Chalukyas of Gujarat: A common but cool Indian drachm

Yeah, these are common as dirt, but since I discovered the type about a month ago, I've wanted one. These appear to be attributed to the Chalukyas, a trio of dynasties that ruled southern and central India from the 6th century through 12th century. If that's the case, I would imagine it would have to be the Western Chalukyas for this particular coin.

I think this might be closest to @dougsmit 's type F. It's basically a degenerated copy of Sassanian coinage, with an impressionist type bust in the front, and a rather aspirational impressionist version of a fire altar in the reverse. An interesting note, the flans were always too small for the dies, so you need multiple coins to appreciate the design, though mine seems to have captured a fair bit of the main details.

The Chalukyas are an interesting bunch. They seemed to have been well organized, built amazing temples and other great architectural feats, and definitely left quite an impact on Indian culture. Anyway, here is the coin in question:


India, Chalukyas of Gujarat.AR Drachm
Obv: Crude Indo-Sasanian style bust right
Rev: Stylized fire altar.
Deyell 158, NI 427. 11th century A.D. 4.22g.

It may definitely benefit from a little cleaning, but I think I'll leave it as is. Now, I know some of you have them too, so show some of yours off.

And of course, here is the coin type that inspired the coin above. Hard to believe, but the Indians started with these Sassanians as a prototype, and it eventually degenerated into the design above after 5 centuries or so of tweaking the design here and there.


Kavadh I
Sassanian Empire

* The inspiration that started the march towards what would eventually become the Indian coin above.

 

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Nice man! Nothing wrong with common coins. In my opinion being common allows a collector to be more selective when choosing a particular coin. I don't have coins like your first.

 

Common but iconic ! Love this series.
To stick with the Chaulukyas of Gujarat, a little different design from the same period. Issued under Jayasimha (ca 1100 AD): AR 8 mm, 0.43 gr.


And a bit more to the east from the Pratihara-Pala dynasty:

 

Nice Drachm.

I have a couple of these types:


India Gujarat Chalukyas Gadhaiya Paisa BI Drachm 9th C CE Sun Moon Fire Alter Crescent


India Gujarat Chalukyas Gadhaiya Paisa BI Drachm 11th C CE Sun Moon Fire Alter Crescent

 

Thanks for sharing those lovely coins and tempting me more. Those Indian themes and styles are awesome. As much as I love my ancient European and Islamic medievals, these Indian coins really are amazing. I'm becoming quite a fan of them.

 

Yes, these are very attractive coins, of good silver, and an important part of Indian numismatics, regardless of how common they are! I have a supplier in Gujarat who has sent me a bag of goodies - as soon as it arrives I'll share. On the same day, tracking said it left India and arrived in New York, and now it's been sitting in customs for a week.

 

Nice addition.


INDIA, CHALUKYAS of GUJARAT (1030 - 1120 A.D.)
AR Drachm (gadhaiya paisa)
O: Degenerate Indo-Sasanian style bust right, sun and moon (crown?) above.
R: Stylized fire altar, sun (consisting of rosette of dots) above left, crescent moon above right.
4.4g
17mm
Deyell 158, Mitchiner Non-Islamic 427

 

Posted before, but with some slight modifications, a general overview of the type:

 

Can't wait to see what you got. Hopefully Customs will quit being lazy and process your box of Indian numismatics goodies.

 

This is a great reference for these coins - I've got it saved from a post last year - makes identification a snap!

 

Actually, I do have one coin I can share. I picked this drachm up at NYINC at the beginning of the year. Dealer attribution is Damajadasri. This is a pretty good example for these crudely-struck types I think. Now that I have Plant, I'm going to look it up and try to read the thing - it obviously has a few very legible letters...

 

I am afraid you will have a hard time attributing this one from the text. The name of the ruler is in de lower right quadrant in the position you have the coin now in the right picture. That's hopeless. The name of his father is in the top left quadrant. You may succeed if it is better in hand there. The readable part in the top right quadrant is just ..PuTraSa RaJna MaHaKsaTraPaSa.. And that's the generic part unfortunately.

 

There was a time in the not to distant past when these coins had little interest.

 

Chalukya of a different flavor.

Chalukya of Kalyana
Jayasimha II Jagadekhamalla,(r. AD 1015-1042)
AV Pagoda 18 mm x 3.79 grams
Obverse: 2 x Sri, Temple/ spearhead with central rosette. - Kannad Script -Jakadeva
Reverse: Uniface - Countermarked elephant right. Uncertain symbol.
Ref:Mitch, Karnataka Andhra 273 var
Note: Very rare with elephant punchmark.

 

Well here's what I've managed to decipher so far. I had the reverse orientation wrong. Plant says the object in the center is called a stupa or chaitya, a religious shrine. Above are two crescents and to the right a star comprised of dots, wavy line underneath.

I've made out the word MaHaKsaTraPaSa. I've learned that the A vowel is given by vertical lines across the tops of the letters, and the Ks (or Ksh) and Tr are compound ashkaras.

Unfortunately, I have to leave this project for today. It looks like there may be enough remnants of other letters to fully attribute the coin by inscription, or at least by other devices, but please don't tell me! Let me see if I can do it on my own steam. Just let me know if I'm wildly off. I'll get back to it tomorrow...



Damn, Greek is so much easier.

 

I recommend Alex Fishman's book.

....and a Chastana for any collection...

 

What's the title?

 

You've done great !
The central symbol also is decribed as three-arched hill, with river below.
The cross lines at the tops of the character do not signify an A vowel. Every character has an implicit A unless there is a vowel modificator (matra) attached to the character.

 

my mistake...

https://www.amazon.com/Silver-Coina...2-fkmr0&keywords=alex+fishman+western+satraps

 

You could argue they still don't have too much interest. I've seen dealers selling these in online lots of 15 or 20 at around $10 to $15 per coin because because they can't be bothered to individually sort them out and list them.

I've also noticed that quite a few ancient coin dealers fail to properly attribute their Indian coins, and I doubt many bother to try unless they truly specialize in them. It's kind of like the wild wild west of ancient and medieval numismatics.

I don't mind the lack of Interest. It just means that there are more wonderful Indian silver coins at very low and reasonable prices, and with little competition for them.

Personally, I really like the unique styles of Indian coins, and I could care less if eurocentric collectors and dealers don't.