Ancient ; Post-Mauryan tribal republics ; Yaudheyas or Kunindas ; Copper coin struck in the name of ‘Chitreshwara’ as tutelary deity of the clan (c.50BC-50AD), PAIC 1646

Description

Ancient ; Post-Mauryan tribal republics ; Yaudheyas or Kunindas ; Copper coin struck in the name of ‘Chitreshwara’ as tutelary deity of the clan (c.50BC-50AD), PAIC 1646, Weight : 18.52 Grams
Obv: Shiva standing frontally holding trident-battle axe in one hand and the other hand on his hip; Brahmi legend Bhagavato…. to right and …tmanah to left.
Rev: Deer facing right, a ‘key’-like symbol, Shrivatsa and a vase above, six-arched hill topped by a sun , tree-in-railing to right and a wavy line below.
Note : Deer to right is unpublished so far .
Extremely fine, Extremely rare.
The attribution of this type of heavy coins, probably struck on the same standard as a Kushana copper full unit, is contested – A M Shastri regards it to be a Kuninda issue but Devdendra Handa suggests a Yaudheya attribution. Pieper in his AIC catalogue follows Handa and attributes them to the Yaudheyas. The frontal depiction of Shiva is unique in numismatic art.