Indian Epigraphy c16.s8.57

c16.s8.57

We have referred above to the frequent reference to the Dramma in the medieval inscriptions of the Kannaḍa-speaking area. An equally popular coin of the same region was the Gadyāṇa or Gadyāṇaka (often contracted into Ga or Gadyā), various types of which are known from epigraphic records. Thus we have Bhairava-gadyāṇa, Lokki-gadyāṇa, Aṅka-gadyāṇa, Gāva-gadyāṇa, Komarina-gadyāṇa, Priyaśrāha-Gajamalla-gadyāṇa, Ambili-gadyāṇa, Jagadaḷam-gadyāṇa, etc.⁷ It is generally believed that the Lokki-gadyāṇa was the Gadyāṇa minted at Lokkiguṇḍi (modern Lakkundi in the Dharwar District). Komarinagadyāṇa reminds us of the tax called Kumāra-gadyāṇa mentioned in the inscriptions of the Gāhaḍavālas.¹ Gold coins were often called Pon or Hon, the word ponnu or honnu meaning ‘gold’ in Kannaḍa.² Probably the same coin was sometimes called Niṣka.³ The Gadyāṇa was also called Poṇ-Gadyāṇa or Gadyāṇa-ponnu indicating that it was a gold coin. The said coin was in some cases called Suvarṇa. An inscription⁴ of 1184 A.D. speaks of 2 Paṇas or Haṇas as the rate of annual interest on a Gadyāṇa or Pon and of 4 Pons accruing annually to 20 Gadyāṇas. One Pon or Gadyāṇa was therefore equal to 10 Paṇas. Coins called Hāga (Bhāga) and Visa and a particular variety of the latter known as Lokkiya-visa (possibly Visa minted at Lokki or Lokkiguṇḍi) are also known from inscriptions.⁵ Five Lokkiya-Visas are stated to have been the interest on one Pon (Gadyāṇa) per month.⁶ Mention is sometimes made of the ‘big’ and ‘small’ Hāga (Bhāga). The Brāhmaṇas of Salotgi (Bijapur District) were asked to pay to the local school, for the maintenance of its students, 5 Puṣpas (literally ‘flowers’) of good metal on the occasion of a marriage, half of the amount on that of an upanayana and half of the latter on that of a cūḍākarman.⁷ Although the custom of offering gold and silver flowers to deities is known,⁸ the puṣpa in the Salotgi records appears to mean a coin probably bearing the representation of a flower (cf. the padmaṭaṅka).