Alupas - Coinage

Coinage

The Alupas as a feudatory of the Western Chalukyas in coastal Karnataka issued coins with Kannada and Nagari inscriptions on them. Coins with Kannada legends seem to have minted in Mangalore and those with Nagari legend at the Udupi mint. Kannada was their language of administration. The Pagodas and Fanams were the common coinage of all the Alupa kings. The obverse of the coins carried the royal emblem "Two Fishes" and the reverse had the legend "Sri Pandya Dhanamjaya" either in Nagari or old (Hale) Kannada.

This paragraph is about the inscription found at Neelavara temple of Udupi district. This is all about the grant in "Gadyana" denomination. The Alupas while ruling from Barakuru showed great interest in the development of temple. This record is of the Alupa ruler Veerapandyadeva, dated 1258 A.D. mentions about his instruction to “neeruvara munnuru” i.e. Neeruvara-300, the modern Neelavara village Assembly. It states that after paying 100 gadyanas (coins)to the palace and 30 gadyanas to Adhikari, remaining 30 gadyanas, should be used by the village assembly for its expense. Yet another inscription of Veerapandyadeva's queen Ballamahadevi, the next ruler is also seen here. The record mentions that when ballamahadevi was ruling her kingdom with the help of samastapradanas, Deshi purushas, Bahattara niyogis and Rishi purohita, she gave a grant to niruvara Bhagavati, out of 100 honnus that is paid to the palace. This inscription was written by keshava senabhova as mentioned in the epigraph.

Interestingly the Alupas were one of the three dynasties that issued gold coins as early as 8th century C.E. The gold that used to mint coins came from trade with the Romans, Arabs and from the adjacent kingdom of Gangas. No other ancient dynasties of the south have issued that many varieties of gold coins as Alupas and Gangas did. The coins of both Gangas and Alupas have inscriptions that helps in dating the period of issue. Unfortunately these coins have not drawn much attention compared to that of Chalukyas or Hoysals. But for sure, they have inspired later dynsties as a prototype or basis to issue coins. Shown below is the hand-drawing of some of the Pandya Gadyanas (Alupa coins) obverse image.