A History of South India from Prehistoric Times to the Fall of Vijayanagar c6.37

c6.37

The earliest padma-ṭankas were perhaps struck by the Kadambas; but one of the coins that can be most satisfactorily dated is a base silver piece with a lion device and the title Vishamasiddhi on the obverse which clearly belongs to Vishnu-vardhana (615-33), the founder of the long line of Eastern Chālukya rulers. The practice of punch-marking on the gold coinage lingered long after its disuse on silver and copper, and a large hoard of coins struck by the Telugu-Chodas of Nellore in the thirteenth century, found in 1913 at Kodur, shows that the padma-ṭanka type had a long history and wide ramifications. Nāgari legends, generally incomplete, appear on Kākatīya coins and continue in those of Vijayanagar; they are also found on the coins of some other dynasties like the Kadambas of Goa and the Cholas. The legends on coins of other dynasties are in Kannada, Telugu or Tamil according to the locality in which they were struck.