Oriental Numismatic Society Newsletter
No. 156, Spring 1998
A gold stater of Kanishka II with three-headed
Shiva image on reverse
It is well documented that Kushan emperors, Huvishka and Vasudeva I,
minted coins depicting multi-headed Shiva (OHPO) (1,2). According to
classification of Shiva images on Kushan and Kushano-Sassanian coins,
proposed by Joe Cribb, out of six, three classes show multi-headed Shiva
images(1). These three classes are as follows:
Class VI: Three-headed Shiva, alone.
Recently, I acquired a gold stater minted during reign of Kushan
Ruler, Kanishka II. The reverse of this coin depicts three-headed, two
armed Shiva (OHPO) with his bull, Nandi. Shiva in his left hand is holding
a trident while right hand most likely is having a diadem. The two side
heads appears to be human. Shiva is wearing Dhoti while upper body is
naked. The description of this coin is as follows:
Kanishka II (200-222 AD)
It is likely that this coin was minted in Gho mint located in
Mardan region of modern Pakistan. Brahmi character Ga, perhaps
represents initial of Kanishka's general or a local ruler of Pri
or Phari. Most of the coins minted by Kanishka II show image of seated
goddess Ardochsho (Laxmi) on reverse. This coin is catalogued by R. Gobl as
#635 which contains 9 subtypes(2). Interestingly, 7th subtype (#635.7, a
specimen of current discussion) shows three-headed Shiva while rest display
images of single-headed Shiva (2). It appears that 635.7 is the only coin
of Kanishka II which depicts three-headed Shiva image. Why a three-headed
Shiva coin was included in a class representing single-headed Shiva coins,
is not very clear. Although, this coin does suggest that apart from
Huvishka and Vasudeva I, Kanishka II also minted coins depicting
multi-headed Shiva.
The most profound aspect of the three-headed Shiva, the
Maheshamurti, is in evidence at the Elephanta (Gharapuri) caves,
built by the Rashtrakuta kings in the 6th century A.D. The three heads
represent Shiva as Aghori, Ardhanarishvara and Mahayogi. Aghori
(destroyer) form suggest his power of cosmic destruction,
Ardhanarishvara(preserver) depicts him as half-man/half-woman
signifying the essential unity of the sexes while Mahayogi(creator)
posture symbolises the ascetic & meditative aspect. It is also believed
that, these three forms represents, Mahesh/Mahadev (Shiva), Vishnu and
Brahma, respectively.
It appears that the image of Shiva holding various objects like wheel,
club and lotus, which are usually associated with Vishnu, were introduced
during the reigns of Kushan rulers, Huvishka and Vasudeva I. Possibly,
keeping in the same tradition, their successor, Kanishka II also minted
three-headed Shiva coin which symbolically represent both the major
deities of Hinduism, Shiva and Vishnu, in a single form.
NOTES
Oriental Numismatic Society Newsletter
Many Kushan rulers have minted prodigious numbers of gold and copper coins
and few of their silver coins (Vima Kadaphises, specimen # 73DB)1 are
also been studied . However, medals issued by Kushan rulers are
surprisingly rare. There have been few reports of discoveries of gold
medallions. A thin disc of gold showing figure of Huvishka on both sides
and looped at the top was excavated at Vajrasana, Bodh Gaya, India2.
Another thin gold piece was excavated at Sadagalli in Patana city, India,
showing Huvishka on the obverse and Ardoksho on reverse, with two holes
on top3. Dr. Craigh C. Bern's collection, donated to Bern museum, had one
bronze medal of Huvishka (#1569)1. Few amulets are known to exist which
were essentially copied from Kushan coins4.
Shown below is a bronze medal of an illustrious Kushan ruler, Vasudeva I.
This medal is 50 mm in diameter and weighs 47.7 gms. It was found in
Punjab region near Taxila. Medal shows a half standing portrait of king
wearing conical crown headdress, looking left. He is holding a flower or
a spice plant in his right hand while left is having a club or ankush.
Portrait of king is enclosed within a distinct border, located at the
edge of the medal. Reverse of this medal possesses a hook.
