The Pallava Coins (Only 1 Quantity Available)

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This is the first full-length study, in English, on coins of the Pallavas who held sway over different areas adjoining the eastern coast of Peninsular India, in different times, roughly from the beginning of fourth century to the end of ninth century A.D. Most of their creations, like monuments scooped out of rocks, brick and mortar temples they built and the tanks they excavated have survived the ravages of time and were studied in detail and published. But not the coins issued by the rulers of this dynasty.

Paucity of good specimens, for comparison and study, may be one of the reasons. The situation has changed in recent years with the discovery of Pallava coins from the banks of South Pennar and Amaravathi rivers in Tamilnadu. Even then, no institution or individual has all the coins of this dynasty.

However, the author was fortunate enough to have majority of the coins in his cabinet, collected over a period of time. In addition to this, his visits to the museums in London, Colombo, New Delhi and Chennai and the careful study of the specimens available with the coin collectors has enabled him to undertake the difficult task of classification and attribution of the coins of the Pallavas, attractively illustrated in this monograph. Another noteworthy and useful addition to this Volume is data provided on the percentage of metals in the lead and bronze coins of this dynasty, the notes on the probable source of tin used by them and the significance of the presence of vanadium in some of their coins.

This timely publication may be useful to archaeologists, numismatists, historians, curators of the museums, coin collectors and the general readers.

Ramasubbu Krishnamurthy (b.1933) had the distinction of obtaining the first rank in Geology in the graduate and post-graduate level. He is a member of professional bodies devoted to numismatics and epigraphy. He had presented papers in international and national conferences. He has to his credit seven books on epigraphy, palaeography and numismatics, in Tamil. His other books, now fairly well known to numismatists are: Late Roman Copper Coins from South India: Karur and Madurai (1994), Sangam Age Tamil Coins (1997, reprint 2003) and Non-Roman Ancient and Foreign Coins from Karur in India (2000). He was awarded the prestigious 'Bidulph' and 'Desikachari' medals by the Numismatic Society of India (NSI) for his discoveries of ancient Tamil Coins with Tamil - Brahmi legend. He had the honour to preside over the annual conferences of NSI (Pune, 1996) and South Indian Numismatic Society (Kanyakumari, 1999). He is a Fellow of the Royal Numismatic Society, London. He is the President of Tamil Nadu Numismatic Society and South Indian Numismatic Society and former Vice President of the NSI. He is the Editor of Dinamalar, a mass circulated Tamil daily, published from several centres. He was the General Secretary of All India Newspaper Editors, Conference (1991 1996). Krishnamurthy has travelled widely abroad. He visited U.S.S.R. (1979), U.S.A. (1981) and West Germany (1982) on invitation from the respective Governments. As a member of print media group he had gone to China (1988, 2001), Russia (2002), U.S.A. (2002) and Pakistan (2004) as part of Govt. of India's delegation to these countries and also went to various countries to visit Museums.

At the outset it is imperative to mention that this book is on the coins issued by the kings of the Pallava Jynasty and not on the history of the Pallava kings. The outcome of the former exercise is heavily dependent on the difficult task of delineation of the events in the political history of South India, roughly from the beginning of fourth century to the end of ninth century AD, and its consequent impact in the eastern coastal area between the river Krishna in the north and the tiver Kaveri in the south, in an acceptable chronological order As a result, we could not circumvent the necessity to recount the history of this dynasty.

We have not chosen any scholarly yardstick to select the sources. The criteria for selection or omission rested solely on the fact that the evidence should substantiate the history narrated and enable us to reconcile the differences in opinion about the succession of a particular Ling er his reign period, which is necessary for proper attribution of the coins.

The Pallava coins illustrated in this monograph were collected over a period of time When this author made a small beginning in collecting ancient coins found on the river beds of Vaigal, Amaravathi and South Pennar, at Madurai, Karur and Tirukoviloor respectively, he never for a moment imagined that at a later date he will be able segregate them, arrange them according to the dynasty of country of origin and bring out full length monograph on Late Roman Copper Coins from South India: Karur and Madurai (1994), Sangam Age Tamil Coins (1997) and Non-Roman Ancient Foreign Coins from Karur in India (2000) It was in the course of this collecting spree that the author came across circular coins with a standing bull on the obverse and with swastika or chakra (wheel) or other symbols on the reverse from Madurai. These coins, fairly in good condition, were die-struck with beautiful finish and a few of them had legends on them. They were similar to the coins discovered from Tirukoviloor subsequently The author selected some of them for study and presented his findings in the conferences of the Numismatic Society of India and they were published in the Society's Journal for the years 1988,1989 and 1991.

The notes on the coins described here were written, rewritten, as and when the author came across new types or source for the history of the Pallavas it is possible that many Pallava coin types not included in this book may be with private collectors or Museums. As such this monograph may not be as comprehensive as one would wish. Moreover, the author's their type, scanning them and drawing the eye copies Appendix I and II are eleventh hour inclusions. Consequently, certain inconsistencies may have eluded us during the routine check before the final print out was taken. We crave the indulgence of the readers if they come across such slips.