Nagas of Padmavati and Coins

 

A story of a mighty kingdom that has totally been forgotten. Nagas were a group of people who migrated to a number of places in North India around 1000 BC. Some coins dating back to the 2nd and 3rd century BC have been found in the ruins of Padmavati.  It seems that some of them settled as far as Nagaland in northeast and Andhra in the south, though their main settlement remained in central India. After being almost completely destroyed by Janamejaya of the Kuru dynasty (1200-500 BC), the Naga dynasty rose to rule parts of north-central India during the 3rd and the 4th centuries AD, after the decline of the Kushan Empire and before the rise of the Gupta Empire.

Its capital was located at Padmavati, which is identified with modern Pawaya (in Gwalior District), in Madhya Pradesh.

                         

Nagas of Padmavati, Ganapati Naga, 350 AD,  

 

According to the Puranic texts as well as numismatic evidence, the Nagas also ruled at Videsha, Kantipuri and Mathura. They may have been different branches of a single family or may have been a single family that ruled from different capitals at different times. In Madhya Pradesh, Naga coins have been discovered at Pawaya, Narwar, Gohad, Vidisha, Kutwar and Ujjain. In Uttar Pradesh they have been discovered in Mathura and Jhansi districts. 

                       

    Map of Naga Territory.

                         

    Location in Madhya Pradesh

 

The oldest inscriptional history is seen on the carvings of the pedestal of Yaksha. The inscription is in Brahmi. 

                       

Yaksha Manibhadra found at Padmavati, now at Archeology Museum, Gwalior

                        

Inscription at the base of the Statue of Yaksha Manibhadra. It says it was installed in the fourth regnal year of King Sivanandi, early king of Nagas

 

The Naga dynasty is known mainly from the coins issued by its rulers, and from brief mentions in literary texts and inscriptions. According to the Vayu and the Brahmnada Puranas, nine Naga kings ruled Padmavati and seven Naga kings ruled Mathura before the Guptas. According to the Vishnu Purana, nine Naga kings ruled at Padmavati, Kantipuri and Mathura. However, coins of twelve kings have been discovered, of eleven rulers at Padmavati (modern Pawaya) and of one ruler at Narwar. The Naga people worshipped the Cobra (Nag).

                       

View of the Pawaya Brick Temple

                       

Wall and a platform 400 AD, the verticals are Cobras (Nagas) in symbolic form

                         

Close up of the symbolic representation of Cobra (Nag)

 

The inscriptions of the Vakataka dynasty, state the mother of Vakataka King Rudrasena was a daughter of King Bhavanaga. Bhavanaga's coins have been found at Padmavati. Rudrasena's reign is dated to 335-355 AD, therefore his maternal grandfather Bhavanaga can be dated to early 4th century AD. The Allahabad Pillar inscriptions of Samudragupta mentions Ganapati Naga as one of the kings defeated by him. A chronological list of Naga rulers, based on numismatic and paleographic evidence exists today. 

Ganapati was the last Naga king. The Naga dynasty came to an end about the middle of the 4th century AD and their kingdom became part of the Gupta Empire. However, Padmavati was still the capital of a kingdom and a place of cultural and religious importance in the 8th century AD. It had perhaps a university that attracted students from distant provinces like Vidarbha (modern Berar). Buddhists lived here with followers of the Saivite sect of the Kapalikas.  

Coins. The Padmavati region started yielding coins in the 1800s when heavy rains started to erode the high level of mud. Villagers started finding coins each year after the rains and still find them till date. One hoard of coins discovered in Padmavati contained as many as 100,000 coins in an earthen pot. Naga coins are mostly copper and circular, about one cm in diameter. Humped bull was a common theme. One can also see wheel, Linga, horse, triangular banner, peacock on the coins. The various kings of the Nagas minted coins in denominations of 1/8, 1/4, 1/2 and 1 Kakini..   

                      

1/8 Kakani, Ganapati Naga, 200-300 AD, copper, weight 0.45 gm, Obverse: Humped bull standing left, Reverse: Legend in Brahmi, lettering ''Maharaja Sri Ganendra''

                       

1/4 Kakini, Naga, Narwar, 200-300 AD, copper, weight 1.1 gm, Dia 9,8 mm, Thickness 2.4 mm                    

                        

Narwar, One Kakini, 200-340 AD, Bronze, weight 1.9 gm, Dia 10 mm, Thickness 3.6 mm.

