Western Kshatrapa Coins in the Telangana State Museum, Hyderabad

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The Andhra Pradesh Government Archaeological Museum has a number of hoards of ancient and mediaeval coins obtained from time to time, and it is a happy feature that the Department is doing its best to get these hoards exa- mined by competent scholars and publishing monographs on them. Most of these hoards have now been catalogued and published as monographs, forming the Andhra Pradesh Government Archaeological Series and supplementing our historical and numismatic knowledge. The Catalogue of Punch-marked coins by Dr. P. L. Gupta, of the Satavahana coins by Dr. M. Rama Rao, of the Ikshvaku coins by Dr. R. Subrahmanyam, of the Vijayanagar coins by Sri N. Ramesan and of the Qutub Shahi coins by Sri Abdul Wali Khan, Keeper of coins in the Museum, all excellent in their own individual way, have already been brought out. The present work which embodies the results of my study of the coins of the Western Kshatrapa rulers in the form of a Catalogue is now being placed in the hands of scholars.

The coins described in this 'work are exclusively those issued by the rulers belonging to the dynasty mentioned above and were found in a village of the Guntur District of the State. The find of these coins in this District which was at no time under the sway of this house, doubtless raises some problems which I have tried to deal within the Introduction, along with the other relevant details. From this point of view the hoard is interesting, though all the coins are of the well-known silver type, showing the bust of the king and the year on one side and a legend in Brahmi, around the edge, with the usual Chaitya and a river in the middle, on the other.

In preparing the Catalogue I have mainly followed the arrangement of E. J. Rapson, dealing with similar types of coins in his B. M. C., A. W. K. The coins have been arranged in the descending order of weight, be it due to clipping around the edge or any other reason. However, to give a complete idea of the coin-type of each of the rulers, the best preserved specimen issued by him is described and illustrated in the beginning. The legend is given in Roman script, and care has been taken to read the dates and the legends from the coins themselves.

The choice of the photographs for illustrations has been guided by reasons either of clear reading of the date or of the legend or by some other peculiarities.

The coins described in this Catalogue were all found in 1959 in a village of the name of Petluripalem (or Petlurivaripalem) in the Guntur District in Andhra Pradesh. The story of the find is reproduced here in the words of Sri N. Bhagawandas, the then Collector of the District:-

"Sri Dokha Tripuraiah, owner of the land in Block Survey No. 40 of Petluripalem village, Narasaraopet taluk, Guntur District, engaged three coolies on 19-6-56 for excavations of stones in the field. While two of the coolies were excavating, a small copper vessel (Chembu) was found and this vessel contained small pie-size silver coins in full. In first instance none took interest to remove the coins in the vessel, due to a sentimental fear that if taken, the find would be ominous. After some time the coins were taken away by small boys and others that gathered there. The vessel when thrown on ground broke into pieces.

"Subsequently the Village Munsiff sent a report to the Tahsildar and took steps to recover from the boys the coins taken away by them. Action was initiated under Treasure Trove Act and the treasure was acquired on behalf of the Government."

Subsequently, I had an opportunity to examine this hoard, through the courtesy of the Director of Archaeology, Andhra Pradesh, Hyderabad and in this examination I found all the coins exclusively of the well-known silver type of coins of the Western Kshatrapa rulers governing Malwa, Saurashtra and Gujarat from the early years of the second down to those of the fourth century A.D. The total number of coins is 235. About half the number of the coins are in a good state of preservation, the rest being either worn, badly damaged or clipped around the edge so as to lose the figures for the year on the obverse and parts of the legend on the reverse. Due care has been taken to check the years when they were issued, and it was found that about sixty percent of the total number of these specimens bear punches or shroff-marks as we find also on some of those catalogued by ed by Rapson in his B.M.C., A.W.K.

In the hoard the coins of Ksh. Viradaman (234-238 A.D.), son of Mksh. Damasena, are the first of any king belonging to the house, and from this ruler down to the Ksh. Visvasena, son of Mksh. Bhartridaman, whose last known year is 226 A.D., all the rulers of the house for four generations are represented in it, only with the exception of Yasodaman and the Ksh. Vijayasena, both sons of Mksh. Damasena and both having a reign only for a year or two. Besides these, the hoard also contains four coins of the immediately following Kshatrapa house-two each of Ksh. Rudrasena II, son of Svami Jivadaman and of his son Yasodaman II, and one coin of the Abhira king Išvaradatta, of his first regnal year.

The history of the Western Kshatrapa rulers is well described in authentic works and it may be narrated here in brief, to serve our purpose. Of the four dynasties known by this name, the second which bore the name Karddamaka is the most important. This royal house was founded by Chashtana, son of Ghsamotika, some time in the second quarter of the second century A. D. His capital, according to Ptolemy, was Ujjain in west Malwa, and he is known to have borne both the titles of Ksh. and Mksh., denoting the lower and the higher status respectively. His son was Jayadaman who is known to have been only a Ksh., suggesting that the power of the dynasty must have then suffered due to the conquest of the Satavahanas who were their rivals. Jayadaman's son Rudradaman was the greatest king of the house who raised its status as we know from the Junagarh rock inscription narrating his conquests. He extended his kingdom over Malwa, Gujarat, Saurashtra, northern Konkana and western Rajasthan and probably also on Sindh, and inflicted a crushing defeat over the contemporary Satavahana ruler Satakarni.

Rudradaman's reign was followed by internecine wars, struggle for the throne, and there was no important event worth recording till five generations following him till the middle of the third century A.D. when the kingdom of the house became confined to the Malwa, Saurashtra and Gujarat.

The family struggle referred to above continued even thereafter till we come to the reign of Rudrasena II, son of Viradaman. He enjoyed a peaceful reign of 22 years ending with 277 A. D., after which we find again a confusion, both his sons Visvasimha and Bhartridaman issuing coins with both the lower and the higher titles, as shown in the table below'.

Bhartridaman's son Visvasena was the last of the rulers of the Karddamika dynasty. He is known to have issued coins only as Ksh. from 215 to 304A.D.

when his house was ousted by Rudrasimha II of the third Ksh. dynasty. The fact that Visvasena continued to be a Kshatrapa for a long time means either that his father Bhartridaman was alive for all the time and it was either from him or from his son Visvasena that the power was wrested by the new house or that after the latter's father his power was so reduced that it altogether debarred him from claiming the higher title. The latter of these alternatives appears to be appealing in view of the study of the contemporary political situation, which may be narrated here; it is as follows:-

This is the time when the Vakataka house rose to power; its founder Vindhyasakti (c. 255-275 A. D.) who was a contemporary of Rudrasena II seems to have annexed a part of Eastern Malwa; and though Bhartridaman may have succeeded in retrieving temporarily the fortune of the family as seen from his coins in large numbers, we find that after him the house of Chashtana came to an end and the kingdom passed into the hands of Rudrasimha II of third house of the Kshatrapas. Rudrasimha's relationship with Bhartridaman is still not definitely known, though the form of the name of his father Jivadaman, with the characteristic ending in-daman seems to indicate near relationship to the family of Chashtana". It is worthy of note that both he and his son Yasodaman used the lower title on their coins, denoting a feudatory status; and it is not unlikely, as presumed by A. S. Altekar, that they may have lost their overlord- ship due to the rise of Pravarasena I of the Vakataka house who may have helped them in ousting the Mksh. Bhartridaman or his son Visvasena or both". Prava- rasena I was at that time extending the sphere of his influence by assuming the imperial title of samrat, and the suggestion may well be accepted.