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Gadhaiya paisa
| Issuer | Gadhaiya |
|---|---|
| Year | 1050-1300 |
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| Composition | Log in to see details |
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| Shape | Round (irregular) |
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| Obverse description | Highly stylized and degenerate Sassanian-style bust of a king facing right, reduced over successive generations of copying to a series of abstract linear and crescent-shaped elements. The facial features, headdress, and shoulder drapery of the original Sassanian prototype are still faintly discernible amid the schematic strokes. A Brahmi inscription reading 'Sri' appears in the field. The overall design fills the irregularly shaped flan typical of this Indo-Sassanian coinage tradition. |
|---|---|
| Obverse script | Brahmi |
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| Additional information |
The Gadhaiya paisa is a highly degenerated imitation coinage descended from the Sasanian drachms introduced into Gujarat and Rajputana through trade and Arab conquest. Over roughly two centuries of local restriking and hand-to-hand copying, the original fire-altar and bust designs degraded into near-abstract forms — a process so gradual it effectively documents the collapse of literate numismatic tradition in the region. The type circulated widely across western India despite, or perhaps because of, the absence of any issuing authority capable of enforcing standards.
DR#159 places this among the later, more abstract die states.