Los 7445

Horseman-Lion-slayer Type, AV dinara, 9,43 g, 18.5 mm, specific gravity 15.0. Obv.: The king rides on horseback to right. His stance is rather stooped. The horse has a curved, thin neck and tall, undefined legs. Elaborate strings of ornaments on cheeks, neck and haunches. Prakāśāditya stretches his right arm downward to pierce a prancing lion through its gaping mouth with a thin sword. A tall bow is worn across the chest and back. Facial features show a prominent, thin nose and curvy moustache. Jacket and trousers carry round ornaments. The top of the king’s skull supports a rim diadem with a crescent mount. A Garuḍa-banner protrudes above the horse’s head, but no post in sight. Gerald Browne (1991-1992) read the first half of legend as aprativitato rājā, but Pankaj Tandon (2015) reconstructed the legend to avanipati-toramā[ṇo] vijitya vasudhāṃ divaṃ jayati, ‘Lord of the earth, Toramāṇa, having conquered the world, wins heaven’. The present coin preserves dh(āṃ) divaṃ jaya... Below the horse ru / Rev.: Śrī, with tubular waist, sits with long legs folded flat on lotus. Ribbed pleats of hip cloth cover the legs. Hair tied into three buns, partly preserved here, and profuse ornaments. The goddess holds double-loop fillet and thin stalk of lotus. A tamga at the top left and opposite in truncated letters the epithet [śrī]prakāśāditya, ‘the noble Illuminous Sun’. (Tandon 2015; Kumar 2017:377-381, Var. A; Kumar 2024: 476-481, Var. A) - XF, Ex Busso Peus 366 (2000) #293. Well centred devices with good details Rare in this state of preservation