Coins and Currency Systems in South India, C. A.D. 225-1300

Book excerpt: Illustrations: 430 Plates Description: Coins and Currency Systems in South India c. AD 225-1300 is a comprehensive and up-to-date survey of the coinage of the post-Satavahana and pre-Vijayanagara period. The author has studied and utilized all the published material on the subject and has also thoroughly examined several collections of coins with a view to ascertaining afresh the problems of chronology and dynastic affiliations of coins. The work also has a corpus of coins which describes and gives detailed references to over 400 coin-types and varieties. In the two chapters on the currency system of south India, Chattopadhyaya has not only drawn upon numismatic material but also on a variety of other sources, including epigraphy and literary. He has discussed the significance of various coin series including the Roman and the Chinese, which have been found from a number of sites in south India, and has discussed their significance in the context of currency system. An added feature of this work is the discussion focusing on the problem of adjustment of exchange value between different types of coins in circulation. Chattopadhyaya has given a detailed list of epigraphical references to coins between the third and the thirteenth century in an appendix which substantially supplements the corpus of coins.