Of the first three on Roman coins, “Strange Mould Links out of the Tirukkoyilur Hoard”, by Bergauss discusses 163 Indian imitations of Roman coins in the Tirukkoyilur hoard, linking three coins by their reverse as shown by the three moulds in the hoard. Examining the Greek and Roman sources, David Mc Dowell discusses the “profit on exchange of Roman coins at Barygaza” despite the problems relating to the use of the Roman coins, either as bullion or for jewellery. Reinhold Walberg’s essay on an early Roman aureus from India in the Monetary Historical Collection of the Deutsche Bundesbank describes a Roman gold aureus of Augustus, with an interesting feature on its obverse—a chisel cut on the emperor’s head and a round punch mark below the chin, not known till now, representing a starting point for further investigation.

“Material Characterisitcs of Ancient Coins” by Baldev Singh, Raja Babu and Jayakumar is a significant essay focussing on “non-destructive” scientific investigations for chemical analysis of coins without damaging them. Their lucid explanation of the technique would help to trace the history of the coin from its origin to the end of its circulation.

The silver punch-marked Janapada coins of the Asmaka, Vidarbha, Chedi and Kalinga datable to the 6th-5th centuries B.C., which circulated in several regions along the Godavari and Mahanadi rivers, are characterised by P.Kulkarni as a separate currency meant for trade, with regional variations from the general punch-marked coins of the period. I.Mahadevan’s paper on the bilingual legends on Satavahana coins, takes note of earlier attempts at explaining the bilingual legends, and makes an advance by using palaeographic and orthographic features of the legends to explain that the Prakrit legend was translated literally into Tamil by a scribe not familiar with Tamil grammar rules and hence has peculiarities in its case endings. S.G. Dhopate reports two similar Satavahana coins from Goa with legends referring to Pulumavi, but with portraits of two different rulers, perhaps bearing the same name.

S.J. Mangalam deals with the vexing problem of Satavahana chronology through a study of the Puranic lists and the discrepancies in the archaeological data. His dating falls between 100 B.C. and 225 A.D., although it is still debatable, while his location of the first capital of the Satavahanas at Kotalingala in Telengana is interesting. A rare Nolamba coin in lead with the legend Sri Nulamba is reported by Sankaran Raman and I. Mahadevan, which uses 9th century Nagari (Sanskrit) and Kannada scripts and languages.

The copper and lead coins of Kayemkulam and Quilon of the 18th century discussed by Barabara Mears points to the influence of the Dutch-VOC coinage and trade with South India and treats them as comparable to issues in use at Nagappattinam, Tranquebar and even Tanjavur as one cash or bazaruco.

“Perspectives on the Palliagaram Hoard” by Jawahar Babu deals with this large hoard of 1215 medieval and early modern coins of Vijayanagara, English, French and Dutch East India Companies and Setupatis. Mostly in copper and some in debased gold (fanams), they are assigned to Tanjavur Nayakas as against their earlier attribution to the English East India Company. Some pellets/coins with a leaf symbol are attributed to the influence of the Adil Shahis of the 17th century, which circulated also in the region of the Arcot Nawabs.

A.V. Narasimhamurthy provides valuable information on the frequent references to coins, their units and weights in early Kannada literature, both Hindu and Jain, although correlating them with the contemporary coins has proved to be unsuccessful. He also mentions coins with their mint names under Vijayanagara and a curious reference to a “Hindu” hon. Raja Reddy emphasises the importance of treasure troves, excavations and other surface finds as sources of coin collections and reiterates the relevance of the Treasure Trove Act of 1878, as it has saved many collections such as the Bayana Hoard of the Guptas, the Jogethambi Hoard of over 13000 Kshatrapa and Satavahana coins and important temple collections like that of Tirupati.

Recent scientific studies (carried out by the Archaeological Survey of India in collaboration with the National Institute of Ocean Technology) of the single largest find in Adichanallur consisting of metal antiquities, claim the site to be an important pre-historic mining site on the basis of the use of mineral resources in the burial remains with iron and steel artefacts of high quality containing elements like titanium, vanadium and uranium. The river Tamraparni on which the site is located is said to be derived from Tamra or Cheppu for copper, though it is also possible to derive the name from “Tamira” and “Porunai”, which later became Sanskritised.

K.V. Raman and Chitra Madhvan have compiled both the well known and the lesser-known epithets of the Pallavas, Pandyas and Cholas from inscriptions, which express their scholarly interest in the Vedas and Sastras, and in art and architectural traditions. Shobhana Gokhale attempts to list the names by which Sri Lanka was known at various points of time using both Indian and Sri Lankan inscriptions as well as Greek classical sources and Hindu literature, concluding that Sri Lanka was a local place name adopted by the Ramayana.

S. Padmanathan discusses the Indian influences on the development of local schools of art and architecture in Sri Lanka as also Sri Lankan Buddhist works on architecture and draws attention to a common South Asian tradition.

C.A. Padmanabha Sastry takes a relook at the Uruvaturu Copper Plates of the Eastern Chalukya Vijayaditya III (9th century A.D.), earlier studied by Venkataramanayya and B.V. Krishna Rao, but adds nothing by way of fresh interpretation. One of the well written but odd paper is that of V.I. Subramaiam, on “Chera Country and Saiva Siddhanta”, which refers to two Chera rulers counted among the 63 Nayanars of the Tamil Bhakti movement. He distinguishes the Saiva Siddhanta of South India with the emotional Tamil bhakti literature as its core, from the Kashmir Saiva Siddhanta, which he characterises as an intellectual tradition pointing to the absence of Saiva bhakti saints in Kashmir.

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