Vasudeva I
Like the copper medal of Huvishka located in Bern museum, this medal too
lack legends, various symbols and Kushan deities, thus making it
difficult to attribute to any particular sovereign. Although, the medal
have some similaritites with Huvishka's coins, indeed, the main features
and headdress of ruler suggest that the medal could at best be attributed
to Vasudeva I. The stylistic features of king have higher similarity with
Vasudeva's coins than Huvishka's coin. The headdress share a good
similarity with many of the Vasudeva's coins where king is often depicted
wearing conical crown headdress. The facial features too appear to be
very `Indian' and thus relate more closely to Vasudeva I. It appears that
this medal was either bestowed on a military commander or a soldier for
his bravery or could have been worn as a symbol of higher status in
society.
Notes:
Numismatic Digest, Volume 22
Nupam Mahajan* and R. Balasubramaniam#
#Department of Materials and Metallurgical Engineering
Indian Institute of Technology
Kanpur 208 016, India
The
punch-marked coins, an earliest class of coinage of
Indian subcontinent has always been enigmatic and posed numerous
challenges to students of numismatics. Their probable introduction
as a convenient substitution for cattle or Godhun for trade and
various other transactions, made Indian civilization one of the
earliest to introduce coinage(1). Thus, it placed India with two
other coin conscious ancient civilizations of Asia minor and
China(2). Certainly, the emergence of prosperous kingdoms in Ganga,
Sindhu (Indus) and Narmada river valleys would have catalyzed
widespread distribution and thus their acceptance as a distinct
monetary system.
3 types, minted by Huvishka.
Class II: Three-headed Shiva, alone.
2 types, minted by Vasudeva I.
Class IV: Three-headed Shiva with Nandi.
7 types, minted by Vasudeva I.
Gold Stater, weight: 7.8 gm
Reference: Gobl. 635.7, 2nd Offizin
Control Marks on Obverse (Brahmi Characters):
In left field: Ga
In right field: Pri
Between Kings Legs: a symbol
1. Cribb, J., Siva images on Kushan and Kushano-Sassanian coins, in
Studies in silk road coins and culture, Tanabe, Cribb and Wang (ed),
Kamakura, 1997, pp. 11-66.
2. Gobl, R., System und Chronologies der Munzpragung der Kusanreiches,
Wein, 1984.
No. 158, Winter 1998/99
Bronze Medal of Kushan Ruler Vasudeva I
164-200 AD
Obverse: Bust of King
Copper war medal
Weight: 48.0 gm
Extremely Rare
1. Gobl, R. Donum Burns:die Kusanmunzen im munzkabinet bern und die
chronologie, 1993.
2. Cunningham, A. Mahabodhi, Pl. XXII, Fig. 17.
3. Pataliputra excavations 1955-56, pp. 52-53; J.N.S.I. XX, pp. 1-3.
4. Gupta, P. L. and Kulashreshtha, S. Kusana coins and history, New
Delhi, pp. 71-102,1994.
Scanning
electron microscopy study of an ancient silver punch-marked coin with
central pentagonal mark
Recently, we acquired a silver punch-marked coin which have nine distinct punch marks and weighed 6.7 gms (figure 1). The punch marks were quite different from the punch marks seen on the Magadh-Maurya silver Karshapanas(3). The central punch-mark was a pentagon enclosing a sphere and the coin itself has a scyphate form (concave appearance). This coin was unearthed near ancient city of Mathura in northern state of Uttar Pradesh, India and has also been classified under a Narhan series and shown to be associated with ancient state of Kuru and Panchala (4). The distinct punch marks, higher weight and overall appearance of this coin led us to believe that it could be a pre-Mauryan coin4 and thus might be one of the earliest coin of the Indian subcontinent (personal correspondence with Mr. T. Hardaker).
Although, silver coins with central pentagonal punch mark have
been reported4, detailed metallurgical analysis of this series of
coins has not yet been published. It was thought that, this series
of coins were issued with only central pentagonal punch-mark in
the beginning while the other punch-marks or `banker's marks' were
added subsequently while the coin was in circulation. It was very
tempting to propose that the coins with higher number of
punch-marks were longer in circulation and the ones with lesser
punch-marks, passed through less number of hands. Effectively,
little evidence was available to confirm any of the above
speculations. We took a scientific approach and used a scanning
electron microscope to address the following question:
i) What is the composition of the coin and the corrosion products?
ii) What is the microstructure of the coin?
iii) What was the shape and state of blank?
iv) Why the coin has scyphate form?
v) Were all the punch marks struck at once?
vi) Was the coin in circulation?
