A Guide to the Reading of Ancient Indian Coin Language - Devanagari

7/25/2019 A Guide to the Reading of Ancient Indian Coin Language - Devanagari

1/10

A

GI]IDT

TO

THT

RTADII\G

OT'

ANOITI\IT

INDIAI{

COII{

LTGTNDS

by John S.

Deye l l ,

Mad- ison ,

Wiscons in ,

NI

# I2 I9

PART

IIT .

MEDIEVA].,

DEVANAGARI

The

conclud- ing

ar t ic le

in th is

ser ies

covers the t rans i t ion

per iod

600-1300 A.D., d-ur ing which t ine the ancient Brahmi scr ip t evolved

into

a number of

dist inct

l-oca1 alphabets throughout

fnd.ia. Perhaps

the

most

s ign i f icant

of these f rorn

a.

numismat ic

point

of

v iew

is

the

med- ieva1

Devanagar i , or

Nagar i ,

which wi th many

sty l is t ic

var ia t ions,

was

the

common

cr ip t

of

much

of

Nor th Ind ia.

The

"c lass ica l"

phase

of

Devagagari

extend"ed.

rom the florid, effusive

style

of

the emperor

Harsavard-hana

606-542

A.D.) ,

an accompl ished

cal ] igraphis t ,

to the

elegant

scr ipt

of the

Chand-el l-as

of

Khajuraho

(tZtnl3tn

centur ies),

famed"

as l iberal

patrons

of the

arts.

Coinage

ser ies

using

the

ear ly

Nagar i

scr ipt

include those

of

t.he

Rajput

d-ynastles

of

the

Gangetic

basin,

Kashmir , Gujarat,

Ohinda

and-

he

succeed- ing

Sultanates

of

Delhi

and

Bensal.

'

Throughout

th is

long

per iod" ,

Nagar i ,

as the d. i rect

successor

of Brahmi,

was

the

orthod.ox

means

of

expressing

Sanskr i t

in wr i t ten

form.

Whi le

Sanskr i t

had-

long

s ince

ceased

to

be

a

" l i v ing"

languege, i t

rena ined

the language

of

sacred.

wr i t ings

and court ly

l i terature.

In

th is

i t

fu l -

f i l led. a ro le

not

unl ike

that

of Lat ln

in

contenporary med- ieval

Europe.

Thus

whi le the

Dravid ian cul tures of South

Ind. ia

developed

independent

wr i t i ng

systems,

d .ue to i t s

greaL prest ige

as

the

"proper"

scr ip t

f or

Sanskr l t legend-s, Dev{f iagar l

of ten

appeared

on the

coins of

South

Tndian

kingd.oms. The

phenomenon

of forrnal coinage inscr ipt ions

not

read i l y dec ipherab le

or

unders tood

by ind i

genous

popu la t ions

is we l_ l

known to nun ismat is t s . One

has

on ly

to th ink

o f the

surv i -va l

o f La t in

legends on

mod.ern

wor ld

coins

to

appreciate

th ls.

The boundary-line

between medleval

and- mod-ern

Nagar:i 1s

rather arbi-

t rar i ly drawn. The ru le

of

convenience which

has been

fol lowed

in

this

work 1s

t o

d . i s t ingu ish

on

the bas is

o f

s ty1e.

The

ear l ie r

le t te rs

(o t

aksharas

as

they are known to

Ind-ians)

are

capped-

by

serifs

whlch

vary

f rom

smal l

" t i cks"

s im i la r

to

th is

t ypeface, to longer

s t rokes.

The

ind. iv id.ual

let ters however

are

st i l l separate;

when

they

join

together

as on

the

coins

of

Mewar and.

Vijayanagar,

they have

been

exclud-ed.

as

mod.ern.

Where

the

ear l ier

sty le

has

been

conservat ively

reta ined.

by

a

later d.ynasty,

such

as

Kangra, the coins

have

been

included-

here.


2/10

The

Scr ip t

---_-.-_--------

P

S ,

c)

r--J

11

cd

cd

k . n

o l r d

.-l

Ct

d rl

- P t r l

i r l

s d c )

o c

- c

d

. , J

L { E H I U

o o

d - c

O E

++

a $1 {

d P

F1

g

bO c)

).i

cd

r--.l

cd

b4

cd

-

H . n

* 3 0 5

. - u

+ r t r l

t -

.-

lr

E

O C

-c

d

o o

\,.1 ? \ raJ

U H

a

P

-

g

.r_)

d

n-.

F]

c)

-q

P

d

.r l

-d

lr

A H

C{

cd

-C

J - ) l r

J -

-\

r')

U,t Ut

+

---L-i

t

a .