                          

1/2 Kakini, Ganpati Naga, 300-400 AD, Bronze, weight 1.4 gm Obverse: Nandi with dotted border, Reverse: Inscription in Brahmi, '' Maha Raja Shri Ganendra''

                       

1/2 Kakini, Ganpati Naga, 200-340 AD, copper, weight 1.1 gm, Dia 10 mm, Thickness 2.9 gm

                         

1/8 Kakini, Ganpati Naga, 340 AD, weight 0.55 gm, Dia 9 mm, Obverse: Bull advancing left, Reverse: Brahmi legend, Maharaja Sri Ganapati written clockwise.

                          

Ganapati, 345 AD, copper, weight 0.5 gm, Dia 9.2 mm

                       

Ganapati, 350 AD, copper, weight 0.9 gm, Obverse: Humped bull facing left, Reverse: Brahmi legend, ''Maharaja Sri Gane raja'' written clockwise

                           

Deva Naga, One Kakini, late 200 AD, copper, weight 2.4 gm, Dia 11 mm, Obverse: Wheel, Reverse: Maharaja Sri Deva in a circle in Brahmi.

Nagas of Padmavati

Coins of Nagas of Padmavati

 

Ancient Gold Coin Proves Fictional Roman Emperor Sponsian Was Real: Study

 

A hoard of coins excavated in the eighteenth century, once thought to be fakes have been authenticated by researchers who say the coins reveal a long-lost Roman Emperor. Sponsianus, also known as Sponsian, may have been a Roman usurper during the third century. Although there is no mention of Sponsian in present day Roman history, he might have been active during the Crisis of the Third Century, most likely in the province of Dacia. He could have proclaimed himself emperor in the 260's AD, after Darcia was cut off the rest of the Empire during the reign of Gallienus, or during the reign of Philip the Arab or his son, Philip II. 

                       

Gold Aureus with the legend Sponsiani

    

Sponsianus's name was reportedly uncovered in a coin hoard in Transylvania in 1713 AD. The coins were dispersed among several collections. One coin was kept in the Hunterian Museum at Glasgow University, which also had three other coins from the original hoard. The hoard included other coins of Philip the Arab and Gordian III, among others. The coin was locked away in a cupboard at the Hunterian Museum because it was thought to be a fake.

                        

Gold aureus with the legend ''IMP(ERATORS) SPONSIANI

The traditional opinion has been to regard the coins as fakes. In 1868, the French numismatist Henry Cohen dismissed them as ''very poor-quality modern forgeries''. After a study in 2022, led by Paul Pearson of the University College London, an earth scientist, Cardiff University, who learned about the coins and the ''fake emperor'' while researching a book on Roman history as a lockdown project. He began corresponding with Jesper Ericsson, the numismatics curator at the museum and the pair decided to perform a full-scale scientific analysis on the coin. The group of scientists stated that the marks on the coin bearing Sponsianus's name and image, visible under an electron microscope, proved that it circulated in antiquity and had been used.

A chemical analysis of the earth deposits found in the coin recesses showed that the coin had been buried in soil for hundreds of years. Moreover, simply based on their weight in gold, the coins are around $20,000 in modern value, which would have been a big outlay to start a forgery. However, there has been several researchers who have criticized the study and its conclusions and stated that unless further studies can provide more answers these coins be treated as fakes.

The most likely theory or explanation states that he was a military commander who crowned himself as an emperor when Dacia was cut off from the rest of the empire around 260 AD, as with the ongoing pandemic and civil war the empire was fragmented. Darcia was abandoned by Emperor Aurelian of the Roman Empire in the 260's as it was deemed too difficult to defend. Sponsianus may have taken the title of emperor as an attempt to maintain order. However, the Romans eventually evacuated Darcia between 271 and 275 AD. 

The Sponsian coins are ''extremely rare'' with only four known to exist and were probably minted in the isolated province of Dacia, perhaps in the city of Apulum, by jewellery artisans as the area did not have a regular coin mint. The research is in public domain, including more than 100 pages of technical reports from the scientific team. 

The debate about the coins being fake or genuine is likely to continue before reaching a consensus and a conclusion 

Emperor Sponsian

Coin of Sponsian