24 Zhu - Gurgamoa

Khotan's bilingual coinage — with Kharoshthi on one face and Chinese script on the other — emerged from the kingdom's position as a commercial and diplomatic intermediary on the southern Silk Road, obligated to communicate with both the Kushan sphere to the west and Han China to the east. The "Gurgamoa" series is attributed to a specific local ruler, the name itself a Prakrit rendering preserved in the Kharoshthi inscription. Cribb's classification separates types 7 and 8 primarily on the basis of die workmanship and fabric variation rather than any administrative distinction.