The scanning electron microscope (SEM) is a versatile equipment that can be used to study the topological features of surfaces. One of the greatest advantage of using a SEM over conventional optical microscopy is that the depth of field is much higher in the SEM and therefore detailed surface structures can be studies. Indeed, the SEM is capable of very high magnifications compared to the optical microscope. The composition of the material being observed can also be simultaneously determined in SEMs attached with an energy dispersive analysis by X-ray (EDAX) unit. The SEM used in the present study was a Philips SEM. In order to determine the composition of the silver coin and the corrosion products, a S-360 Leica scanning electron microscope with attached AN 10000 Link EDS unit was utilized.
COMPOSITIONAL ANALYSIS
The composition of the coin was determined quantitatively at five
different locations (a to e) as indicated in figure 2. All the
values and average of major components is shown in table 1. This
quantitative analysis clearly indicates that the major component
of the coin was silver (97.17%) with minor alloying of gold
(0.71%), copper (0.88%) and lead (1.19%). The corrosion products
were also analyzed quantitatively at different spots and were
observed to be exclusively silver sulphide (Ag2S). In some deep
cracks on the coin, we identified Silica (SiO2) which is most
likely due to the sand particles entrapped within the cracks while
coin was buried for centuries.
The presence of lead indicates that silver was probably obtained from argentiferous galena(5). Recent archaeological discoveries of ancient mining sites in Rajasthan, India indicates that the Lead-Silver ores in Rajasthan were worked extensively during the successive pre-Mauryan, Mauryan, Sunga and Kushan periods of Indian history6. Indeed, extensive mining traditions in the 4th to 3rd century BC India are recorded in kautilya's Arthashastra. Arthashastra describes the ores of lead, argentiferous galena and silver5. It has been stated that the silver for punch-marked coins, bent bars and jewelleries at Taxila or Takshashila was obtained by contemporary smelting practice at Ajmer and Zawar<5). The analysis of Taxila punch-marked coins indicates that these silver coins contained higher percentage of copper which was shown to be 13 to 25%, thus, already showing signs of debasement5. Similarly, later silver coins minted by Kshatrapas also had relatively higher percentage of copper(5). Interestingly, the coin in present study show almost no signs of any debasement and perhaps made of the purest silver that could be obtained with available technology (table 1) in pre-Mauryan period. Thus, based on the composition, i.e. purity of silver, we believe that the present coin could be one of the earliest silver coins of Indian sub-continent.
MICROSTRUCTURAL ANALYSIS
One corner of the bottom portion of coin was relatively flat and
smooth and thus taken up for microstructural studies. This part
was polished to 0.1 mm finish using diamond paste and the polished
section was etched in 60 ml ammonium hydroxide; 15 ml H2O2; 25 ml
of water at room temperature. Good etching was obtained by
swabbing the section with cotton (soaked with ethanol) for 3-5
seconds. The observed microstructure of this coin is as follows.
The grain size of the metal is relatively coarse (figure 3). The
microstructure is typical of cast materials. The dendritic
morphology can be noticed clearly at lower magnifications in
figures 4 and at higher magnifications in figure 5. The dendrites
are visible in cross-sections in figure 5. Interestingly, a pore
was noticed in the etched section (figure 6). As pores are typical
defects, their presence further reinforce the use of casting to
manufacture the coin balnks. At higher magnification in the pore,
the individual dendrites could also be distinguished (data not
shown).
The microstructural analysis of this specimen clearly suggests that the blank used for minting this coin is in cast condition. The blank must have been cut from a sheet of almost pure silver. Further, the microstructure study clearly indicates that the sheet was not annealed before the coin making operations like shearing and punch-marking. Annealing is an operation in which the specimen is heated at relatively high temperature, generally more than half of the melting point in degree Kelvin. The purpose of this treatment is to either homogenize the uneven local compositions of the cast structure or to produce a stress free microstructure in case the material is worked (i.e. deformed) beforehand. Shearing is an operation of cutting metal sheet into (rectangular in this case) blanks.
SURFACE TOPOLOGICAL FEATURES
That the coin blank which was cut out from a cast sheet of
silver, was rectangular in shape is noticed by observing edge#1
which is straight (figure 7). Figure 8 and 9 clearly shows the
signs of shearing operation. As seen in figure 7, the corner cut
has also been sheared. As there is no bulging in the corner
(bottom left), it suggests that the cut in the corner is provided
after the punch-marking. In contrast, the edge at top left
punch-mark does have bulge (figure 9). Edge#2 has similarly been
sheared which suggests that it was done before punch-marking.
