Indische Palaographie von circa 350 a. Chr. – circa 1300 p. Chr. c27: XII. Coinages of Southern India

Indische Paläographie von circa 350 a. Chr. – circa 1300 p. Chr. c27

Language: German

XII. Coinages of Southern India

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§ 123. General Remarks. — In the numismatic history of Northern India, landmarks of great importance are afforded by the successive foreign invasions. There are no such prominent landmarks to indicate the different periods in the history of the Southern coinages. At the same time the proportion of inscribed coins is smaller, and classification depends to a greater extent on arguments derived from the *provenance* of specimens, the nature of their fabric, and the style of their types. These coinages have, moreover, as yet not received a scientific treatment in any way to be compared with that which has obtained such valuable historical results from the coins of the North.

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It is probable that the primitive method of punch-marking (v. sup. § 5) continued in use for a much longer period in the South than in the North; and, in some instances, it is clear that later improvements in the art of coin-making are the result of a development of this native method, and not of the adoption of the foreign method of striking from dies (v. inf. § 129; cp. also E. Numismatic Gleanings p. 12 = JMLS. XIX, p. 231).

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*Roman* gold and silver coins (v. sup. § 14) are found in great numbers in Southern India and Ceylon, and it is probable that they were actually used as currency in these countries, while, in the North, the Roman gold coins may, perhaps, have provided some of the metal for the large gold issues of the Kuṣaṇas.

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In the following list of South Indian states to which coins have been ascribed the Andhras are not included, as they have been discussed already, sup. § 85.

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§ 124. Pāṇḍya. — Territory: the extreme south of the peninsula. After the punch-marked coinage, which here as elsewhere no doubt belongs to a very early period (v. sup. § 4) the most ancient Pāṇḍyan coins seem to be those, which, while retaining the original square form, bear a die-struck type — an elephant — on one side only; and, somewhat later, those which have types on both sides. It is almost certain that, in accordance with the usage of Southern India, historical facts are expressed by the heraldic symbols which occur on these coins in conjunction with the chief types, and it is, therefore, possible that the varying number of these symbols may afford data for a further chronological arrangement of the coins. These coins have been assigned to a period ending c. 300 A.D.; and the general resemblance which they bear in style and workmanship to coins of the Andhras (§ 87) and Pallavas (§ 128) makes this attribution not improbable.

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LOVENTHAL, Coins of Tinnevelly (Madras 1888) p. 5, Pl. I, 7—15; TUFNELL, Hints to Coin-Collectors in S.India (Madras 1889) p. 8, Pl. I, 2.

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There is much uncertainty as to the coins which should be ascribed to the Pāṇḍyas during the period c. 300—600 A.D.

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For coins conjecturally assigned to this period: Loventhal, op. cit. p. 7, Pl. I, 16—33.

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Gold coins bearing the emblem universally adopted by the Pāṇḍyas in later times, viz. the fish, have been attributed to a period from the 7^th to the 10^th cent. A. D. (E.CSI. p. 120; **Plate V, 10**). Later copper coins show the influence of the Cola conquest in the middle of the 11^th cent. A.D. (v. inf. § 126).

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E.CSI. p. 119, Pl. III, 129—138; Tracy, JMLS. 1887--8, p. 138.

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§ 125. Cera. — Territory: the province of Malabar. No coins have hitherto been assigned to the Cera dynasty at its most flourishing period before the Cola conquest in 877 A.D. After this date, certain districts over which the Cera power had been extended and which had hitherto been governed by viceroys became independent. Coins struck in two of such districts are known:—

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(1) *Koṅgudeśa*. "The western part of Maisur as far as Nandidrug, together with Coimbatore and Salem" (E.CSI. p. 111). To this district have been assigned certain gold and copper coins on which the Cera emblem, a bow, is usually found together with other symbols. The date of these gold coins, the chief type of which is the elephant (**Plate V, 12**), is limited to a period before c. 1090 A.D., as they are imitated by Harṣadeva of Kashmir (v. sup. § 112). This coinage is apparently actually noticed in the Rājātaraṅgiṇī, VII, 926 — *Dākṣiṇātyābhavad bhaṅgīḥ priyā tasya vilāsinaḥ, Karṇāṭānuguṇas ṭaṅkas tatas tena pravarttitaḥ*. C.CMI. p. 35, translating Karṇāṭa as = Karnatic has accordingly changed the attribution of these coins; but Karṇāṭa seems to denote rather a district in the centre of the peninsula which included certainly a part if not the whole of Koṅgudeśa (L.IA. I, p. 170).

