Tradition · coinage tradition
Sātavāhana lead and potin coinage
The Deccan's first large coinage, struck mostly in lead and potin rather than silver or gold, with a ship on the reverse of the Andhra issues and a humped bull or an elephant on others — small change for an economy of long-distance trade rather than treasure for a court.
- Function
- Trade & production
- Patron dynasty
- Satavahana
- Confidence
- Not assessed
- Location
- 19.480, 75.380
Worth knowing
The ship coins of Yajna Sri Satakarni, with two masts and a high prow, are the earliest Indian depiction of a seagoing vessel on money, and they were struck for the Krishna-Godavari coast where the Roman trade came in. Gautamiputra restruck Nahapana's silver over the Kshatrapa dies without effacing them, which is how the chronology of both dynasties was worked out.
Connections (2)
- Trade routeAmarāvatī Mahāstūpa
The two-masted ship on the reverse of the Andhra lead issues was struck for the Krishna-Godavari coast where the Roman trade came in, a few days from Amaravati. The stupa's donative inscriptions name merchants, guilds and householders rather than kings, and the coinage is what they were paying with — base metal in large quantity, which is what an economy of small transactions and long-distance freight actually needs.
- AnalogueTakshashilā / Taxila
Taxila's silver and gold and the Satavahanas' lead and potin are two answers to the same question. The north-west sat on the bullion routes from Central Asia and minted precious metal for long-distance trade and tribute; the Deccan had no silver of its own and struck base metal in volume for market transactions. Which metal a dynasty used says what its economy was for.
On these journeys
Sources
Wikipedia, “Satavahana dynasty”. The Nasik and Naneghat cave inscriptions in Epigraphia Indica and in Senart’s corpus; Himanshu Ray, Monastery and Guild (1986).
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