Indian Antiquary Vol 41

SR No.: 032533
Original Sutra Author: N/A
Author: Richard Carnac Temple, Devadatta Ramkrishna Bhandarkar
Publisher: Swati Publications
Publication Year: 1984
Total Pages: 320
Language: English
Classification: Book_English
File Size: 39 MB

Page 215

SEPTEMBER, 192.)
COINS OF AJAYADEVA AND SOMALADEVI
211
kawa coins of the Kalacuris of Mahakośala, which belong to a period extending from c. A. D. 1050 to c. A. D. 1140 (Cann., Coins of Med. Ind., p. 76; cf. pl. vi. 10, with pl. viii. 6-11); bat it would be rash to make this suggested identification of the Somaladevi of the coins on this evidence alone."18
No advance beyond this stage was made. The facts (1) that the inscription of [Vikrama-] Sa invat 1226 (of the time of the Obauhân king Someśvara) engraved on a rock near Bijolia in Mewâr gives the name of the queen of the Chauhân king Ajayadeva of Ajtuer as Somalladevi (Te t e a : artigia:), (2) that these coins are generally found in places which were under the sway of the Chauhậns, and (3) that the copper coins bear an effigy of a horseman on the obverse, led me in A. D. 1906 to hold in note in my edition of the Hindi translation of Tod's Rajasthd» (p. 400), that these coins belong to Somaladevi, queen of the Chauhan king Ajayadeva of Ajmer.
This view receives full support from the celebrated poem Prithviraja-vijaya ; for, speaking of Somalekha (Somaladevi), queen of the Chauhan king Ajayadeva, the poet says :
सोमलेखा प्रियाप्यस्य प्रत्यहं रूपकनेवैः। कृतैरपि न संस्पर्श कलनेन समासदत्॥
(Sarga V.) Also his (Ajayadeva's) dear consort Somalekha, though she made new rûpakas (coins) . every day, was not touched by kalanka (dark spot)."
This verse immediately follows the verse a rara etc., given above in part 1 of this article, and clearly shows that these coins belong to Somaladevi (Somalekhâ). whose name in the Bijoliâ inscription is given as Somalladevi, the queen of the Ohanhân king Ajayadeva of Ajmer.
These coins are the only known coins of a queer in India, and I had first thought that Somaladevt probably became queen regent after Ajayadeva, and these coins related to the period of her rule. And in the note20 in which I assigned these coins to Somaladevi, I also said that probably she had succeeded Ajayadeva as ruler of Ajmer during her son's minority. I now find, however, that the Prithvirdja-vijaya makes no mention of such an event. It only says that she was very dear to her husband (Ajayadeva). The king therefore mas have allowed her to strike coins, out of love for her, as she was very fond of designing them.
It may also be mentioned that we often get coins of Ajayadeva and Somaladevi in the sa ne collection. About 20 years ago, Rao Ratansinh of Pårsoli (in Mewâr) found an earthern po: containing 20 copper coins, all of Ajayadeva and Somaladevi only, which the Rio handed over to me intact. The e coins of Ajaya deva and Somaladevi found together, unaccompanied with those of any other ruler, also confirm my view.
The silver and copper coins of Somaladevi are of different designs, and they both differ from those of her husband in type; this is probably due to the fact that the Hindus were never very particalar about the designs of their coins and did not attach so much importance to them as is done now. Even the Guptas, who were more particular than the others in this matter, after their conquest of the kingdom of the Western Kshatrapas, allowed the design of the Kshatrapa coins to st.nd in their new silver coins struck for the newly conquered territory, in so much that no change was made on the obverse of thesecoins, the inscription on the reverse alone having been changed.
Moreover, we find that the coins introduced in the 6th century A. D. by the Hûņas, now known as the Gadhiâ coins,' remained carrept in Rajputârâ, Gujarat, etc. (the designs became debased as time passed), but none of the ralers, who flourished in these regiong from the 7th to the 11th century, designed coins of his own till the time of Ajayadeva and Somaladevi: even the latter, on her silver coins, has allowed the Gadhia-ka-paisa' type to remain on the obverse.
19 Jour. R. As. Soc., 1900, p. 121.
* Jonuraja's Commentary! Te fat raser Tre a t yearfशेमंगैश्च हेतुभिः कलङ्कन पापेन लाग्छनेन च स्पर्धे न प्रापत् ।।
» Tod's Rajasthan, Hindi, P. 400.