Catalog
AR Damma - Prachandentra
| Issuer | Sindh Kingdom (Indian states) |
|---|---|
| Year | 600-700 |
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| Shape | Round (irregular) |
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| Obverse description | Degraded bust or figure in profile occupying the central field, rendered in a schematic, highly abstracted style characteristic of post-Sasanian Indo-Arab coinage of Sindh. The design derives ultimately from Sasanian royal portraiture, though the iconographic details are reduced to stylised linear strokes. The flan is irregular and slightly ragged at the edges, consistent with hand-struck silver damma production. Traces of a radiating or flame-like nimbus surround the central motif. The field is otherwise plain and unadorned. |
|---|---|
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| Mintage | ND (600-700) |
| Additional information |
The damma was the fractional silver unit that sustained everyday commerce across early medieval Sindh, a region whose trade networks stretched from the Arabian Peninsula into the subcontinent's interior long before the Umayyad conquest of 711 AD. Prachandentra issues predate that conquest, placing this piece in the last generations of independent Hindu rule in the lower Indus valley — a political order that collapsed with remarkable speed once Muhammad bin Qasim's forces crossed the region.