A thousand-year-old golden memory of Rajamahendravaram

A bunch of seven gold coins belonging to the Eastern Chalukya dynasty remains a live memory of Raja Raja Narendra who built Rajamahendravaram city on the banks of Godavari river

Built by Eastern Chalukya king Raja Raja Nerendra on the banks of river Godavari, the city of Rajamahendravaram still has a live memory of him. 

This August, the city had also celebrated completion of one-thousand years of the coronation of Raja Raja Narendra, who ruled the city in 1022. His regime came to an end in 1061. 

The proud possession of the city is a bunch of seven gold coins that date back to the Eastern Chalukya dynasty including the regime of Raja Raja Narendra. 

“We have seven gold coins belonging to the period of the Eastern Chalukyas. A few of them date back to Raja Raja Narendra’s regime given the evidences of inscriptions traced during the archaeological excavations in Rajamahendravaram in 1980s”, Archaeology and Museums Assistant Director K. Timmaraju told The Hindu. 

The seven gold coins are now being preserved at Rallabandi Subba Rao Archaeological Museum (ASRAM) here. 

Official symbol: “Of the seven gold coins, only one is big in size compared to the others. The big coins contains the image of ‘Varaha’ (boar), an official symbol of the Eastern Chalukyas. The big coin also contains some text in early Telugu script. It is believed to be minted marking ‘some donation’ by the Eastern Chalukyas”, added Mr. Timmaraju. 

Mr. Timmaraju has admitted that there was no evidence of the location of the coins.