O O

O ( )

\g

\c

\9

.T

"6

\ '

*a

J

.53

rS

o.

t

1

u

u

a

P

-'{

g

'r )

cd

Fr

c)

-c

p

cd

d r i

C r t

cd

C)

_L;

.(f

ft4 -

5-r

cd

rrt d

{ 4

{e

{d

qsq

(qq

( (

tfr

a 4

Qqqq. .

Pq\

q

cd

H

ho

c

cd

c d b d

.rl

,rJ

A . H F ]

C

.rl

,'t .1

ru

l=

' \ , \ . 4

, r . r

) u )

S O c d

r t r r 1

\- /

w ) w f

+

-J_r

{

a h

q . ,

: :

H gsf ta

tha

$a

Sht

;

v d,

tha

da

d.ha

na

pa

ph a

ba

bh a

a---.\---1

CE

6

E5

5t

m

r{

frl

a

77

5

q

{

{

aal

D{J

q

n

aTA

{

r {q

$tct

qtsq

q

qfl6,q

u

&

{nt

q,qdnq

q

1(1

I

{

\.t

{d\

Jq'q;a l ,ie c6 il { rrr

(qaq

q

d6

qq

e-ul_

lrls

a.q\

Eqq

qQq

q{l

f

Qt

t '

g

f,

qc)]

R9

$ fl,a

{r

{t+

r

'l

I

;s

ai

o \ 9

o.t)

cL_U

Y\

"3

a ( e

ka

l\ f , f l { ,h66{fr

f t

ma

kha

q

e({(

N

sa

qi l$.r tsL

t l

sha

Q 4q

f ia

g

eE

ca

$

(

qqa,

T

cha

{

(qa

ja

fGrg\h

f i

jha

Y

ha

a:3

{t

r0

Tr

va

qq

et

6a

9 a

. i l ]

prE

sa

ha

B

6

R

(

?.

q

(..

fl-

a..

E

fl.

q.

q

\

s.

E

{\

q

q

31..

a

ya

TA

1a

fl

ks a

eq

{

q

t

(

't

at

q

E

+,

{{

d.l

I

q{

(

\

q

\

J

\

The reader

may wish

to re fe r to the

p i ronet i c

notes

in

Par t I

o f th i s

ser i -es ( I r l f l Vo l . 10 , t t t o .9 ) to become fami l ia r w i th the pecu l ia r l t i es

of the

Tndian alphabet . The consonants

in the table above have

a.n

inherent

f rar f

sound.

Thus the

character

q

for

example

sta.nds

for

"pa"

and not for

"p" .

The characters

rr( t r r

and-

"Fa"

both

represent

the

sound-

"sha"

as in

shut .

The character

"ca"

represents

the

Eng l i sh

"cha"

as

in

chuck.

"cEf f

is

"ca"

wl th

an a.d-d-ed.

rhrr

aspi rat ion

fo l lowing.

The lnherent vowel between

consonants

was dropped by

forming

a conjunct

l -e t te r , Common

examples

are

_ i { { . {

( " r

Ia ) ,

ld . l - -

( t r

v " ) ,

U

] -

(p"

r i ) ,

qJ

(6a

ra) ; but

$1

(=y' )

b

( tv")

,

4

(p"")

and.g

(6ra) ' .

\ \ < ) ? d \


3/10

The

vowel

forms given

in

the

table

above

are

for

init ia l

vowels

only,

j-

.

e.

those

stand- ing

at,

the

start

of a wor:d-

r

phrase.

As

in

Brahmi,

nedial

vowels

other

than

rrarr

were

ind.icated.

by mod- ify ing

the

consonant

by

var ious

strokes.

These

lrere subject

to

consid-erable

Jtyf:_stic

var iat ion

between

coin ser ies

of

d.i f ferent

d.ynasties

and.

over

t ime.

,)

a

{-

r

gr

r.n

u

T-

(

g

F.

oRr

ril

rfl ffi

o

hd 16" pd rn-a bhu du

4u

bhfr ko mo co 1o

\s\

-t

'=raCfu

rt,

l

g

""' hrThAl

J

(q ,

ri bi

li

si

gf

.vT

pT

sau

rau rrau

bhau

iffTnlfl

ei

il

14

q

ajilrr

q

sr I

du

tL

s

ku

the

ike

Brahmi-,

Nagar i scr ipt

was

r^rr i t ten

left

to

r ight,

top

to

bottom.

Guide-Ligt,

of

Names

Found.

n

Devanagari

Col-n

Legends

Names

n

Nagar i

were

general ly

r^rr i t ten

in

the

nominati-ve,

as in

English,

so

the

problem

of

case-end. ings

may

be safe ly

ignored.

