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Debased Dinar - Vinayaditya
| Issuer | Kidarite Kingdom |
|---|---|
| Year | 450-500 |
| Type | Log in to see details |
| Value | Dinar (20) |
| Currency | Log in to see details |
| Composition | Log in to see details |
| Weight | Log in to see details |
| Diameter | Log in to see details |
| Thickness | Log in to see details |
| Shape | Log in to see details |
| Technique | Log in to see details |
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| Engraver(s) | Log in to see details |
| In circulation to | Log in to see details |
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| Obverse description | Highly stylised effigy of the king standing in profile facing right, rendered in a schematic, degenerate manner characteristic of late Kidarite coinage. The royal figure is depicted in frontal stance with arms extended, holding regalia. Degenerate Brahmi legends encircle the design in the field, heavily degraded from the prototype. Pellets and abstract ornamental devices fill the surrounding field, reflecting the advanced artistic debasement of the series. |
|---|---|
| Obverse script | Log in to see details |
| Obverse lettering | Log in to see details |
| Reverse description | Log in to see details |
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| Reverse lettering | Log in to see details |
| Edge | Plain |
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| Additional information |
The Kidarites, a nomadic people who carved a kingdom from the wreckage of Kushan territories in Bactria and the Punjab, funded their military state partly through systematic debasement of the gold coinage they inherited from Kushan tradition. By the mid-fifth century, as Hephthalite pressure from the north increasingly destabilized Kidarite control, the gold content of these dinars dropped sharply — the weight was maintained to preserve the appearance of value while the alloy told a different story.
Vinayaditya remains poorly documented as a ruler, known almost entirely through his coinage rather than any textual source.