Ship-Type satavahana coins - an examination 

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Shailendra Bhandare 

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The Satavahanas were one of the few dynasties that issued coins with the
ship motif. Satavahana monarchs Vasithiputa Siri Pulumavi and Gotamiputa
Siri Yajna Satakani have issued such coins. Their issues in this type are
well known amongst numismatic and maritime historical literature. However,
no attempt has been made to examine the motifs on the ship type Satavahana
coins. This is mainly because the published Satavahana ship-type coins
largely belong to a single variety. Attempts to find whether any other
varieties are existing are difficult largely because most of these coins are
inaccessible, the bulk of ship type Satavahana coins resting in
institutional collections outside India. 

One such repository is the collection of the British Museum, London. The
author had an opportunity to examine the Satavahana coins in the British
Museum, while collecting data for his doctoral thesis (under examination).
To his astonishment, it was revealed that the ship-type Satavahana coins in
the British Museum displayed many interesting variations in the ship motif,
such as varying shapes, number of mast-heads, depiction of accessories such
as paddles and buoys, signaling devices like flags, etc. As contemporary
material evidence of the Satavahana period, these have an important bearing
on aspects of Indian Mari6me History, such as shipbuilding and navigation.
These variations are presented and discussed in this paper. An attempt to
link them with contemporary and classical literary accounts has also been
undertaken.