As

in

par t

I I

o f

this

art ic le,

coin

legends

have

been

record-ed-

rom photographs

and.

i l lus trat ions.

Where

these

were

not

avai lab le,

or

the

fegeni

is

a

con-

jectura l

reconstruct ion,

the uncer ta in

por t ions

are

bracketed_ (=o) .

1 .

Str ict ly

speaki-ng,

the

Hepthal i te

invaders

used-

a.

crud.e

form

of Brahmi

on

their

co ins.

However ,

as

they are

so

c losely

assoc iated-

wi_th

the

l

nncr so-r ' i q of Kashmir coins mad-en irnitat ion, the ser ies

is

treated-

here

for

conveni-encer

sake.

Most

other consonants

lost

the

med_i

l

letters

.

For exampte

[ l

(="")

,

[

( tr 'a)

,

( r l

vowel s imply

S

(;fi"),1

y

stacking

the

(aana)

, {

( ccha)

R

srr_

11

ge

me

d.e

de

-Y

flrs

ue

qe

gam slm

$rn:

ai ' \

t

rq

R

ah

e:

g:

N

S I M

tai

trai

bhai

ttrai

vab

jah

Fa

hi

t i

gi

gahi

rigin

tt

ft^

fi

Fl

uq

pu

d

ru

Harsa

tJ

1f\

sa

ha

F

na

Jabula

Mihr Go1 G G,^

I

(tuitri-rtu1a)

mi

hi

ra

S

ahvaCitya

M \ Z . T

l

oramana

R

J

to ra

Trailoka J 1./^ +

t ra 1o

ka

VEsu

Deva (t

5

a

(:

vE"

su

d-e

vai:r

Aditya

Varma

fl

(fr)

a

(a i )

tsctn

E

s , A h i i r

H

\

L

fu

sa

hva

da

tya

q1.J

bu

la

)

di

Lakhana

(UOayaai-tya)

d

(?. ) 'T

5z

r l r

la

(xna)

na u

d-a

ya

v

v J d

T

ku

\]

1a

N : r o n d r r w

/\

na

Abhimanya

Gupta

3l

G

A

TJ

)

a bhi ma gu pta

T4

Ta

nd-ra

2,

Kashmir

(Hepth- l l tes

,

Nagas

utpal-s

and

Lohara"

)


4/10

Ananta

3I

T

5

,

a

n a n t a

Avant iDevaf l (

a

v a t i

Bhrma

upta

6]

q

I

H

bhi

na

gu

pta

Cal-L

{q

ja

ya

h

ha

U5

su

t a


5/10

vinayad-ltya

G

;{ I^l

Ya6ovarman

cl t l

n(

ya 6o

va

i na

ya

YEsaskara

t

H,

I

y-a

ska

ra

3,

Palas

of Bengal

?

DevaPala

6l

r{\

a

a ,

sr]. ma

no e

Eq\

v d,

Pa,

e..\

q\

ha rg a

v5,

il

I a

4 .

a, /

Rajput

Dlrnasties

Cahamanas

"Chauhans"

)

of

S akambari

Aiayars"ja

na

5

q

rq

d

6rT

a

ja

ya

d-e

va

Prthvirdja

Hl

1

Sl

il

-f,

R

{

/

sri pT

thvi

16"

ja

d-e

va

some6vara

eva

fr

h

so m e

b) Cand-rat rayas

("Chandel las")

of

r^ :^1-1. . , , t - t i

or

Mahoba

J

EJd , l J . t l l . , t r

Java

Varma Deva

,q

ff

tsa

qifl

sr l -

ma

\JJa

ya

va) ma

Kirt i

Varrna Deva

sr r -

ma

tK\ r - l

t t \ r - l

va mna

Mad-ana Varrna Deva

srffff ldqffRq

sri

ma

ma

d-a na

Ya

ma d-e

va

Pararnard.i

Deva

d\R'q\H.tE

(Rq)

Sri

ma

tpa

ra

ma d.d-i

(de

va )

Prthvi

Varma

Deva

^

(

)aa_(q] )qn

(Sr i )

ma

tpr

( thv i ) t t

ma

Sal laksana Yarma Deva

8:te t^ q. e\R q rE

5r1

ma tsa l l a ksa na

va

mma

a PaIa

Devi

B.

hn

q.\,flRq

ma

tku

ma

ra

pa

la de

va

P5.1aeva

aRl.qrq

/ r

A Guide to the Reading of Ancient Indian Coin Language - Devanagari

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Transcript of A Guide to the Reading of Ancient Indian Coin Language - Devanagari