Indische Palaographie von circa 350 a. Chr. – circa 1300 p. Chr. c26.s7: § 119. Cauhāns of Dehli and Ajmīr

Indische Paläographie von circa 350 a. Chr. – circa 1300 p. Chr. c26.s7

Language: German

§ 119. Cauhāns of Dehli and Ajmīr

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Conquerors of Dehli from the Tomaras (v. sup. § 110) c. ? 1128 A.D., and of Jejāhuti (§ 118) in 1182 A.D. Those specimens of the Cauhān coinage which have been read with certainty represent the two last rulers, *Someśvara* and *Pṛthvīrāja*, from c. 1162 to 1192 A.D., the latter of these dates being that of the Muhammadan conquest of Dehli under Muhammad ibn Sām. The coin-types of the Cauhāns are the Bull and Horseman (§ 115 (6)), which continued for some generations to find a place among the coin-types of their Muhammadan conquerors, the Sulṭāns of Dehli (cp. S. LANE-POOLE, B. M. Cat. Indian Coins: Sultans of Dehli, Pll. I—III).

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C.CMI. p. 83, Pl. IX, 9—14; BÜHLER, Proc. BA. 1893, p. 94; MORISON, WZKM. VII; TH., Pathans p. 63. For Rajput coins not certainly read, v. TH., Pathāns, p. 59; C.CMI. p. 88.

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§ 120. Narwar. — For the coins of the Nāga dynasty, contemporary with the Guptas, v. sup. § 101. The later Rajput coins represent four of the six known princes between c. 1230 and 1290 A.D., including one — *Malayavarma Deva* — who is, at present, unknown from any other source. These coins bear dates in years of the Vikramāditya era (57 B.C.).

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C.CMI. p. 89, Pl. X, 1—10; JBA. 1865, p. 115; TH., Pathans p. 67.

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§ 121. Kangra. — The coins of the Rājas of Kangra represent a period probably from c. 1330 to c. 1610 A.D. They call for notice here merely as noteworthy instances of the survival of an Indian type — the "Bull and Horseman" — for many centuries after the Muhammadan conquest.

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C.CMI. p. 99, Pl. XI; RODGERS, JBA. 1880, p. 10, Pl. II; BAYLEY, quoted in PE. I, p. 392.

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§ 122. Unattributed Coins. — There are three classes of coins found in great numbers "from the Satlej eastward as far as Benares, and from the Himalaya southward to the Narbada River" (C.CMI. p. 47) which have not as yet been very definitely attributed:—

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(1) thin pieces of silver derived from the Sassanian type. Those which are simply rude imitations of actual Sassanian coins have been assigned with much probability to the Hūṇas (§ 105). The later imitations, which show, as they recede farther from the prototype, a more degraded representation of the original types and an increasing thickness of fabric, are probably Indian; but they cannot at present be certainly attributed to any particular dynasties. They are "common in the Gangetic Doab, but are found more plentifully in Mewar and Marwar, and throughout all Rajputana" (C.CMI. p. 48). They may perhaps be the predecessors of the coins of class (2), or they may be independent of them though derived from the same prototype. In weight the two classes are similar; and, as the specimens vary from 60 to 65 grains, or from 3,8 to 4,2 grammes, they probably, like their Sassanian originals, represent the Greek drachma (v. sup. § 24). Some specimens bear the letters *Ha* or *Ja*, and C. (l. c.) has very plausibly suggested that the former may be the initial of *Harṣavardhana* of Kanauj. The later coins of *Bhojadeva* of Kanauj (Śrīmad-Ādivarāha) are, certainly, similar in fabric, and are probably derived from the same source (v. sup. § 110). He also suggests that those which bear the name *Śrī Vigraha* may possibly have been struck by some successor of Bhojadeva (CMI. p. 51); but it is, perhaps, more probable that they should be attributed to Vigrahapāla I of Magadha (v. sup. § 111).

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C.CMI. p. 48, Pl. VI, 13—19.

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(2) thick pieces of silver also derived from the Sassanian type, but so degraded in execution as to show little similarity to their originals. They are commonly called *Gadhiya paisa* (**Plate V, 4**) and C. (CMI. p. 50) would identify them with the *Ṣaḍboddhika drammas* of the Jaunpur inscr. (C.ASR. XI, p. 176). They are found in S.W. Rajputana, in Mewar, Malwa, and Gujarat (C.CMI. p. 47). By their *obv.* type they are connected with a class of coins, on which the name *Somaladeva* is substituted for the degraded fire-altar of the *rev.* The same name also occurs on coins which have for the *obv.* the "horseman" type, probably borrowed from the Brahman Ṣāhis of Gandhāra (§ 115 (6))

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C.CMI. p. 49, Pl. VI, 10--12; BH.JBRA. XII, p. 325. Cp. also id. XI, p. 334; PE. I, p. 341, Pl. XXVII, 13—16.

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(3) copper coins of very rude fabric which may perhaps be imitations of the coins of the Later Kuṣaṇas (class (1), v. sup. § 74) — *obv.* King standing: *rev.* Śiva and Bull. The workmanship is, however, so much degraded, that the *obv.* of these coins has usually been supposed to represent the Sassanian fire-altar. C. supposes these coins to have formed the common copper currency of the Panjāb and Rajputana between A.D. 500 and 800 (v. sup. § 115 (5)).

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C.CMI. p. 48, Pl. VI, 1—6.