Although, it appears that edge#3 is uneven, close observation of
edge indicate that this edge has also been sheared before
punch-marking (figure 10). One possible reason why the edge looks
so wavy (figure 11) could be due to metal flow (i.e. deformation)
during punch-marking. Edge#4 was sheared originally to be more or
less straight. The shearing operation is evident in figure 12. As
we have suggested earlier, the bulge appears to be related to the
punch-mark above also evident in figure 13. The cracked edge
appearance could be due to the deformation due to punching (figure
13). An alternate possibility for this uneven edge could be that
this was the edge of the cast sheet from which the rectangular
blank was cut.
Figure 14 shows the central pentagon punch-mark (PM9). It is noticed that this is struck above the punch-marks PM6 and PM3. Some interesting details about the time-sequence of the punch-marks can be had from figure 10. It was noticed that the pentagonal punch mark, PM9 was imprinted over the PM3 punch-mark and the PM5 punch-mark. Also it is clear that the PM3 punch-mark was imprinted over PM5 punch-mark. It was observed that PM5 punch-mark is struck over PM4 punch-mark (figure 10). Therefore, the PM4 punch-mark that appears in corner is the earliest of this set of punch-marks, then came PM5 and PM3 and finally central PM9 was struck.
As regards to the top left (figure 9), the time sequence can not be determined since the punch-marks are well separated. We think that the PM1 is also the older punch-mark based on the nature of the corrosion products observed at the PM locations. However, this can not be fully conclusive as this specimen might have been cleaned soon after it's discovery and thus providing uneven layer of oxidized products on the surface of the coin.
The PM7 located near the edge also appears to be an older punch-mark as seen in figure 15. Notice that only a small portion of the original mark PM7 is now visible, the rest being over-punched with PM6. PM8 has been struck over by the PM1 and hence it is `half cut' in the middle. The pentagon PM9 appears to be over all these PM6 and PM8 punch marks. The time sequence of punching the marks on this portion of blank is also obvious from figure 8. The right bottom part of the coin appears to be relatively free of any punch marks.
The reverse of the coin was smooth and lacked any punch-marks. Deformation due to punching was observed in some areas on reverse (figure 16 and 17). We suspect that the marks seen in these two figures must be related to the punch-marking operation.
The overall smoothness of the surface due to routine handling suggests that indeed, the coin was in circulation. We tried to explore the possibility where we could determine when this coin was in circulation. At present, we do not have any evidence indicating when this coin was minted, but we hope to study this aspect of ancient Indian coinage in near future. This study has provided clear indications that it is possible to determine not only the composition of blanks and corrosion products but also the sequence of punch-marks on ancient coins using SEM. Further, if the specimen is suitably etched, microstructural details can also be obtained which can provide invaluable insights about probable coin manufacturing process in ancient world.
Conclusions:
1) The blank used for minting punch-marked coin with central
pentagonal mark was in cast condition and was cut from a sheet of
almost pure silver.
2) Microstructural study suggests that the sheet of silver was not
annealed before using it for making the blanks.
3) Surface morphological analysis reveals the time sequence of
punch-marking. The punch-marks at the edge of the coins are the
oldest while the central pentagonal punch-mark was punched later or even at
last.
4) It is possible that the present coin
might represent one of the earliest coinage of Indian subcontinet
References:
1. Gupta, P. L., India's first coinage, in A treasury of Indian
coins, Carter (ed), Marg Publications, Bombay, 1994, pp 7-18.
2. Mitchiner, M., Ancient and Classical World, Hawkins
publications, London, 1978.
3. Gupta, P. L. and Hardaker, T. R., Ancient Indian silver
punchmarked coins of the Magadha-Maurya Karshapana series, IIRNS,
Anjaneri, 1985.
4. Don McIntyre, Occasional paper No. 26, ONS, 1991.
5. Biswas, A. K., Minerals and metal in ancient India, in
Archaeological Evidence Volume I, D. K. Printworld (P) Ltd., New
Delhi, 1996, pp 329-339.
6. Willies, L., Ancient Lead-Zink-Silver mines in Rajasthan, in
Mining Magazine, 1989, pp 31-35.
Table 1. Percentage composition of the coin at five different
locations.
