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Gobhada

King known only from copper coins found at Kotilingala on the Godavari, inscribed 'Rajno Gobhadasa'. Rachna Lodaya counts him as the first local king of the Deccan to put his name on coins. The excavators dated his coins to the first half of the 2nd century BCE and K. D. Bajpai to about 125–100 BCE. P. V. Parabrahma Sastry took him for the Sunga king Bhagabhadra, an identification Lodaya rejects.

Gobhada (Sanskrit Gobhadra) was a king known only from his coins, found at Kotilingala on the Godavari.12 Rachna Lodaya counts him as the first local king of the Deccan to put his name on coins.3 In her order of the Kotilingala kings he comes first, before Kamvaya, Narana and Samagopa.4

His coins

The excavation at Kotilingala gave fifteen coins of Gobhada.2 Four of them came from clear layers of the dig.2 These four are large, thick copper pieces, oblong to square, weighing 2.20 to 3.75 grams.2 The front shows a bow and arrow, a hill with three arches and a line with dots.2 The back is blank.2

The legend on the front reads Rajno Gobhadasa, in Brahmi letters (an early Indian script).2 Most of the design was struck with a die (a stamp), but some signs and letters were punched in.2 P. Suryanarayana Reddy reported a coin of Gobhada in lead.2 Lodaya notes that it is unusual, since all his other coins are of copper.2

P. V. Parabrahma Sastry published two more of his copper coins in 1978.25 One shows the three-arched hill below the legend GO BHA DA SA.2 The other shows a tree below (Ra) NO GO BHA (DA SA).5 Sastry also reported two coins of Gobhada in potin, an alloy of copper and lead.56

Lodaya points out that coins with signs on one side only are older than those with signs on both sides.3 Gobhada’s coins always have a blank back, and their letters are large and rough.3 For her, this is why his coins come first.3

Where the sources disagree

Dates. According to Lodaya, the excavators dated the letters on his coins to the first half of the 2nd century BCE.2 K. D. Bajpai, also from the letters, placed Gobhada between about 125 and 100 BCE.2

A Sunga king? Parabrahma Sastry identified Gobhada with Bhagabhadra, the fifth king of the Sunga dynasty of Vidisa.7 Lodaya reports him as calling Gobhada a member of the Sunga–Kanva family.5 V. V. Krishna Sastry replied that apart from these coins no evidence shows Sunga rule beyond Vidarbha.7 Lodaya also rejected the Sunga link.38 In her view Gobhada was a local ruler of the Karimnagar region, before the Satavahanas.8

Footnotes

  1. Lodaya, Pre-Satavahana Coinage of the Deccan (not before 2011), p. 122 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). Cite-only; paraphrased. ↩

  2. Lodaya, Pre-Satavahana Coinage of the Deccan (not before 2011), p. 123, citing the Kotalingala excavation report (2006), K. D. Bajpai (1999), P. Suryanarayana Reddy (1985) and P. V. Parabrahma Sastry (1978) (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). Cite-only; paraphrased. ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4 ↩5 ↩6 ↩7 ↩8 ↩9 ↩10 ↩11 ↩12 ↩13 ↩14

  3. Lodaya, Pre-Satavahana Coinage of the Deccan (not before 2011), p. 130 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). Cite-only; paraphrased. ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4 ↩5

  4. Lodaya, Pre-Satavahana Coinage of the Deccan (not before 2011), p. 199 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). Cite-only; paraphrased. ↩

  5. Lodaya, Pre-Satavahana Coinage of the Deccan (not before 2011), p. 124 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). Cite-only; paraphrased. ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4

  6. Rachna Shamji Lodaya, An Integrated Approach to the Pre-Satavahana Coinage of the Deccan (PhD thesis, Deccan College, Pune, not before 2011), p. 68 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). Cite-only; paraphrased. ↩

  7. V. V. Krishna Sastry, Proto and Early History of the Karimnagar Region (PhD thesis, Karnatak University, 1978), p. 205 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). Cite-only; paraphrased. ↩ ↩2

  8. Lodaya, Pre-Satavahana Coinage of the Deccan (not before 2011), p. 131 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). Cite-only; paraphrased. ↩ ↩2

References

Sources (2)
  1. Rachna Shamji Lodaya, An Integrated Approach to the Pre-Satavahana Coinage of the Deccan (opens in a new tab), Deccan College Post-Graduate and Research Institute, Pune (PhD thesis, guide V. D. Gogte), not before 2011, pp. 68, 122–124, 130–131, 199. Cite-only; paraphrased. [All rights reserved (cited, not reproduced)]
  2. V. V. Krishna Sastry, Proto and Early History of the Karimnagar Region (opens in a new tab), Karnatak University, Dharwar (PhD thesis, supervisor B. K. Gururaja Rao), 1978, pp. 205. Cite-only; paraphrased. [All rights reserved (cited, not reproduced)]

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