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E.CSI. p. 111, Pl. III, 118—128.

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(2) *Kerala*. This term, which is sometimes used as synonymous with Cera, is here used in its more restricted sense as denoting that portion of the Western Coast which lies between the Candragiri and C. Comorin (E.CSI. p. 61). To a dynasty ruling over this territory belongs a unique coin (Tracy coll.) in the British Museum with the inscr. Śrī Vīrakeralasya in Nāgarī characters of, probably, the 11^th or 12^th century (**Plate V, 11**).

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For the dynasty, the members of which bore this title, v. Sundaram Pillai, Some Early Sovereigns of Travancore, Ind. Ant. 1895, p. 249 ff.

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§ 126. Cola. - - The coins all belong to the period during which the Colas were becoming, or had become, the paramount power in S.India. They fall into two classes:—(1) before c. 1022 A.D. the beginning of the reign of Rājarāja Cola. These coins show that the Cola power was already becoming supreme: they bear the Cola emblem, the tiger, in the centre with the Pāṇḍya and Cera emblems (fish and bow) on either side of it. The coin-legends, in Sanskrit characters, give the names or titles of Cola sovereigns; but they have not, as yet, been identified beyond dispute with those occurring in the dynastic lists (**Plate V, 13**); (2) after c. 1022 A.D. With the reign of *Rājarāja* comes a coinage of an entirely new type — *obv.* King standing: *rev.* King seated (**Plate V, 14**). This type spread with the extension of Cola power over a great portion of Southern India. Its use was established in Ceylon, as a result of the Cola occupation of the island, and was continued by the independent Rājas of Kandy (v. inf. § 127).

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E.CSI. p. 135, Pl. IV, 151---174; Hultzsch, Ind. Ant. 1892, p. 323, Pl. I, 7; id. 1896, p. 317, Pl. I, 1. 2.

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To a Cola sovereign, probably Kulottuṅga Cola I, A.D. 1070, have been attributed coins struck in *repoussé* on very thin gold, like those of the Eastern Calukyas, Calukyacandra and Rājarāja II (v. inf. § 130).

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HULTZSCH, Ind. Ant. 1896, p. 321, Pl. II, 26, 27.

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§ 127. Ceylon. — The coins of the Rājas of Kandy, who adopted without any important modification the types of their Cola predecessors, represent a period from 1153 to 1296 A.D. (**Plate V, 15**: Parākramabāhu). Previous to this period the coins circulating in Ceylon have no distinctive character: they are either of the ancient punch-marked pattern or are importations due to foreign commerce or invasion.

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RH. D., ACC.; cp. also VAUX, NChr. 1854 (XVI), p. 121; PE. I, p. 419, Pl. XXXV; LOWSLEY, NChr. 1895, p. 211, Pl. VIII; Rangachari and Desikachari, Ind. Ant. 1895, p. 332.

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§ 128. Pallava. — Territory: bordered by the Coromandel Coast. In the same region lived the Kurumbars, a people of considerable importance before the 7^th cent. A.D. Between the coins of these two peoples no accurate discrimination has yet been made. The coins of this region fall into two classes:—(1) Those which in style bear some resemblance to the coins of the Andhras (e. g. E.CSI. Pl. II, 55—58, called Kurumbar; and perhaps also id. I, 31—38, called Pallava or Kurumbar), and may, therefore, possibly belong to the same period (2^nd and 3^rd centuries A.D.). The occurrence of the ship as a reverse type testifies to the foreign trade for which the Pallavas were famous. (2) The other class is of gold and silver and undoubtedly later; but here again there seems to be no evidence from which to determine the exact date. These coins all bear the Pallava emblem, the maned lion, together with Canarese or Sanskrit inscr. (**Plate V, 16**).

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E.CSI. pp. 35 ff., II. I, 31—38; II, 49—58; id. JMLS. XIX, p. 237, figs. 48—50. 52.

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§ 129. W. Calukya. — Territory: W. Deccan. After the beginning of the 7^th cent. A.D. the Calukyas are divided into two main branches — the Western Calukyas in W. Deccan, and the Eastern Calukyas in that part of the Pallava country which lay between the Kistna and Godavari. The gold coins of both branches bear the Calukya emblem, a boar, and are remarkable as showing a particular application of the Indian method of punch-marking, by which each portion of a definite design is impressed on the coin by a separate punch.

