kumar deserves congratulations for this comprehensive and beautifully brought out volume. "
This book reconstructs the history of the Gupta Dynasty based on the secrets hidden within the coin designs, issued between 319 AD to 543 AD.
While inscriptions are a good source of data, the monetary system and the coins provide a truer picture of the actual reality of their successes and failures.
The painstaking research over a period of 25 years has brought forth this Magnum Opus - a book full of new facts, new research and new Kings of this important period of India. Using data from inaccessible private collections and Museums around the world, this book presents to the reader a vivid narrative on the successes and failures of the mighty Gupta Kings.
The author has illustrated every single coin variety and design known so far in Gold, Copper and Lead; as well as a complete range of all known Silver coins (which luckily enough show date) struck by the Gupta kings. The new classification constructed within is comprehensive and intuitive. The book also documents the entire coinage of the Later Guptas and the related dynasties of Bengal.
It includes an excellent section on the Ancient Indian iconography, history as well as the evolution of the designs as seen on the Gupta gold coins and is important treatise on India's history. In addition to being a must 'read reference book' for history students, researchers, teachers and scholars, it is a quintessential reference book for collectors of rare ancient Indian coins to fully understand the relative rarity within the vast number of varieties as it covers a complete and full representation of the coins from the most important private collections (mostly inaccessible to the world), as well as most of the major Museums in India (also mostly inaccessible to all) and across the world.
The book was released at the National Museum, New Delhi by the Minister of Culture for India, The Director General of the Archaeological Survey of India and the Chairman of the Indian Archaeological Society of India; as well as by the Prime Minister of India, Mr. Narendra Modi.
This book was published by the Shivlee Trust.
