2020-10-08 Thu

The coinage of Rashtrakuta is quite complex and scare, most of the coins of Rashtrakuta dynasty consist of epithet or Birudu, it’s the title of kings mentioned on the coin. Few of the famous epithets are Prithvivallabha, Vallabharaja, Maharaja, Khadgavaloka, Akalavarsha. King’s like Dantidurga or Dantivarman have epithets like Prithvivallabha or Vairamegha, Krishna I is also tilted has Akalavarsha or Srivallabha, King Amoghavasha I bear's the epithet like Nripatunga or Lakshmivallabha. Each of the Rashtrakuta branches had more than five epithets, it is the tradition followed by the Imperial Rashtrakutas and its branches.

Yet there were many kings of the Rashtrakuta lineages whose epithet are not deciphered like those of Shubhatunga, Amogavarsha Nityadeva, Vikramaloka, Shubhatunga, Dhora, etc. Few of the best examples of the undeciphered Birudu on the Rashtrakuta coinage are of kings like Gunatunga, Nirupama and Sankaragana.

The coin illustrated in the above-shown image is a silver Drama of the Rashtrakuta king called Gunatunga. Gungtunga is the epithet adopted by the king, the name in the local dialect is not deciphered till date. The coin weighs around 0.43g; the obverse of this coin depicts the bust of the king is depicted in the centre facing right within dotted border. The reverse of this coin illustrates Brahmi legend in circular form covering the whole flan, which reads ' Sri Gunatunga' within the dotted border.