The era of the Kakatiya rule is generally considered a Tho golden period in Telangana history. Its history can be reconstructed from the literary works, stone and copper plate inscriptions, and coins of that period. Literary works are of two types, namely those written during the rule of Kakatiya dynasty and other chronicles written subsequently. Many of the inscriptions, especially the Bayyaram tank inscription which was discovered in 1965, gave a list of eleven generations before Ganapatideva and indicates that they belonged to a Durjaya family. It is evident that the Kakatiya kings started as subordinates of the Rashtrakuta kings and later, of the Western Chalukyan rulers of Kalyani. Their beginnings are dated around 956 AD and the dynasty blossomed over the next two hundred years before ending in 1323 AD. They became independent rulers not by subjugating the Chalukyan authority but by taking over the weakened Chalukyan kingdom probably from the time of Prola II. The coins might be of some help in establishing who among the early kings issued coins as sovereigns. The conquests of Prola II are noteworthy. For example, he defeated Gokarna Choda of Kandur Choda family and Paramara Jagaddeva, the governor of Kollipaka 7000 when he attacked Hanumakonda. Rudra, his successor, and others who followed continued the expansion of the kingdom.
The present communication deals with the coinage of the Kakatiyas. The study of coins of the medieval period of Deccan, and South India in general, was made difficult because the majority of rulers of that period did not put their names on the coins and neither did they mention the name of their dynasty. The kings' identity can only be inferred from the dynastic emblem and their titles on the coins. For example, the Rashtrakuta dynasty had 'Garuda' as their symbol and the Chalukyans had a 'Boar' as their family symbol. They also used other symbols such as the lion and the bull. The Kakatiyas mention in their inscriptions that they changed their symbol from Garuda to a Boar. Kakatiya kings adopted 'Gajakesari' meaning 'lion on top of the elephant' as a very important symbol. Since it symbolised triumph over the adversaries, Kakatiya kings adopted three titles - namely, Ari-gajakesari, Raya-gajakesari and Daya-gajakesari. Epigraphs relevant to these titles are the Terala and Bidar inscriptions, and the provenance of these coins (Parabrahma Sastry 1965; Somasekara Sarma 1973). An inscription on stone is located in the archaeological museum at Bidar which is about three Kakatiya rulers viz Rudradeva, Ganapatideva and Rudramadevi. The last two rulers had the title Rayagajakesari. Sometimes the same title was held by more than one king of the same dynasty and occasionally by kings of different dynasties. For example, the title Rayagajakesari was also held by Jayasimha Jagadekamalla of the Western Chalukyan dynasty. The Terala inscription also confirms that the title Rayagajakesari was held by Kakatiya kings. In addition, the coins of Chalukyan kings have the words 'Jayadeva' as well as the bull symbol, and hence are differentiated from the coins of the Kakatiyas. The inscription of Prataparudra of Khandavalli has confirmed that the coins with the title Dayagajakesari as belonging to the Kakatiya rulers. At times, one medieval Hindu king could have more than one title and unless inscriptional evidence is forthcoming, the identification of the issuer of the coins becomes difficult. This is the reason why the Kakatiya gold and silver coins have not been identified until recently. The three titles of the kings of this dynasty are Arigajakesari-held by Prola I and II, Rayagajakesari- held by Ganapatideva and Rudramadevi, and Dayagajakesari- held by Rudradeva and Prataparudra. Hence, all the coins in the Telangana State Museum at Hyderabad with those titles will be analyzed in this communication. The Kakatiyas adopted 'Varaha' (Boar) as their dynastic crest. But this symbol was also used by the Chalukyans and the Wodeyars. (Fig.la). There is one another symbol of bull of theirs to be considered. Elliot (1886) described three coins with the seated bull symbol and attributed them to the Kakatiyas based on the presence of a similar symbol on their seals and inscriptions. It may be pointed out that the bull symbol is present along with the Varaha symbol in the seal of Dayagajakesari found at Khandavalli (Fig. 1b; Krishnamurthy 1975). Hence the coins of the medieval period that bear the bull symbol will be surveyed to ascertain whether some such coins might belong to the kings of the Kakatiya dynasty. An effort is made to see whether the Kakatiya coins can be attributed to individual kings of the dynasty based on other symbols present on the coins. One hoard of 272 Kakatiya gold coins was found at Padmakshi hill with the title Ahita-gajakesari and a boar symbol. So far no inscription of the Kakatiyas with this title has been found, and hence the coins cannot be attributed to any of the Kakatiya kings. Future discoveries alone will determine who this Kakatiya king really was. The coins of the officials of the Kakatiyas with the title 'Lenka' were found in two hoards. Based on descriptive inscriptions, it can be concluded that Lenkas were the bodyguards of the Kakatiya kings. In this way, the Kakatiyas emulated the Satavahanas who also allowed their officials with the titles Mahatalavara, Maharati and Mahasenapati to issue coins (Raja Reddy and Suryanarayana Reddy 1983). Lastly, there will be a brief discussion about the contemporary coins of the rulers of other dynasties found in some of these hoards. These coins will be very interesting since they reveal who preceded the Kakatiyas and which of the Kakatiya rulers could have issued such coins as a sovereign.
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