The Rashtrakutas and their Times c22.59

c22.59

Cambay plates of Govinda IV mention a gift of 1400⁴⁴ villages yielding an annual revenue of seven lakhs of Suvarṇas. The value and weight of this Suvarṇa coin is difficult to determine. According to several well known authorities like Kauṭalya, Manu, etc., the term Suvarṇa denotes a golden coin weighing 80 raktikās or about 146 grains. Suvarṇa coins of this description of early dates have not been discovered, but it is well-known that the Imperial Guptas tried to restore this national unit towards the middle of the 5th century A.D. The Suvarṇa coins mentioned in the Cambay plates, however, did not very probably weigh so much as 146 grains. Most of the golden coins of southern dynasties of our period vary in weight from 45 to 55 grains; no golden coins weighing about 146 grains have so far been discovered belonging to the Deccan of our period. It is not improbable that the term Suvarṇa has been used in the Cambay plates to denote, not the technical Suvarṇa coin weighing about 146 grains, but the current golden coin weighing like the dramma about 65 grains.