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The Indian Analyst
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South Indian Inscriptions |
COINS two coins of the Gāhadavāla king Gōvindachandra.1 In nearly all the hoards of gold coins discovered so far, the coins of Prithvīdēva are seen to preponderate, which seems to indicate that he was the last of the three kings. Copper coins also of the aforementioned three kings and of one more, viz., Pratāpamalla, have been discovered at several places in Chhattisgarh. The credit of preserving them and of bringing them to the notice of scholars belongs to Pandit Lochan Prasad Pandeya, Hon. Secretary of the Mahākōshal Historical Society. The gold coins described below are from the Nagpur Museum, and the copper coins from the collection of Pandit Pandeya. The Coins of Jajalladeva I.
Only gold and copper coins of this king have been discovered. About the identity of the figure on the reverse of the gold coins there has been a great divergence of opinion. Hoernle though at first that like the figure on the copper coin of Prithvīdēva which had been published before, the figure on the gold coins also was that of Hanumān. But on none of the gold coins examined by me does the figure appear like that of Hanumān. Hoernle himself changed his opinion later on and took the figure to be that of an elephant, a bull, a horse or a lion. As stated before, Rapson thought it might be that of a rampant lion. Vincent Smith has followed Rapson’s view. The figure on these coins is indeed crudely executed, and hence it has caused such a divergence of opinion among scholars. A close examination of coin No. 5 shows that its reverse has the figure of a lion with the tail upraised, facing right and jumping on an elephant which lies prostrate below.2
On the copper coins, the figure of Hanumān is, of course, quite clear. In the coin
figured in P1. A, No. 7, the god is turned to the left. The demon on the left, on whom he
must be trampling, is cut out on this coin.
1Twenty-seven coins were discovered in the former State of Sonpur, some of which have been published in J.N.S.I., Vol. XIII, pp. 199 ff. |
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