This collection of 19 essays by Indian and foreign scholars are in
honour of Dr. R. Krishnamurthy whose research on Sangam age gave a new
direction to studies on the trade between South India and Mediterranean
countries. Most of the essays are about numismatics and epigraphy and the rest about
various aspects of culture such as art, architecture and religion.
In the three essays on Roman coins, Bergauss discusses 163 Indian imitations
of Roman coins, David Mc Dowell examines Greek and Roman sources and writes on
“Profit of exchange of Roman coins at Barygaza” and Rienhold Walberg describes
an early Roman gold aurus of Augustus and opens up new vistas for further
research. How to chemically analyse coins without destructing them is the
subject of the essay presented by Baldev Singh, Raja Babu and Jaya Kumar. The
technique described help trace the history of a coin from its origin to the end
of its circulation. P.Kulkarni characterises the silver punch-marked Janapada
coins of the Asmaka, Vidarbha, Chedi and Kalinga, datable to 5th and
6th centuries as a separate currency meant for trade. I. Mahadevan
writes about the bilingual legends on Satavahana coins and establishes that the
Prakrit legend was translated literally into Tamil by someone not familiar with
Tamil grammar. S.G. Dhopate reports two
similar Satavahana coins from Goa which refers
to Polumavi but with portraits of two different rulers, perhaps bearing the
same name. S. J Mangalam, through a study of puranic lists, attempts to tackle
the Satavahana chronology and also interestingly sets their first capital at
Kotalingala in Telangana of Andhra Pradesh. Sankaran Raman and
I.Mahadevan write about a rare Nolamba coin in lead with the legend of Nolamba
that uses 9th century Nagari Sanskrit and Kannada scripts and
languages. Barbara points at the influence of the Dutch VOC coinage and trade
with South India through a study of copper and
lead coins of Kayemukalam and Quilon on the18th century. Jawahar Babu wrtites
about the Palliagaram hoard of 1215 medievel and early modern coins of
Vijayanagara, English, French and Dutch East India companies and Setupatis and
assigns them to Tanjavur Nayakas instead of as earlier assigned to the English
East India Company.
He attributes some pellets and coins with a leaf symbol to
the influence of the Adil Shahis of the 17th century. A.V.
Narasimhamurthy’s eassay is on the frequent references to coins, their units
and weights in early Kannada Hindu and Jain literatures.
Among essays dealing with various aspects of culture is one on the
single largest find on river Tamaraparni by the Archaeological Survey of India
and the National Institute of Ocean Technology, viz. the Adichanallur finding
consisting metal antiquities. On the basis of the use of mineral resources in
the burial remains with iron and steel artefacts containing elements like
titanium, vanadium and uranium, the site is claimed to be an important
prehistoric site.
K.V.Raman and Chitra Madhavan have usefully compiled the known as
well as lesser known epithets of the Pallavas, Pandyas and Cholas.
S.Padmanathan measures the Indian influence on Sri Lanka’s local schools of art
and architecture and on Sri Lankan Buddhist works on architecture and
establishes a common south Indian tradition.C.A. Padmanabha Sastry takes
another look at the Urvaturu copper plates of the Eastern Chalukya Vijayaditya
III. V.I.Subramanayya and B.V.Krishna have written an essay on Chera country
and Saiva Siddhanta of South India referring to the two Chera rulers who are
counted among the 63 Nayanars of the Tamil Bhakti movement. The author
distinguishes the Saiva Siddhanta of South India that has Tamil bhakti
literature at its core from the Kashmir Saiva Siddhanta.