Oriental Numismatic Society Newsletter
No. 160, 1999
A Gold coin, Bhairava-gadyana, of Western Chalukya ruler Jayasimha II
Jagadekamalla
The legend Bhairava on this coin could represent any of the followings:
1. The name of the ruler.
2. Title of the ruler.
3. Name of series/denomination of the coin.
The coins of somewhat similar fabric have been issued by rulers of Western Chalukyas (specimen #85-99)(1), later Chalukyas (specimen #109-110)(1), Kalachuris of Kalyana (specimen #116-117)(1), Telugu-Chodas (specimen #422-4301 and specimen #684-6862) and Yadavas of Devnagri (specimen #348)(1). None of the above dynasties had a ruler named Bhairava nor had the ruler who assumed the title Bairava. Many Telugu-Choda chiefs ruling in Nellore region of modern Andhra Pradesh and Bolangir district of modern Orissa state of India issued coins in the name of Bhujabalas or Bhujavalas (literally means, one with strong arms). Telugu-Choda chiefs kept ruling in this area in 11th to 13th century under soverignity of Western Chalukyas (of Kalayana) and minted coins with Telugu-Kanarese legend Bhuja. The coin of present discussion (figure 1) has striking similarity and appeared to be executed in very similar style as the Bhujabala coins, except the different Telugu-Kanarese inscription. It is very tempting to postulate that a hitherto unknown Telugu-Choda chief or governor named Bhairava was a feudatory of Western Chalukyas and minted this coin showing royal insignia/emblem of his master/s. But due to lack of evidence for existence of such ruler (or title) named Bhairava in contemporary inscriptions, this coin can not be attributed to Telugu-Chodas.
The most common gold coins of south India were known as Pagoda, Varaha and Gadyana. All the three represents the same gold coin weighing approximately 3.2 to 3.36 gms (about 50-52 grains)3. The term Gadyana has been used to represent a gold coin of 48 rattis or approximately 5.2 gms in a famous book Lilawati, written by Bhaskaracharya4. No coin type is available today which exactly corresponds to the standard of Lilavati. The term Gadyana has been referred first in AD 733 and was continued to be referred in inscriptions of Rashtrakutas, Gangas and Eastern Chalukya dynasties of south India(1). Gadyana has also been referred in inscription of Northern India where it was a gold coin weighing about 4.01 gms (32 gunjas or 62 grains)(5). Gradually the weight of this coin reduced and finally standardized as a gold coin of 3.2 to 3.36 gms by 15th century. Gadyana, was minted extensively by majority of south Indian dynasties during ancient and medieval time till Vijayanagara period. These gold coins can be classified into various groups based on size and shape, symbols and emblems, dynasty, king, title, mint, tax and trade, denomination, commemoration and their combination with other coins(6).
In the inscriptions of Kadamba dynasty of Goa, however, a reference has been made to the coin called Bhairava-gadyana(7). These coins were known to have been in circulation in the second half of eleventh century. The Kadambas of Goa had established a distinct monetary system where specific attribution was possible because of presence of name or title of ruler on the coins. The kings were known from various epigraphic records which also reveal presence of three different Kadamaba families, Kadamabas of Goa, Hangal and Belur. Kadamba rulers of Goa minted coins depicting finely executed portrait of lion on obverse while Kadambas of Hangal minted coin showing monkey god, Hanumana and artistic scrollwork on reverse. The Kadamba coins were one of the heaviest of all medieval Indian gold coinage. A gold coin of Jayakesin II was 89 grains or 5.75 gms(8). The gold coins of Kadambas were maintained with remarkable accuracy throughout the reigns of rulers of this dynasty as seen in coins of Jayakesi I and Soideva (7,8).
It is almost certain that the coinage of Kadambas of Goa has been initiated by Jayakeshi I (1050-1078 AD) who had taken up the Kanerese title Shri-Malege-Bhairava (Bhairava is another name of Lord Shiva)(7). Some of his gold coins confirm this title as they bear the legend Shri Malege Bhairava, written in Devnagri script on reverse of these gold coins(7). These coins depict lion or Gajasimha (a chimera of elephant and lion) on obverse and weigh 76.5 grains or 4.94 gms. This open the possibility that the coin of present discussion (figure 1) is a Bhairava-gadyana, issued by Kadamba ruler Jayakeshi I. But, this appears to be a remote possibility as the coin shown above is uniface, lack portrait of any kind and considerably lighter in weight (3.72 gms as compared to 4.94 gms). This excludes the likelihood of being part of coinage of either of the Kadamba dynasties.
