The ancient Indian texts are full of references to justify the contribution of women to society. Indian coinage gives ample examples of women empowerment as a joint or independent ruler. There are many queens whose names are inscribed on coins like Queen Naganika, Druvadevi, Sungandha Devi to Chennabahira Devi and Nurjana who were legendary women and have left their mark in history. Let's have a look at this part of Indian history through coins. These legendary women proved that they were as equal to their counterparts, and they were able and strong leaders
Queen Naganika/ Nayanika. She is known to be the first Indian Queen to have issued coins in her name in the 1st century BC. She was the wife of Satakari I who was a renowned ruler of Satavahana dynasty. The Satavahana capital was Pratishthana (modern Paithan in Aurangabad district of Maharashtra). She is also considered as the first person in history to have her name associated with a king on Indian coins. The evidence of such a coin is seen in the inscription of Nanaghat near Junnar, which records sacrifices (Asvamedha) celebrated with donations through coins (Karsapanas) in 30 BC. The base metal for these coins was supplied by the Roman Empire, through trade. The inscription mentions a guild of barriers, and that the king had to melt down the silver Roman coins and minted the Karsapnas in Junnar.
Another speciality of the Satavahana Kings is that they used their mother's name in their initials. For example, Gotamiputra Satakari, Vasisthiputra Satakarni, Kochiputra Satakari. These names are found on both coins and inscriptions. This practice shows the status of women during that time.
Queen Agathokleia. An Indo-Greek queen who ruled northern India around the 2nd century BC (135-125 BC). She was the first woman to rule the Hellenistic Kingdom as a regent for her son king Strato I. She issued gold, silver, copper and bronze coins during her reign. Most of her coins are joint issues with her son Strato I. On coins she seems to associate herself with Athena, the Goddess of war. The coins were mostly bilingual, in Greek and Kharosthi.
Queen Kalliope. Another Indo-Greek queen is Calliope. She was the wife of King Hermaeus of Eucratid dynasty, who ruled in the Hindu Kush region around 90 BC. The capital was near today's Kabul, Afghanistan. A silver Drachma depicts the conjoined bust of both king and queen depicting her power as the joint sovereign over the kingdom. Kalliope and Hermaeus jointly issued silver, Indian Standard Drachms.
Queen Dhruvadevi. She was Chandragupta II's (reigned 375-414 AD) wife. Chandragupta II was also referred to as Vikramaditya. The Iron Pillar in Delhi was erected by him. She was an intelligent and brave woman, who was earlier married to Chandragupta's brother, Ramagupta, but as he was a weak ruler, he agreed to hand her over to the enemy king to save his own life. She quoted a sentence of Arathashatra, that a man who is dead, unfit, coward, left for an unknown destination or who put his wife in danger, then the woman can leave her husband and remarry. The brave queen's name was beautifully depicted on the lead coins issued by King Chandragupta II as a joint issue.
Queen Sugandha Devi. Known as the first known woman ruler of Kashmir, she left a benchmark for many to be queens of Kashmir. She was from the Utapala dynasty, and her reign lasted for a decade from 905 AD, first as a regent and later as a sole ruler for three years. According to Rajataragini she was overthrown and executed by her courtiers. The coins issued by her were inscribed with her name as ''Sri Sugandhadeva'' instead of Devi.
Queen Somala Devi (1110-1125 AD). The queen of the Chauhan dynasty, she was also known as Somalekha Devi. Her name appeared on coins as the joint ruler with her husband King Ayaja Raja and later as the sole ruler. There are many different copper coins. Even after her death, she appeared on later coinage, showing her popularity and authority.
Queen Rudrama Devi. The Kakatiya queen of Warangal, she ruled the southern Deccan around 1262 to 1289 AD. She acquired the title of her father King Ganapatideva after her victory over the Yadava king of Devagiri. She was succeeded by her grandson, King Pratapadeva, thus we can say the throne was passed on twice through a female ruler. She issued gold pagoda in her name. In fact, all the gold pagodas and dadyana coins of the Kakaitya dynasty that had the Boar (Varaha) symbol and epithet ending with ''Kesari'' were called Kesari Vahara.
Queen Didda. The wisest and powerful queen of Kashmir, Didda Rani's reign is a representation of the woman power in India. In Rajatarangini, she is portrayed as a ruthless, immoral and evil ruler, but this literature source was documented after a century of her reign. She was an intelligent and influential queen of the Parvagupta dynasty. Her first illustration on a coin came as a joint ruler with her husband, King Kshemagupta as ''Di'' (dda) Kshemagupta Deva. After the death of her husband, she also acted as a regent queen in her son's name. After her son's death, she became regent for her grandson, but due to mysterious circumstances, even he died. At this point, she ascended the throne and issued coins in her name as ''Sri Didda''. She ruled for 22 years.
Queen Managammal. She was the queen of the Chokkanatha Nayak of Madurai. She is known for her contribution to the development of infrastructure. She ruled as a regent for her grandson Vijayaranga Chokkanatha. Her diplomacy helped in maintaining good relationship with the neighbouring powers. She established a state policy which was liberal towards all religions. She is also famous as a road maker and ruled from 1689 to 1704 AD.
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