Book Title: Chronology of Gujarat
Author(s): M R Majumdar
Publisher: Maharaja Sayajirao University of Baroda

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Page 417
________________ RASTRAKUTA-PRATIHARA PERIOD 279 A Female Sculpture from Paldi: This was unearthed from Paldi, the site of old Karņāvati, and is at present located in the H. K. College Collection, Aśrama Road, Ahmedabad. It has all the stylistic peculiarities of the pre-Solanki sculptures, assignable to the Pratihāra period, not later than early roth century A.D.-(Plate LXXXI). Adi-varaha Coins : Base Silver and Copper Coins with the figure of Adi-varāha an incarnation of Vişnu-on the obverse, and a Nāgari legend in two lines, mentioning the name of the ruler of the Gurjara-Pratihāra dynasty on the reverse, are known for a long time, and have engaged the attention of several scholars.--['Note on Adi-varāha Coins', K. M. Munshi, Glory that was Gurjara Deśa (1955), Appendix VI, Pp. 215 ). Some of these coins are reported to be in the Baroda Museum, but they could not be traced. The coins issued by Bhoja have the legend Srimad-Adi-varāha on the reverse, while those of Vināyakapāladeva have the boar on the obverse, and the king's name on the reverse. The full obverse device does not appear in its entirety on any single coin; and it has to be pieced to-gether from a number of specimens. The reverse has an inscription in two lines, written in the characters of the gth and roth Centuries. The first line mentions that and the second fake. Below the legend is an altar in between two other devices. Coins of Bappa Raval : Pandit Gaurishankar Ojha had illustrated and described a gold coin of Bappā Rāval (JASB, 1927: Numismatic Supplement, No. XXIII, p. 14-18). Dr. A. S. Altekar published another coin of the same ruler Vopparāja in 1933 (Proceedings, VII All-India Oriental Conference, Pp. 703-5) with a revised and reconstructed reading of the legend, originally published with the reading by Dr. Hoernle, with a drawing, as Śri Dhairyarāja in 1881 (Proc., A.S.B.), and by R. Burns in 1904 (JASB, 1904, p. 65; Pl. I, No. 2) as Śri Vigharāha. Altekar proposed a third reading Vopparāja, which, in a way, is the name of the same king whose coin is published by Ojhaji. The obverse of both these coins is identical. Immediately below the legend, at the left end of the coin, there is a triśüla, and then to its right a Sivalinga on a platform of two steps. To the right of the Sivalinga is the sacred Nandi, his effigy being worn out in Ojhaji's coin, but quite clear on the present one. Below Siva and Nandi, in both the coins, there is a man lying prostrate. Both the coins have a dotted border. The reverse of the two shows a slight variation. The devices are the same in two, but the cow faces the right in Ojhaji's coin, it faces to the left in the second one. Of the three symbols above the cow, the chhatra is very clear in the present coin. The chhatra and cauri are to the left and right, respectively of the sun. The period of the coin is early mediaeval. The emblems on the coin-Śiva and Nandi and a man lying prostrate before them, the cow and the calf on the reverse, makes it probable that it belongs to Bappā Rāval of Chitor. Nandi represents Ekalingaji, the deity of king Bappă, and the man lying prostrate before them is probably the king himself. The cow is Kamadhenu cow of Hārita Rşi, the preceptor of the king. The wheel above the cow stands for the sun, and suggests the solar descent of the king issuing the coin, while Jain Education Intemational For Personal & Private Use Only www.jainelibrary.org

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