The Rashtrakutas and their Times c22.54

c22.54

A number of coins of gold and silver are mentioned in our records, but it is strange that so far not a single coin, belonging indisputably to the Rāṣṭrakūṭa dynasty should have been discovered. Silver coins of Kṛṣṇarāja bearing the legend *Paramamahes'vara-mahādityapāda (or mātāpitṛpāda)-nudhyāta-S'rīKṛṣṇarājaḥ*, which have been discovered in large quantities in the district of Nasik and in Marathi C. P. were first attributed with some hesitation to the Rāṣṭrakūṭa king Kṛṣṇa I, but that view does not seem to be correct. As Rapson has pointed out, these coins imitate too closely the latest Gupta coins of the locality to permit the assumption that they belong to Kṛṣṇa I.⁴¹ They are besides undated; Rāṣṭrakūṭa silver coins bore the dates of issue.⁴² Our notions of the Rāṣṭrakūṭa coinage have therefore to be based, not on first hand evidence but on a number of *a priori* considerations.