Kushan: Huvishka Bronze Tetradrachm's (Elephant Rider, Cross Legged, Couch Type)

[mitresh]

Kushan Empire, Huvishka (151-192 AD), Bronze Tetradrachm, 15.4g & 14.2g, Elephant Rider Type



Both coins show King Huvishka riding an Elephant on Obverse with circular legend around "þAO NANOþAO OOþKI KOþANO" (King of kings, Huvishka, the Kushan).

Coin 1 shows God of Metals "Athsho" standing on Reverse, name written on right and tamgha to the left.

Coin 2 shows OhPO/Shiva with 4-arms holding damru (upper right), deer (lower right), trident (upper left) & kamandla (lower left), name written to right, tamgha to left.

Kushan Empire, Huvishka (151-192 AD), Bronze Tetradrachm, 15.3g, King Seated Cross Legged Type



Legend on Obverse reads "þAO NANOþAO OOþKI KOþANO" (King of kings, Huvishka, the Kushan).

Reverse shows the Sun God "Mithra" standing facing left, name written on right (MIOPO) and tamgha to the left.

Kushan Empire, Huvishka (151-192 AD), Bronze Tetradrachm, 15.2g, King On Couch Type



Legend on Obverse reads "þAO NANOþAO OOþKI KOþANO" (King of kings, Huvishka, the Kushan).

Reverse shows God of Metals "Athsho" standing facing left, name written on right and tamgha to the left.

[Figleaf]

Huvishka is much too large in relation to the elephant. This is an interesting variant on medieval usage. As you can see on the fragment of the Bayeux tapestry attached, knights were drawn at over twice the size of the archers. That's not because they were dwarfs, but because they had a much lower social standing than the knights. However, the horses are drawn to the scale of the riders.

Peter

[mitresh]

I think that symbolically the King was making a statement to all via this coin that he is stronger than an elephant and larger than life. The king shown as riding a huge beast and larger in size than the animal signals that the King can tame his wildest enemies and he is bigger and stronger than his detractors and opponents.

[RG]

Am unable to see photo/scan of the coin... Why is that?

[mitresh]

Thanks Ramesh for pointing out the anomaly. I've now re-attached the coin pics manually vs the original link to a host-server that unfortunately got taken down a while back making me lose all my collection coin pics uploaded to that site.

Pl do let me know if you come across any other posts with similar issue for me to rectify.

Happy collecting and sharing !!

[THCoins]

Thanks for restoring the pics Mitresh !

Anthony

[RG]

Thanks for re-adding the coin pics Mitresh Sir. There are few instances that I had observed through last month where the photo is replaced by a picture of a clock with some external link. I am attaching the screenshot of one of the instances..

[mitresh]

That is most unfortunate and yes, I've noted it too at other WoC posts. I think rather than rely on an external link to a host-server, where coin collection pics are stored and which is liable to be de-linked once the host-server becomes off-line for whatever reason, it is best to add the coin pics manually to the WoC post itself as it would remain here for posterity.