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SaPTEMBER, 1912)
COINS OF AJAYADEVA AND SOMALADEVI
209
COINS OF AJAYADEVA AND SOMALADEVI. BY PANDIT GAURISHANKAR HIRACHAND OJHA; AJMER
(1) Coins of Ajayadeva. Silves and copper coins of Ajayadeva with an effigy of a seated goddess on the obverse, and the inscription att' on the reverse, are frequently met with in Rajputâna, Mathura, and other places. Prinsep, General Sir A. Ounning bam, Captain W. W. Webb, and others have published facsimiles of them and have tried to show to what king they belong; but, in my opinion, their efforts have not been successful.
Ajayadeva's coins are held by Prinsep 1 to be the coins of the Rathors of Kapauj, but as there has been no king of the name of Ajayadera amongst them, he tries to get out of this difficulty by making an assumption, for which there is hardly any justification. Speaking of these coins he says: “One of our coins andoubtedly belongs to the former prince (.e., Jayschandra) and it may perhaps be allowable to give the last two, figs. 7 and 89, to Jayachandra himself, whose proper name may have beep Ajaya Chandradeva; the family name Chandra being frequently omitted both in writings and inscriptions."
Prinsep was the first to hold Ajayadeva's coins to be those of the R&thors. His principal reason for this opinion evidently is that these coins bear an effigy of a sented goddess like the coins of the Rathora. This, however, is hardly sufficient to assign these coins to the Råthors; for we find an effigy of a seated goddess on the coins of many dynasties besides the Rathors, such as Tomaras, Kalachuris of Dahala, and Chandels of Mohoba. Moreover, there is no authority whatever for holding Jayachandra and Ajayadeva to be one and the same king, or for holding that Chandra was the family name of these kings. In no inscription of the Rathore (Gaharvals) of Kanaaj do we find the name Ajayadera for Jayachandra. In these circumstances there is no reason whatever to assign these coins to the Råthors.
Relying on the aathority of Prinsep, Captain W. W. Webbt and General Sir A. Ounningham", holding Ajayadeva to be the same person as Ajaye-Chandra (Jay-chand), have also assigned these coins to Jayachandra.
As a matter of fact Ajayadera was a great Chauhan king, who founded the city of Ajmer, and his coins are found in various places in Rajpatâna, which were under the role of the Chauhần kings of Ajmer. Ajayadova's silver coins were current in the realm in the time of Ajayadova's grandson, king Somesvara, as appears from an unpublished inscription of (Vikrama-] Samvat 1228=1171 A. D., existing on a pillar in the Râght Rani's temple at Dhod, in Jahazpur District, Mewar. They are also mentioned in the Menál (in Mewêr) inscription of [Vikrama-] Samvat 1225 = 1168 A. D.7
Owing to these reasons in A. D. 1906, while editing the Hindi translation of Tod's Rdjasthan, ( assigned these coins to the Ohsahân king Ajayadeva of Ajmer in my notes, p. 400. A perusal of Prithvirdja-vijaya, the historical poem of the Chauhans, has confirmed me in this opinion, for we
1 Essays, Vol. I, p. 209. * Op. cit. Vol. I, pl. xxiv.
Op. cit. Vol. I, p. 292. Ourrencia of the Hindu Status of Rajputand, p. 80, pl. I. 1.
Coins of Mod. Ind., p. 87, PL ix. 17 GTATurqirataifa
V... (Dhod Ins.) Prog. Rep. Archæol. Survey, W. C., for 1906, p. 59. • Pablished by the Khadgavills Prons, Bankipore.
