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In the current catalogs of Western Kshatrapa coins, such as Jha & Rajgor and Senior, Rudradāman I is shown as having three sons who ruled after him. They are
called Damajadasri, Damaghsada and Rudrasimha. However, there has been a long-standing proposal (Indraji, JRAS 1890 and Rapson's BM catalogue) that the coins of
"Damajadasri" and "Damaghsada" are actually issues of just one king, whose name was in reality Dāmazāda, and I believe I have confirmed this in my paper
The Western Kshatrapa Dāmazāda in the 2009 issue of The Numismatic Chronicle. The
theory I have offered to explain the different spellings is that they were produced at different mints. The key point is that Brahmi did not have a letter for the Persian sound
z and different mints used different conventions on how to represent it.
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Dāmazāda II ("Damaghsada II" and "Damajadasri I") |
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Dāmazāda II, as kshatrapa, silver drachm, "mint A"
c. 160-170 CE
Head of king right, blundered Greek legend around /
Chaitya (3-arched hill), river below, crescent moon and sun above, Brahmi legend around
Rajno Mahakshatrapasa Rudradamnaputrasa Rajno Kshatrapasa Damajadasriya
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This is a coin from "mint A" in which the king's name is spelled Damajadasri and he is named as kshatrapa. Another
distinguishing feature of the mint A coins is that the patronymic in the legend is rendered Rudradamnaputrasa.
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Dāmazāda II, as kshatrapa, silver drachm, "mint B"
c. 160-170 CE
Head of king right, blundered Greek legend around /
Chaitya (3-arched hill), river below, crescent moon and sun above, Brahmi legend around
Rajno Mahakshatrapasa Rudradamaputrasa Rajno Kshatrapasa Damaysada
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This coin is from "mint B," in which the king's name is spelled Damaysada and the patronymic is rendered as
Rudradamaputrasa (with no n as in the mint A coins. |
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Dāmazāda II, as mahakshatrapa, silver drachm, "mint A"
c. 160-170 CE
Head of king right, blundered Greek legend around /
Chaitya (3-arched hill), river below, crescent moon and sun above, Brahmi legend around
Rajno Mahakshatrapasa Rudradamnaputrasa Rajno Mahakshatrapasa Damajadasriya
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A coin from mint A naming the king as mahakshatrapa. |
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Dāmazāda II, as mahakshatrapa, silver drachm, "mint B"
c. 160-170 CE
Head of king right, blundered Greek legend around /
Chaitya (3-arched hill), river below, crescent moon and sun above, Brahmi legend around
Rajno Mahakshatrapasa Rudradamaputrasa Rajno Mahakshatrapasa Damaysada
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Finally, a coin from mint B naming the king as mahakshatrapa. Note the similarity of style of this and the other coin from
mint B with the mint B coins of Rudradāman. Indeed, from the portraits alone, one would think the mint B coins of Rudradāman and Dāmazāda were
of the same king, distinct from the king of the mint A coins. |
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