The inscriptions on Gupta coins are scarcely inferior to the designs in interest: they vary with each successive type and frequently bear a close relation to them. Thus on Samudragupta’s Battle-axe issue the king is described as “_Wielding the axe of Kṛitānta_” (= Yama, the god of Death), while on his Tiger-slayer coins he is given the title _Vyāghraparākramaḥ_, “He who has the prowess of a tiger.” Sometimes varieties of the same type are marked by a difference in the inscription: no less than seven different legends are found on Kumāragupta I’s Archer coins alone. The obverse legend, which encircles the design, usually takes the form of a verse in _Upagīti_ or some other Sanskrit metre, celebrating in highly ornate language the king’s glory on the earth and his future bliss in heaven, attained through his merit acquired by sacrifice. On the gold of Samudragupta six such metrical legends appear; Chandragupta II has only three; while at least twelve are employed by Kumāragupta I. As an example the obverse inscription on one class of Chandragupta II’s Chattra coins (Fig. 4) may be taken: “_Vikramāditya, having conquered the earth, wins heaven by good works_”; or the more ornate legend on a variety of Kumāragupta I’s Horseman type: “_The unconquered Mahendra, invincible, the moon in the sky of the Gupta line, is victorious_.” When a verse appears on the obverse, the reverse legend is distinct, consisting of a title, sometimes the repetition of one which appears already in the metrical obverse inscription, such as _Apratirathaḥ_, “The invincible one,” on the Archer coins of Samudragupta. Sometimes the king’s name and titles only appear, and then the legend on both obverse and reverse is often, though not always, continuous, but here again the reverse inscription, which appears to the right of the device, consists of a single title. Thus on Chandragupta II’s Archer type appears the following: obverse, _Deva-Śrī-Mahārājādhirāja-Śrī-Chandraguptaḥ_; reverse, _Śrī Vikramaḥ_. Entirely distinct in point of their inscriptions from all other Gupta coins are those struck by Samudragupta in memory of his father and mother, known as the Chandragupta I type; on the obverse appear the two names _Chandragupta_ and _Kumāradevī_, and on the reverse his mother’s family name, _Lichchavayaḥ_. This relationship was evidently a matter of pride to the striker. Finally, on the obverse of all coins of the Archer and most of the allied types appears vertically, under or near the king’s left arm, part of the king’s name, as _Samudra_, _Chandra_ or _Kumāra_. This vertical method of inscription can be traced back through the later Kushāṇa coins to a Chinese source.[31] [31] Coins have been found in Khotān with a Chinese legend on the obverse and a Kharoshṭhī inscription on the reverse. Cf. _P.M.C._, Vol. I, p. 167, Nos. 134, 135. Whether the symbols which occur regularly on all Gupta gold are anything more than ornaments is doubtful.