Potin unit - Kadambas of Banavasi

The Kadambas of Banavasi founded what is generally regarded as the first indigenous dynasty to rule the region of present-day Karnataka, breaking from the administrative grip of the Pallavas and Satavahanas in the mid-fourth century. Their coinage in potin — an alloy of copper with varying lead and tin content — reflects both limited access to precious metals and a monetary system still finding its footing in a newly sovereign polity. The alloy composition shifts noticeably across the dynasty's two-century span, making metallurgical analysis a more reliable dating tool than typology alone.