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COINS
The Kalachuris of Dakshina Kōsala also patronised Sanskrit and Prakrit poets.1 One
of them, Nārāyana who composed the Purāripāli stone inscription of Gōpāladēva, tells
us that he composed a Kávya named Rámábhyudaya, which greatly delighted the Goddess of
speech. Several Sanskrit works of this name, Kávyas as wells as nátakas, are known, and
some of them have come down to us; but this work of Nārāyana seems to be different
from all of them.2
Some of the authors of the praśastis included here were poets of no mean order.
Dhāmsata, the author of the Chandrëhë inscription ,3 śrinivāsa who composed the eulogy
of the first three kings in the Bilhāri inscription,4 the unknown author of the fragmentary
Rewa inscription of Karna,5 Dēvapāni, the author of the Akaltarā inscription6 and Kāśala
who composed the Kōni inscription,7 to name only a few, had a considerable poetic talent.
They have composed their respective praśastis in an ornate kāvya style, embellishing them
with numerous arthālankāras. As the power and patronage of the kalachuri courts
declined, They ceased to attract poets of eminence. Many of the later inscription in
this Volume are consequently written in a barbarous style.
COINS
The Nasik cave inscription of the Ãbhiras king Isvarasena records the investments of
certain amounts of Karshapanas with the guilds of Govardhana, but no coins of that kings
or his descendants have come down to us. Perhaps the Ãbhiras, like some other dynasties8 of ancient times, did not value highly the prerogative of minting coins for currency in their
own dominion and were content to us e the issues of other contemporary or past kings.
This is also indicated by the find of a hoard of Kshatrapa silver coins at Karhad in the Satara
District of the Bombay State. The hoard contained several coins, But those of the Follow-
ing Kshatrapas only could be recovered-Vijayasena (240-250 A.C.), Damajada- sri(250-
255 A.C), Rudrasena II (255-277 A.C.), Visvasimha(277-279 A.C), Bhartridaman
(279-295 A.C.) and Visvasena (295-305 A.C). It will be noticed that the last five of these
Kshatrapas were contemporaries of the Âbhiras. The Karhad hoard,therefore, plainly
indicates that the Kshatrapa silver coins were current in Maharashtra and probably also in
Gujarat and Konkan, during the rule of the Ãbhiras. The silver coins of Yajña Satakarni,
which were of similar fabric and weight,9 may also have continued in circulation. The
potin coins struck by the Satavahanas perhaps supplemented this silver coinage, though
no finds of them have yet been reported from these parts of the country.10 That these silver coins were called Karshapanas appears clear from the Nasik cave
____________
1 An inscription composed wholly in Prakrit was put up in the temple of Ekavirā at Ratnapura. It
is much abraded and has not yet bnemm deciphered.
2Below, pp.589 ff.
3 No. 44,II, 24-25.
4 No. 45,I, 30.
5No. 51, I.30.
6No.84,II. 18-19.
7 No. 90,II. 26-27.
8The early Chālukyas and their feudatories such as the Harischandriyas seem to have used the
rűpakas of the Kalachuris Krishnarāja who had flourished more than a century before.See No.31,II.31 ff,
and No.32,II.34ff.
9 C.A.D., P.45, Pl.VII.
10 They were current in Berar and the Marathi-speaking districts of Madhya Pradesh. J.N.S.I.,
Vol. II, pp.83 ff.
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