The Early History of the Deccan (Parts I–XI) v2.c17.s1.1

v2.c17.s1.1

IN the present chapter we propose to make a survey of the coinage of the Deccan from *c.* 400 B.C. to *c.* A.D. 1300, which is the period covered by this volume of the *History of the Deccan*. The Deccan and Southern India are remarkably rich in epigraphical material bearing on their history; the inscriptions of the Sātavāhanas, the Vākāṭakas, the Chālukyas, the Rāṣṭrakūṭas, and the Yādavas are much more numerous than those of their contemporaries in the north, the Śuṅgas and the Kaṇvas, the Guptas and the Vardhanas, the Pratīhāras and the Gāhaḍavālas. In the realm of sculpture and also in that of architecture, art made striking progress in Deccan and Southern India, but strangely enough it had little influence on the coinage. In this realm the North can well claim superiority over the Deccan. Not a single dynasty of the Deccan or of Southern India produced a coin series which can compare with the Gupta coinage in artistic beauty, variety, and fine workmanship.