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Message:: [QUOTE="Finn235, post: 3772228, member: 98035"]Here it is by popular request, an ultra-condensed version of my write-up on the evolution of the Indo Sassanian drachm from the Peroz prototype through the end of the Gadhaiya Paisa! These coins were inspired by the Sassanian silver drachms of Shah Peroz I (459-484), which were by far the most numerous coins in central Asia, largely because Peroz lost three wars against the Hephthalite Huns, and twice was forced to pay enormous ransoms consisting of hundreds of thousands of coins each to free himself and his son Kavadh from captivity. His final loss in 484 resulted in his death on the battlefield. How exactly these came to inspire the predominant trade currency of medieval India is a source of scholarly debate, but Maheshwari (Imitations in Continuity) argue that the Gurjjar people, who were a nomadic central Asian warrior society and ostensibly slave-mercenaries of the Hunas, migrated south into what is today Gujarat around 500 AD, filling the power void left by the retreat of the Alchon huns. Since these new settlers did not pillage and rape as the Alchons did, they were largely tolerated. When the old Peroz drachms became worn and unusable, the Gujjars would have had to mint their own coins, so they stuck with the tried and true motifs - the Peroz drachms which with they had been paid by the Hephthalites. Around 690 AD, the Gujjar people established a permanent kingdom in Gujarat, calling themselves the Chavadas, or Chapas. Their control of the Gujarat sea port along the important trade routes from the Orient to the Islamic empires greatly enriched them, and they managed to repel the Islamic invaders and retain sovereignty. The ethnicity of the Chavada rulers, along with the complete lack of any medieval Rajput coins which cite any of their kings by name, have led many to believe that the Chavadas issued many or all of the early Gadhaiya Paisa. The Chavadas were overthrown in 942 when their final king, Samantsimha adopted his nephew Mularaja, who overthrew him and established the Chaulukya kingdom of Gujarat, which flourished until 1244, despite the growing power of the Islamic sultanates in India at that time. The terminal Chaulukya kings were weak and increasingly became puppets under the control of their client kingdoms, as the final Roman emperors were under their Gothic commanders. The final king, Tribhuvanapala, was formally overthrown by his subject, Visala-Deva, who usurped power just has Mularaja had three centuries earlier. The Vaghelas, however, were destined for a short tenure, as just 60 years later they were conquered by the great Delhi sultan, Alauddin Khalji. Although it is quite difficult if not impossible to definitively assign the types of Gadhaiya to any particular dynasty (let alone ruler, as Deyell argued could be done!), careful analysis of the coins in sequence can allow us to trace the evolution in sequential steps. Note that there are still some gaps in this evolution, but I am finally satisfied in my assessment of late Series 1.1 until late series 1.4. Series 1.1 - Earliest imitations of Peroz Drachms minted in India - General size and fabric is retained- Legends present on earliest of coins- Attendants switch from the "parallel rows of dots" design on official coins to wearing a distinct "herringbone" dress- Fire altar ribbon is a string of dots, usually held by the attendants [ATTACH=full]1008828[/ATTACH] Over time the design gets more stylized[ATTACH=full]1008830[/ATTACH] (I've skipped many types here which I believe to be largely tangential to the series. You can see all of my coins along with detailed analysis here:<a href="https://www.cointalk.com/threads/indo-sassanian-coinage-series-1-1-early-types.341648/" class="internalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="https://www.cointalk.com/threads/indo-sassanian-coinage-series-1-1-early-types.341648/">https://www.cointalk.com/threads/indo-sassanian-coinage-series-1-1-early-types.341648/</a> ) The next important step, we see the trend away from "line relief" portraits, and the attendants no longer hold the ribbon[ATTACH=full]1008829[/ATTACH] Then we see the Chavada type portrait emerge[ATTACH=full]1008832[/ATTACH] Series 1.2 - This is the "Chavada" type; it is much more common than series 1.1 in general, typically better made, and most importantly, the fire altar has two rows of dots to represent the ribbon. The attendants also quickly lose their herringbone dresses. [ATTACH=full]1008831[/ATTACH] From series 1.2.1 into 1.2.2 we see the attendants shrink into just a torso and an increasingly globular skirt with vestigial herringbones[ATTACH=full]1008834[/ATTACH] Then moving into 1.2.3 the feet are lost and the portrait starts to become more standardized; the nostril is no longer attached to the nose and the skirt becomes a ball. This is also where the attendants stop wearing anything other than a solid necklace[ATTACH=full]1008833[/ATTACH] 1.2.4, we see the appearance of the eye line![ATTACH=full]1008836[/ATTACH] During 1.2.4 the portrait becomes standardized with a prominent brow and tall forehead. Note also that the attendants are becoming more simplified[ATTACH=full]1008835[/ATTACH] Here we see a split - 1.2.5 continues with this general schema, but shrinks in size to below 18mm, where it dead ends. 1.2.6 is the "Neanderthal portrait" type, where the brow is exaggerated to comical proportions. In both cases the die is now substantially larger than the flan.[ATTACH=full]1008837[/ATTACH] (continued in next post)[/QUOTE]

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