Kushans, Kanishka I, Gold Dinar, 8.00g, Obv: King standing facing left, wearing diadem, headgear, cloak, tunic and boots, holding goad and sceptre, sacrificing over altar to left; Bactrian legend “ShAONANO ShAO KANEShKI KOShANO” around, Rev: Male deity, diademed and bearded, standing facing right, wearing long dress and holding diadem in raised right hand; horse with reins and rump guard standing facing right with foreleg raised in the backdrop, tamgha in the left field and Bactrian legend “LROOASPO” to right (Goebl# 57). About uncirculated, exceedingly rare.The depiction of the deity ‘Drooaspa’ is one of the rare depictions of deities from the Iranian pantheon found on Kushan coins. He has generally been identified with ‘Druvaspa’, the Zoroastrian ‘guardian of the health of animals’. Most references to this guardian are as a female whereas the deity depicted here is clearly male. However, rarely in Eastern Iranian tradition the deity is also known as a male and that is undoubtedly the inspiration of this Kushan depiction. Alternatively, he has also been identified as Apam Napat, which is identified in the Avesta as ‘Aurvat-Aspa’, i.e. the one who possesses a swift horse’. Apam Napat is also called the ‘grandson of waters’ and he is usually associated with Neptune. Apam Napat was also associated with Druvaspa and together they are thought to confer ‘Khwareno’, or ‘kingly glory’, on to the ruler which legitimizes his divine status.
The importance of this depiction lies in the fact that it is unique, and hardly any parallels are known in the art of the Kushan period. There exist damaged examples of figures which have been identified as Druvaspa on a temple wall in Panjient (Tajikistan) but they are in the female form. The depiction on the coins therefore adds a significant dimension to our understanding of Zoroastrian and Iranian iconography.