________________
DECEMBER, 1896.)
MISCELLANEOUS SOUTH INDIAN COINS.
321
No. 24. - M. 661 grains. Centre. - A boar, facing the proper left and surrounded by two lamps, an elephant-goad, a parasol, and two indistinct symbols which may be either the sun and the moon or two chaurís. Below the boar's head, the Telugu letter ja (?). Margin. - 20% qy .
'Sri-Rå jarâja. Sa[mvat*] 34. The central device and each of the six portions of the marginal legend of Nog. 24 and 25 were strack by a separato punch. The punches shew through on the plain reverse. The irregular concave shape of the obverse was evidently caused by the gradual bending of the thin metal during the application of the six punches.12
The coins described under Nos. 24 to 29 form a recent find of sixteen gold coins, which the Collector of the Kistna district sent to Mr. Thurston, who has kindly forwarded them to the author of this paper. They were discovered by coolies in a metal box buried in a mound at the village of Güdûr near Masulipatam.
No. 25.- M.2 specimens. 663 grains. Centre. - Similar to No. 24, Below the boar's head, the Telugu letter ka. Margin. - Decoautas de
Sri-Rajaraja. Samvat*] 37. The boar was the crest of the Chalakya family. Hence Nos. 24 and 25 must be assigned to the 34tb and 37th years of the Eastern Chalukya king Rajaraja, who reigned from A. D. 1022 to 1063.13 Dr. Fleet's three coins (ante, Vol. XIX. p. 78, Plate) bear the dates Sa[rivat*] 3, 4 and 35.14
No. 28.-M. 611 grains. Centre. - A tiger, facing the proper left and surmounted by the sun, the figure of a chauri. bearer (P), and a crescent. Below the tiger's head, the Telugu numeral 6.' Margin - ಕ್ರೀಡೆಆನಾರಾಯಣ
Sri-Ch[6]lanarayana.15 No. 27.-M. 614 grains. Centre. – A tiger (), facing the proper right and surmounted by the sun and a crescent. Margin. - Same as No. 26.
The tiger was the crest of the Chola dynasty. Nos. 26 and 27 were perhaps issued by Kulottunga-Chola I.,16 who bore the surname Rájanáráyana, 17 which resembles the legend of the two coins. The numeral on No. 26 refers to the 6th year of the king's reign.
No. 28.- M. 3 specimens. 58 grains. Nine punch-marks, of which five represent a lion, two the syllable se éri, one s a tré!, 18 and one womalla.19
12 Sir Walter Elliot (Coins of Southern India, p. 55) aptly suggests that the cup-shaped Ramatan kas are later imitations of punch-marked coins, the concave surface of which was due to accident.
19 Ante, Vol. XX. p. 273.
16 Instead of these three dates, Dr. Fleet read the syllable sya. The three coins of Chalukyachandra, which are figured on the same Piate, bear the dates Sa[risoat) 9,4 and 13, which have also been read as sya.
15 The syllable šti is clear on No. 27, but looks like la on No. 26. This may be due to a mistake of the mintofficer, who used twice the punch bearing the letter la, once before and once after the syllable chó. Compare notes 19 and 22 below.
16 He ascended the throne in A. D. 1070: see Ep. Ind. Vol. IV. p. 72. 11 South Indian Iacription, Vol. I. p. 59, verse 12. 18 Read trailb[kya].
19 A similar coin has twioe milla and omits trey. This is probably due to a mistake of the officer who handled the punches.
