A golden memory of Rajamahendravaram

A golden memory of Rajamahendravaram

Subject : Art and Culture

Section: Ancient India

Context: Chalukyan gold coins found.

Concept:

• Built by Eastern Chalukya king Raja RajaNerendra on the banks of the Godavari river, the city of Rajamahendravaram still contains a memory of him.

History of Gold Coin in India

• The gold coins were first issued by Indo-Greeks in India. They introduced the gold coins around 270 BC. Ruler, Antochios II was the first one to introduce the gold coins for various economic reasons.
• The Kushanas (1st-4th Centuries CE) were the first dynasty in the subcontinent that issued a large number of gold coins. Kushan Ruler, VimaKadaphises (2nd Kadaphises),father of Kanishka, is first one to issue gold coin(Roman denarii) in Roman pattern .The gold coins were minted with punch marks and many coins contained the symbol of a bull or a Swastika.
• Gold coins in ancient India reached their peak with the Gupta emperors(Guptas issued the largest number of gold coins in ancient India) from the 3rd to 6th century AD. This was India’s Golden Age, where there was prosperity all around, and people lived the good life, full of culture and joy.
• The Gupta coins are works of art in themselves, and show the monarchs not just as warrior kings, but as men who prided themselves in their refinement. Thus you see coins with the mighty conqueror Samudra gupta shown playing the veena, or standing with his queen, along with those of him with a bow or battle axe.
• Gold coins struck between Post-Gupta (6th-12th centuries AD),period are rare. These were revived by Gangeyadeva the Kalachuri ruler who issued the ‘Seated Lakshmi Coins’ which were copied by later rulers both in gold as well as in debase form. The Bull & Horseman type of coins were the most common motif appearing on coins struck by the Rajput clans. In western India, imported coins like the Byzantine solidi were often used reflecting trade with the Eastern Roman Empire.
• The symbols and motifs on South Indian coin issues were confined to dynastic crests such as the boar (Chalukya), bull (Pallava), tiger (Chola), fish (Pandya and Alupas), bow and arrow (Cheras) and lion (Hoysala)
• The Yadavas of Devagiri issued ‘Padmatankas’ with an eight-petalled lotus on the obverse and a blank reverse. Coin legends refer to names or titles of the issuer in local scripts and languages. Decorative features are rare and divinities are almost absent till the medieval Vijayanagar period (14th- 16thcenturies AD).
• The Badami Chalukyas minted coins that were of a different standard compared to the coins of the northern kingdoms.The coins had Nagari and Kannada legends. Pulakeshin II’s coins had a caparisoned lion facing right on the obverse and a temple on the reverse. The coins weighed 4 grams and were called, in old-Kannada, hun (or honnu) and had fractions such as fana (or fanam) and the quarter fana (the modern day Kannada equivalent being hana – which literally means “money.A gold coin called gadyana is mentioned in a record at the Vijayeshwara Temple at Pattadakal, which later came to be known as varaha (their royal emblem)

Eastern Chalukyas

• Eastern Chalukyas, also known as the Chalukyas of Vengi, were a dynasty that ruled parts of South India between the 7th and 12th centuries. They started out as governors of the Chalukyas of Badami in the Deccan region. Subsequently, they became a sovereign power, and ruled the Vengi region of present-day Andhra Pradesh until c. 1130 CE. They continued ruling the region as feudatories of the Cholas until 1189 CE.
• Seven gold coins that date back to the Eastern Chalukya dynasty, including the regime of Raja Raja Narendra, are a proud possession of the city.
• One big coin contains the image of ‘varaha’ (boar), an official symbol of the EasternChalukyas. The big coin also contains some text in early Telugu script. It is believed to be minted marking ‘some donation’ by the Eastern Chalukyas