by Prof. A.V. Narasimha Murthy, former Head, Department of Ancient History & Archaeology, University of Mysore

I had the good fortune of serving the Numismatic Society of India, Varanasi, as its President, Secretary and Editor. I used to attend the annual conferences of this Society regularly. I once noticed that scholars attending the Varanasi Conference from South India could be counted on finger tips. The reason, I learnt, was that North India was very far and travel would be difficult and many scholars suggested ‘Why not a South Indian Coin (Numismatic) Society be started?’ It was a good suggestion and I contacted Dr. R. Krishnamurthy, Editor of Dinamalar (Tamil Daily) from Chennai and he welcomed the idea but told me that his business as the Editor of a Daily would not allow him to devote full time and energy for this. But he hastened to add, ‘If you can take that responsibility, my full support to you is there.’

Prof. K.V. Raman of Chennai gave me his support. The Head of the publication of New Era, Dr. Srinivasan Srinivasan agreed to print and publish the Journal of the Society on the condition ‘I should be its Editor.’ I agreed and South Indian Numismatic Society came into existence in 1990. So far it has conducted 26 conferences at different centres in Karnataka, Andhra, Tamil Nadu, Kerala. This time it met at Thiruvananthapuram in Jan. 2016. About 150 Numismatists attended.

It was our good fortune that it was hosted by the Centre for Heritage Studies under the Cultural Affairs Department of Kerala. K.C. Joseph, Minister for Rural Development, Culture and Planning, who inaugurated the conference, extended full cooperation to this conference which was a success.

There was a time when barter was the system of trade. People realised its limitation and began using coins. Coins as such have not been noticed in the Indus Valley Culture. However, Rig Veda mentions coins like Nishka, Rukma, Khadi, in the sense of coins. But actually Nishka means a necklace and hence, it has been taken as a necklace made of gold coins (kasinasara). Anyway, that is the earliest coin of our country.

South India had a period which is generally referred to as Sangam age and it was considered as a literary imagination or even bunkum. Suddenly, Dinamalar Krishnamurthy discovered a coin belonging to a Sangam King called Peruvalathi. For the present, this is considered to be the earliest coin of South India. Barring this, the Satavahana (Andhra) coins are the earliest coins of Deccan and South India.

However, we have had uninscribed punch marked coins all over the country including South India and Karnataka. These silver coins had 5 symbols punched on them and one of them represented the government or the king. At this time, Roman merchants came to South India and gave their gold and silver coins and purchased our spices, especially black pepper, which was considered as an antidote for malaria. Thus the large number of Roman coins gave an impetus for the minting of coins in South India.

Kadambas of Banavasi are considered to the actual inaugurators of coinage in Karnataka. They issued what are called Padmatanka coins. A Padmatanka is a gold piece which has a central punch of a lotus or Padma with some symbols and letters like ‘Sri’ with or without the name of the issuer. The Pallavas of Kanchi issued their own coins in gold and copper. This system was continued by the Cholas of Thanjavur. They minted the portrayal of the king with Nagari or Tamil legends. Chola coins have been discovered in plenty as to fill up them, in gunny bags. In Andhra area, Vishnukundins minted coins. In Karnataka, the Chalukyas minted coins and their most popular coin is called Varaha. This word survives even today in traditional parlance. In fact, the coin name Varaha is a contribution of Karnataka in general and that of the Chalukyas in particular.

The Western Gangas of Talakad minted gold and copper coins with elephant as the important symbol. Unfortunately, Rashtrakuta coins have not been discovered in plenty. Later, Chalukya coins have been found in plenty. The Hoysalas minted coins in gold and copper. Vishnuvardhana minted coins with lion and the legend Talakadugonda symbolising the defeat of the Cholas. One interesting coin is the one which has a portrait of Saint Ramanujacharya. The Sevunas or the Yadava coins include those of Bhillama, Singhana and Ramachandra.

Kings of Vijayanagara introduced innovation in coinage. It is not only a golden age but a golden period for Karnataka coinage. Their coinage has been praised by foreign travellers also. They introduced legends in Kannada and Nagari. The most important coin of Krishnadevaraya are the coins representing Lord Venkateswara of Tirumala and Sri Krishna holding a lump of butter in his hands. Krishnadevaraya performed Kanakabhisheka to Balaji of Tirupati by minting gold coins which had the representation of Venkateswara with Sridevi and Bhudevi and his name in Kannada or Nagari. Nayakas of Madura imitated the coinage of Vijayanagara. Their coins contain legends in Kannada and Tamil.

We may turn our attention to the coinage of Muslim kings — the Bahamani dynasty, Adil Shahi dynasty and Barid Shahi Sultans. They minted coins with legends in Arabic and Persian on both sides. Hyder Ali and Tipu Sultan occupy an important place in Karnataka history. Tipu’s innovation in coinage is amazing. He established seventeen mints in different parts of South India and minted coins in gold, silver and copper. He gave each coin a name after the Islamic Saints. His gold coins contain the Persian legend ‘The religion of Ahmad is illumined in the world by the victory of Hyder.’ The reverse has the legend ‘He is the Sultan, the unique, the just, the third of Bahari, cyclic year Azal 2.’

The Wadiyars of Mysore (now Mysuru) began issuing coins with legends. The representation of Hindu Gods by Krishnaraja Wadiyar is unique. They also minted coins with portrayals of lion and elephant with legends in Roman, Kannada and Persian. Once the British took over, they began to follow the British coinage. After independence, the entire country, including South India, is following the system which we are now seeing. Thus, South India followed a unique system of coinage which has a history of over 2,000 years.

source: http://www.starofmysore.com / Star of Mysore / Home> Feature Articles / February 21st, 2016