Jayasimha II Jagadekamalla (1015-1042 AD), an early ruler of Western Chalukya dynasty had assumed a title of Jagadeva (Lord of world). He has minted large number of coins with different legends and emblems, ten such different types have already been studied in detail1. His coinage could be conveniently attributed due to the presence of any one of the legends like Sri Jayadeva, Sri Jagadeka, Jagadeka, Jagadeva or Jaya, on those coins. Some coins of Jayasimha depict a triangular motif which is attributed as `spearhead' (specimen #89-91)1, which is almost identical to the triangular motif depicted on the coin of present discussion, shown in figure 1. Secondly, the coin of present discussion is very similar in fabric and weight to the gold coins of Jayasimha, as seen in case of specimen # 91 which too weighs 57.6 grains or 3.72 gms(1). The weights of specimen #89 and 90 is not known. As the gold coins, Bhairava-gadyana were known to have been in circulation in the second half of eleventh century, it is very compelling to propose that the coin shown in figure 1 is a Bhairava-gadyana minted by Jayasimha Jagadekamalla. Possibly, the mintage of Bhairava-gadyanas was continued by his successors till the reign of Someshwara II (1068-1076 AD). Kadambas were known to be feudatories of Chalukyas and this explains the inscriptions of Kadambas where Bhairava-gadyanas were reported to be in circulation in the second half of the eleventh century.
Very likely, in the same tradition of many of the prominent south Indian dynasties, Rashtrakutas, Gangas and Eastern Chalukya, rulers of Western Chalukyas, Jayasimha Jagadekamalla and his successors too minted a gold coin called Bhairava Gadyana, with distinct emblem, a spearhead, of this illustrious dynasty.
Notes:
1. Chattopadhyaya, B., Coins and Currency system in South India, New
Delhi, 1977.
2. Mitchiner, M., Oriental coins and their values, III, Non-Islamic states
& Western colonies, London, 1979.
3. Sankara Narayana, N., Catalogue of Vijaynagar coins in the Madras
government museum, Bulletin of the Madras Government museum, 1994, p 11.
4. Mirashi, V. V., Studies in Indology, III, Ancient Indian coins, Nagpur,
1962, p. 145.
5. Rama Rao, M., Selected gold and silver coins in the Andhra Pradesh
Government museum, Hyderabad, Andhra Pradesh Government Archaeological
Series, No. 13, Hyderabad, 1963, p. 5, nos. 29-35.
6. Narasimha Murthy A. V., Varieties of Gadyana in south India, Numismatic
digest, 1992, Vol. 16, p 116-127.
7. Dikshit M. G., Some gold coins of the Kadambas of Goa, JNSI, 1949, Vol.
XI, p 88-92.
8. Dikshit M. G., Some gold coins of the Kadambas of Goa, JNSI, 1948, Vol.
X, p143-145.
Oriental Numismatic Society Newsletter
Volume 162, 2000
Gold coins of Hangal Kadamba ruler Shantivarma (1075-1094 AD) in the name of
Western Chalukya ruler Jayasimha II Jagadekamalla
Recently, I had an opportunity to study an entire hoard consisted of 14 gold coins of Kadamba dynasty of Hangal or Hanungal, who rose to prominence in southern India in tenth century AD. All the 14 coins of this hoard are almost identical, minted in typical south Indian fabric. These are the punch-marked gold coins with nine distinct punches on obverse while one punch on reverse (figure 1). The punch on reverse was often struck in such a way that it is hardly visible on most coins, thus giving this series appearance of being uniface. The arrangement of symbols punched on this coin consists of a central punch mark representing figure of monkey god, Hanumana, running to right and four retrospectant lions (dynastic emblem of Kadamba family(1,2,3)) at the cardinal points around the central punch mark. The two prominent punch marks create two Shri alphabets in Telugu-Kanarese script which depicts lord Vishnu. The eighth punch mark creates a triangular motif(3) and the ninth punch mark represents Telugu-Kanerese inscription on these coins, which reads JaGaDa (figure 2). As already known in case of Kadambas, the weight of these coins was maintained with remarkably accuracy and all the coins weighed between 3.40 to 3.51 gms. Even though, all the coins in this hoard were almost identical in their overall appearance, number of punches, arrangement and weight, one coin of the hoard, shown in figure 1, had one extra legend replacing the spearhead symbol. The legend on this coin was engraved in Telugu-Kanarese script, whichread TiVaRa (figure 1).
