2016-10-06 Thu

Hemavati, a small village is in the middle of nowhere, holds remnants of glorious history. This historic village was prominent during the time of the Nolamba – Pallavas in the c. 8th C.E. to 11th C.E.

The Nolambas are known as direct descendants of a mythical demon who has the same name. The lineage of the Nolambas started with Trinaya Pallava or Mukkanti. Hemavati was once in fact the capital of Nolamba.

Nolambas ruled for slightly more than 300 years, as feudatories of the Pallavas, Chalukyas of Badami, Gangas and Rashtrakutas and later the Chalukyas of Kalyani. During their supremacy they ruled Nolambavadi-32000 (a region in South India) and also contributed to a style of architecture known as Nolamba style.

A large portion of the evidence is supplied by the coins minted by these rulers that bear the names and titles of Nolamba rulers. Their coins exhibit their emblem ‘The Recumbent Bull’ not similar to the Kalachuri bull.

The early Gadyanas coinage of Nolamba contains the dynastic Nandi emblem. The coin in picture is the early gold Gadyana of Mahendra II (975-981 AD), weighs 3.8 grams. The obverse contains a humped recumbent bull seated facing right on a pedestal flanked by a lamp and “ankusha” and reverse has a floral scroll encircled by Kannada legend “Sri Nolammba Narayana”.

Later, under the overlordship of Kalyanis of Chalukyas, Nolambas issued punch marked coins. During the rule of Cholas, their power declined very rapidly and their coinage became lighter and purity of gold in coins also decreased.

The quantity of early coins known, are very few in number and it may be assumed that the coins were not indented for daily use and only for higher level trade.