Indian Antiquary Vol 41

Author(s): Richard Carnac Temple, Devadatta Ramkrishna Bhandarkar
Publisher: Swati Publications

Page 214

210
THE INDIAN ANTIQUARY
[SEPTEMBER, 1912.
find the following vorges in regard to the silver coins of Ajayadeva in the account of that king in Sarga V of the poem :
स तुर्वर्णमयभूमि रूपकैः पर्वपपुरन् । तां मुवर्णमयैस्तत्र कविवर्गस्त्वपूरयत् !! कीर्ति स वर्तमानानां भटैर्ज जयप्रिवैः ।
अतीतानागतानां तु रूपकैरजयपिवैः ।। “He (Ajayadeva) filled the earth with ripakas (coins) made of durvarna (silver), bat the poet's filled it with rúpakas (dramas) composed in suparna (good letters).
“He took away the fame of the existing [kings] by soldiers fond of victory (jaya), bat the fame of past and future (kings] he took away by rápakas (coins) dear to Ajaya."
The verges quoted above leave no doubt that these coins belong to the Chauhan king Ajayadeva of Ajmer.
(2) Coins of Somaladevi. Silver and copper coins of Somaladevi are frequently met with in different places in Raj. putânâ. Bat the question as to whose quean this Somaladevi was has not yet been settled.
The silver coins of Somaladevi, which are rare, bear on the obverse a degraded representation of type King's head, 'commonly known as Gadhia-ka-paisa type, and on the reverse, the inscription andere or art in Nigart characters. Her copper coins have on the obverse the effigy of a horseman, which generally appears on the coins of the Chanhân kings of Ajmer, and on the reverse the inscription श्रीसोमलदेवि or श्रीसोमजदेती.
Prinsep for the first time published facsimiles of one silver 10 and five copperll coins of Somaladevi, but he read the inscription on the silver coin ritar... '10 and that on the copper coins'taru... ,' and remarked: "A scrutiny of the whole series (some not included in the plate) has elicited the letters aftera... ; the blank may be filled up with the letters making the whole title sri Samanta Pála-dera ; or if it be thought that there is not room for other letters, it may stand as sri samula-deva."12.
Prinsep thus supposed these coins to belong to a prince called Samantapâladeva or Såmale deva, which was due to the fact that the inscription was not properly deciphered.
In A.D. 1894, General Sir A. Canoingham, in his Coins of Mediæval India, published two good specime 1913 of the silver coias of Sumaladevi, but reading the inscription on them as Sri-Somaludeva, 14 assigned them to a king of that name. This reading of General Sir A. Cunningham we also incorrect.
Later on in A. D. 1900, Prof. E. G. Rapson read the inscriptions15 on the two silver coils published by General Sir A. Cunningham as HGT and sarata respectively. This is the correct reading, but the question as to who this Somaladevi was remained unsettled. The learned writer stated : " It seems, therefore, that we have here the coins of a queen. Who this queen W:48 we cannot yet determine. We can oaly note that we know of a queen Somalladevi, wife of Jajalladeva II, one of the Kalacuris of Mabakošala (Haihayas of Ratnapura), whose Malhir inscription is dated [Cedi-] Samvat 919= A. D. 1167-68. The arrangement of the inscription on these coins of Souladevi, and the style of the Nagari characters are certainly those of the
Jonardja's Commentaryu ter que ya cara alcany & Traitu: सुवर्णमयैश्शोभनाक्षरमयैश्च कविवर्गस्तामपूरयत् ।। जयः प्रियो येषां तेभेटैः करणभूतैर्वतमानानां कीर्तिमहरत् । अजयस्य राज्ञः प्रियरूपकैदीनारविशेषैश्च भूतानां भाविनां च राज्ञां कीर्तिमहरत् ।। 1. Prinsep's Essays, Vol. I, pl. XIV. 17.
11 Op. cit. Vol. I, pl. XIV. 9-13. 11 Op.cit. Vol. I, p. 304.
13 Coins of Med. Ind., pl. vi. 10-11. 14 Ibid. p. 53.
18 Jour. R. 41. Soc., 1900, p. 121. 16 On No. 10.
16 Os No. 11.