A gold coin of very similar fabric has been described earlier which too had a Hanumana at center and a part of legend in Telugu-Kanarese which read SuGa5. Interestingly, this coin was described to be of 120 grains or approximately 7.76 gms in weight while all the coins in the hoard of current discussion are much lighter (~3.45 gms). The author could not attribute this coin, a double pagoda to any specific ruler because of incomplete legend on the coin(5).
Different branches of Kadamba family ruled parts of modern Karnataka, Goa and Maharashtra states of southern India from fourth to middle of fourteen century AD. The epigraphic records confirm existence of atleast four Kadamaba families, Kadamabas of Goa, Hangal, Belur and Vaijayanti or Banavasi. The early rulers of this dynasty established themselves at Banavasi in 345 AD and ruled as independent rulers for more than 2 centuries. In 607 AD, Chalukyas of Vatapi (Badami) sacked Banavasi and Kadamba kingdom was incorporated into expanding Chalukyan empire. But, Kadambas rose again when Chatta Deva re-established himself at Banavasi in 980 AD as a feudatory of Western Chalukyas(2,3). The successors of Chatta Deva occupied both Banavasi and Hangal and are known as Kadambas of Hangal. Later Kadamba rulers kept paying nominal allegiance to any dominant power in south India and thus maintained their independent existence till 14th century when kingdom was finally incorporated in Vijayanagar empire. Kadambas had established a distinct monetary system where specific attribution was possible because of presence of name or title of ruler and specific dynastic symbols which was either lion or Hanumana, on the coins. The Kadamba rulers of Goa minted coins depicting finely executed portrait of lion on obverse while Kadambas of Hangal minted coin showing monkey god, Hanumana and artistic scrollwork on reverse. Based on presence of a popular Hindu god, Hanumana on obverse, this hoard can be conveniently attributed to Hangal branch of Kadamba dynasty.
The gold punch-marked coins were first introduces in south India in seventh century AD by Eastern Chalukya ruler, Pulakeshi II. These punch-marked gold coins of ~3.5 to 4 gms were reintroduced by Jayasimha II Jagadekamalla (1015-1042 AD), a ruler of Western Chalukya dynasty (Chalukyas of Kalyana) which were used by various kingdoms of south India, including those who acknowledged suzerainty of Chalukyas. All the coins in this hoard had a Telugu-Kanarese legend which read JaGa or JaGaDa. Jayasimha II Jagadekamalla had assumed a title of Jagadeva, the lord of world(4). The attribution of his coinage was possible due to presence of legends like Sri Jayadeva, Sri Jagadeka, Jagadeka, Jagadeva or Jaya, on those coins(1). Some coins of Jayasimha depict a triangular motif which is attributed as `spearhead'(1,4), which is identical to the triangular motif depicted on the coins of present discussion. Could this be a Western Chalukyan coin minted by Jayasimha II Jagadekamalla? Most likely not, for the obvious presence of dynastic symbol of Kadamabs in center of all the coins. So, who has minted these coins? The coins shown in figure 1 provide us with the name of the possible ruler. A grandson of Chatta Deva, Shantivarma is known to have ruled from 1075 to 1094 AD from his capital Hangal(2,3). The legend in figure 1 partially reads his name Shan(TiVaRa)ma, thus providing us with the much needed evidence.
As Kadambas were known to be feudatories of Chalukyas, very likely, this hoard represents coins minted by Kadamabas of Hangal ruler, Shantivarma in the name of Western Chalukyas ruler, Jayasimha II Jagadekamalla, acknowledging his suzerainty.
Notes:
1. Chattopadhyaya, B., Coins and Currency system in South India, New
Delhi, 1977.
2. Mitchiner, M., Oriental coins and their values, III, Non-Islamic
states & Western colonies, London, 1979.
3. Mitchiner, M., The coinage and history of south India,
Karnataka-Andhra, London, 1998.
4. Mahajan, N. P., A Gold coin, Bhairava-gadyana, of Western Chalukya
ruler Jayasimha II Jagadekamalla, 1999, ONS newsletter, No. 160.
5. Dikshit M. G., Some gold coins of the Kadambas of Goa, JNSI, 1949,
Vol. XI, p88-92.
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