South Indian Inscriptions

COINS

On the coins of Ratnadēva and Prithvīdēva, the left member of the palatal ś has a somewhat longer serif at the bottom.¹ that in the Sarkhō plates of Ratnadēva II, but the letter has not yet assumed the form seen in later records.² These kings must, therefore, be identified with Ratnadēva II and Prithvidēva II. It is noteworthy that the Sonsari hoard mentioned above, which contained the coins of all these kings, had also two coins of Gōvindachandra- dēva. This Gāhadavala king of Kanauj had a long reign of nearly 45 years (circa 1110-1155 A.C.) and so was a contemporary of Jājalladēva I, Ratnadēva II and Prithvīdēva II. The Sonsari hoard seems to have been secreted some time during the reign of Prithvīdēva II.

Besides tankas and dramas, some other coins are mentioned in the Kalachuri inscriptions, to which we shall now turn. The Tahankāpār plate of Pamparāja, dated K. 965, mention 130 Sarāhagadām āchhu.³ which may mean 130 gold coins minted in Sarāhagada.⁴ (modern Sārangarh). It is noteworthy that a similar Marathi word āsu occurs in inscriptions.⁵ found in Maharashtra and in the Mahānubhāva literature of the 14 the century A.C. From several passages in the Līlācharitra, ⁶ the Marathi biography of Chakradhara, the founder of the Mahānubhāva sect, āsu appears to have been a gold coin current in Maharashtra in the 13th century A.C. The Līlācharitra speaks in one place of a pāuna āsu or three-quarter āsu, which shows that lower denominations of one quarter, one half and three-quarter āsus were also current.

The Bilhāri stone inscription mentions śōdaśikā, which seems to have denoted a copper coin equal in value to one-sixteenth of a dramma just as vimśōpaka denoted one-twentieth of a dramma.⁷ Another coin mentioned in the same inscription is paura, which was probably a small coin of sliver. A tax of four pauras was levied on every elephant, and that of two pauras on every horse, sold in the local market. ⁸ Kaparda and dyūta-kaparda were other coins current at the time. Kautilya also mentions kaparda as a copper coin.⁹ It was probably identical with kākini mentioned by Bhāskarāchārya as equivalent to twenty cowries. Four kākinis made one pana.¹⁰ Dyūtakaparda was probably so called because it was frequently used as a stake in gambling.¹¹ Some of these coins may be represented by the smaller Kalachuri coins which are often found in Chhattisgargh. But they are so much worn and so irregular in weight that it is often difficult to say what denominations they represent.¹²
________________________

¹V. Smith , 1.M.C., pp. 254 ff., P1. XXVI.
²In the time of Prithvīdēva II the earlier form of ś had no doubt gone out of use, but it seems to have continued on his coins; for, conservatism in regard to forms of letters is a characteristic of Indian coinage.
³No. 116, 1.6.
⁴The Rājim stone inscription of Jagapāla mentions this place as saraharāgadha. No. 88, 1. 10.
⁵See, e.g. the Pātan inscription of the time of Yādava Singhana (Ep. Ind., VoI. I, p. 343), which mentions āsu, dāma and visōvā. These appear to be coins of gold, silver and copper respectively. ⁶See Līlācharitra (Marathi) ed. by H.N. Nene, part III, pp. 50-51.
⁷Visōvā mentioned in the aforementioned Pātan inscriptions is derived from Sanskrit vimśōpaka. The Vimśōpakas were so called because they were equal in value to one-twentieth of a dramma. This appears quite clear from 1.20 of the Sīyadōnī inscription which first mentions in words a monthly tax of half a Vigrahatungīyā-dramma and then states the same as vi 10 (i.e., 10 vimiśōpakas). One dramma was, therefore, equal to 20 vimiśōpakas. Similarly, it, may have been equal to 16 Sōdaśikas. It is noteworthy that Bhāskarā- chārya Līlāvati (1,2) states that sixteen panas make one dramma. Perhaps śodaśikā was another name of the copper pana. According to the śārngadhara-sambitā, it was so called because it weighed sixteen māshas.
⁸Similar taxes are laid down in other inscriptions of the period See, e.g., the Bayānā stone inscription (Ep. Ind., Vol. XXII, pp. 122 ff), which in line 23 mentions the gift of one dramma per horse (sold locally) in favour of a god, installed at Bayānā.
⁹Arthasatra, II, 12.
¹⁰Līlāvatī I, 2.
¹¹It is perhaps identical with the smallest copper coin ardha-kākinī mentioned in Kautilya’s Artha- śāstra, II, 12.
¹²The smallest of them may be māshas. According to Nārada cited in the Mitāksharā on Yājñvalkya- tmriti (II, 159,) a māsha was one-twentieth of a copper pana.