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The Coin Galleries: Western Kshatrapas: Dāmazāda II

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.

Dāmazāda II ("Damaghsada II" and "Damajadasri I")

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
     
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.

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
     
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.

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
     
A coin from mint A naming the king as mahakshatrapa.

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
     
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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