पृथ्वीदेव, सतीमदेव और सिंघण

यहां छत्तीसगढ़ के इतिहास और पुरासंपदा, अभिलेख और सिक्कों से संबंधित दो सूचनात्मक नोट प्रस्तुत हैं, जो स्वयं स्पष्ट हैं-

Times of India (daily newspaper) - New Delhi 4.11.79

11th Century Copper Plates Unearthed

(By our correspondent)

Raipur, Nov. 4. Little did the villagers know that the two copper plate with inscriptions (one of them in a strange script) unearthed by them in a field near Bhatapara a few months ago and sold for a pittance were a veritable fountainhead of historic information. The ancient documents related to the reign of Prithvi Dev I of the Kalachuri dynasty of Ratanpur in Bilaspur District in Chhatisgarh region.

The plates were luckily retrieved by Dr. Vishnu Singh Thakur, an authority on the history and archaeology of Chhatisgarh region, from an equally ignorant trader painstaking efforts and patience finally led to the deciphering of the inscription.

Written in the Purva Nagari script and in Sanskrit the inscriptions reveal the story of the donation of sahyonala village to Rishikesh, a Brahman of the Gautam gotra, on Uttarayan sankranti on Posh shukla, a sunday in the Chedi Samvat 834 (1082A.D.).

The plates the first important document on the subject, have helped in determining the period of Prithvi Dev's reign. The also mention the victory of Maharaj Kokkal over the Malav king. This strengthens the belief that upto the reign of Maharaja Kokkal the Tripuri and Kalchuri dynasties were keeping together.

The presence of the Maharani, the Prime minister and other important officials of the kingdom at the donation ceremony is also mentioned.

After surveng the area Dr. Thakur feels that the Sahyanola village mentioned in the plate is the present day Suhela village, situated 5 k.m. from Bhatapara in Raipur District, where ruins of the structures built in the Kalachuri period have been dug up.

Indian Coins Society - NEWSLETTER

No.-13, March 1992

Chief Editor - Chandrashekhar Gupta

A Padma-Tanka Hoard from Sondhra - M.P.

by - Chandrashekhar Gupta

Some years ago, a hoard of gold coins was discovered from the embankment of a tank at the village Sondhra in Raipur district of Madhya Pradesh. Thirty-one coins were acquired under the provision of the Indian Treasure Trove Act by the Archaeological Department, Government of Madhya Pradesh. The coins are deposited in the MahantGhasidas Smarak Sangrahalaya, Raipur.

A preliminary study of these coins was made by Dr. Vishnu Singh Thakur, historian and archaeologist at Durg Post-Graduate Collage. According to the details published by Thakur, the total weight of hoard was 116gms. He has classified these coins in two groups: The first group consisted of a single coin with the legend Satimdeo. The second group consisted remaining thirty coins with a shankh (counch), charka, a four petalled design with an embossed full blown lotus in the centre, legend Sitaram in devnagari and a mint mark on each of the coins. 'These coins', says he, 'were used as offering to pujaris. Thakur also expressed the possibility of a close alliance between the king Satimdeo and a Kalachuri King as gold coins were given as token only in the Kalachuri period. However, Thakur dates this king around 1650 A.D.

Illustrations of these groups of coins were published along with the news in a local newspaper. Following observations are made on the basis of the available details the Second group of coins.

A close look at the published photograph of the coin makes it clear that the coin is of the famous gold Padma-Tanka variety issued by the Yadav king Simghana. Beside the legend Si(m)Ghana it has three punches mark at the II, VI and IX O' clock position, with an eight petalled lotus with a central boss in the centre. The other symbols are Dravidian symbolised letter shri, counched shell and again a legend. (This device as met on other coins is described by scholars as repetition of shri and volute).

It is thus clear in this preliminary note that the legend on the coin is not sitaram but Simghana and the period of the coins is not seventeenth century but thirteenth century i.e. A.D. 1210-1246.

This is not the first time that the Padma-Tanka are found from Madhya Pradesh After getting access to this hoard through the good offices of the commissioner of Archaeology, Madhya Pradesh Government, a detailed study of the same will be published.