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Most of the coins of the Western Calukyas are of thick gold, and often cupshaped (**Plate V, 17**). ELLIOT (CSI. p. 67) supposes these to have been imitated from the Kadamba *padma-ṭaṅkas* (v. inf. § 131) which are executed in the same manner and which he assigns to the 5^th or 6^th cent. A.D.; but there is no proof, in either case, of so early a date, and, on the analogy of the Eastern Calukya coins, they should probably be placed much later. For other coins attributed to the W. Calukyas, v. HULTZSCH, Ind. Ant. 1897, p. 322, Pl. II, 28, 29.

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E.CSI. p. 39, Pl. I, 19—23, Pl. III, 81—86.

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§ 130. The dates of the known Eastern Calukya coins are fixed. Specimens in some alloy of bronze have been recently found near Yellamanchili in the Vizagapatam dist. bearing in the inscr. *Viṣama-siddhi*, the title of Viṣṇuvardhana, A.D. 663—672.

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Madras Govt. Mus. Report 1894, p. 4; HULTZSCH, Ind. Ant. 1896, p. 322, Pl. II, 34.

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Other coins bear the name of Calukyacandra, or Śaktivarman (A.D. 1000—1012) and Rājarāja II (A.D. 1021—1062). On these coins the Calukya boar and each letter of the inscr. are stamped in *repoussé* on very thin gold. The attribution of these coins to the Eastern Calukyas seems to be beyond doubt;

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but it is remarkable that most of the specimens known have been found in the island of Cheduba, off the coast of Arakan.

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FLEET, Ind. Ant. 1890, p. 79; E.CSI. p. 67, Pl. III, 79. 80, assigned these coins to the Western Calukyas of the 6th or 7th cent. A.D. Cp. also PHAYRE, Proc. BA. 1872, p. 3. For specimens found in India, v. HULTZSCH, Ind. Ant. 1896, p. 321, Pl. II, 24. 25, who also points out that these coins bear dates in regnal years.

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§ 131. Kadamba. — Territory: N.W.Deccan and N.Maisur. The gold Kadamba coins are in fabric and execution like the coins of the Western Calukyas (§ 129). ELLIOT assigns these *padma-ṭaṅkas* (**Plate V, 18**) — so called from the lotus which occupies the centre of the coin — to the flourishing period of Kadamba independence in the 5th and 6th cent. A.D.; but it seems probable that, like the coins of the Western Calukyas, they should be attributed to a considerably later period. The form of the Sanskrit letters which are found on them certainly supports this view.

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E.CSI. p. 66, Pl. I, 7. 8. 10. 11. 13—17, Pl. II, 66--78,

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§ 132. Rāṣṭrakūṭa. — Territory: the Kanarese districts of the Bombay Presidency. No coins have been attributed to this dynasty during its most flourishing period (c. 757--973 A.D.). For the silver coins, imitated from the coinage of the Kṣatrapas of Surāṣṭra, which have been attributed to Kṛṣṇarāja Rāṣṭrakūṭa, c. 375—400 A.D., v. sup. § 100.

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§ 133. Kalacuris of Kalyāṇapura. -- Coins of the second prince of this dynasty, Someśvara A.D. 1167--1175, are known.

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E.CSI. p. 78, Pl. III, 87.

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§ 134. Yādavas of Devagiri. — Territory: Kalyāṇapura and the northern districts of the Western Calukya kingdom (A.D. 1187—1311). For their coins, v. E.CSI. p. 72, Pl. III, 88--89.

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§ 135. Yādavas of Dvārasamudra. -- Territory: Maisur (A.D. 1047—1310). For their coins, v. E.CSI. p. 80, Pl. III, 90—92.

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§ 136. The Kākatīyas of Woraṅgal. — Territory: Haidarabad (A.D. 1110—1323); or their successors the Vema Reḍḍis of Koḍavīḍu, A.D. 1361—? c. 1450 A.D. For coins attributed to these dynasties, v. E.CSI. pp. 82. 101, Pl. III, 93—95.

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§ 137. Vijayanagara. — The rise of this kingdom is an important landmark in Indian history and numismatics; for while it became paramount in the country south of the Kistna and preserved there the S.Indian form of coinage, the country to the north of the Kistna had generally passed into the hands of the Muhammadans, and the Indian type of coinage had with a few isolated exceptions been superseded in that region by a coinage of the Muhammadan form.

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HULTZSCH, Ind. Ant. 1891, p. 301, Pll. I. II; id. 1892, p. 321, Pl. I; id. 1896, p. 317, Pl. I, 3--6.

Linked texts (1)

Rājataraṅgiṇī — Kalhaṇa, Sanskrit