Hyderabad: Hoard of Ikshvaku period coins found at State’s early historic site

Hyderabad : The State government excavated a coin hoard belonging to the Ikshvaku period at the early historic site of Phanigiri. The excavation was conducted under the supervision of State Principal Secretary to Youth Affairs, Tourism, and Culture Sailaja Ramaiyer and Bharathi Hollikeri, Director of the Department of Heritage.

Phanigiri village was located on the left bank of the river Bikkeru, a tributary of the river Musi located in Nagaram mandal, Suryapet district. The early historic site at Phanigiri was first discovered and protected during the Nizam period.

The coin hoard, a globular pot measuring 16.7 cms in diametre and 15 cms in height, was unearthed at a depth of 40 cms from ground level in the Southernmost monastic cell. The mouth of the pot was covered with a shallow pot on the outside and the broken base of a bowl on the inside. All the coins were taken out of the pot and counted. The coins were 3,730 in number, and the average weight of each coin is 2.3 gms. After a close observation by the team, they realised that all coins were similar and made of lead. The coins have an elephant symbol on the obverse and a ujjain symbol on the reverse. With stratagraphical and typological studies, they came to the conclusion that these coins belong to the Ikshvaku period.

In the course of excavation, a few valuable cultural materials and structural remains were also unearthed. The important antiquities found were beads of stone and glass, shell bangle fragments, stucco motifs, broken limestone sculptures, toy cart wheels, iron nails, lead coins, pottery, and the most important finding was a coin hoard.

The Department of Heritage Telangana undertook excavations during this season, i.e, the field season of 2023–24, to know the complete history and picture of the site. The inauguration of the excavations was done in March this year. This excavation was being conducted by N. Sagar, the excavation director, and B Mallu, the co-excavator.