Coins of Bhaliga have been found in lead as well as copper. Most of the coins bear a tree in railing as the reverse symbol. On all my coins there is an elephant to the right on the obverse above which the legend appears as Siri Bhaligasa. One copper coin bears the full legend "Rano Siri Bhaligasa"
I am not averse to placing Sivamagha in around the 1st half of 2nd Century AD as for as I could visualize from the palaeography on his coin issues. Among the Magha rulers, we find Sivamagha bringing out coins in all conceivable shapes. We come across square, oblong, round as well as octagonal coins in lead and copper. Interestingly, the penultimate (with a crack) coin appearing above, has traces of Gold. The second coin on this page is superb in the sence it has a very clear legend Rano Siva Magha Sirisa starting from 9' O Clockto 3'O Clock. His coin issues are quite different from what we have seen with earlier rulers. A peacock has invariably been depicted on the reverse of all his coins with or without a pedestral.
(The first coin is not a part of my collection)
After Achadasiri, we find a ruler named Dharmabhadra or Dhamabhada (as per the coin legend). The typography of Brahmi characters are almost similar to that of Achadasiri and he too could have belonged to 1st Century BC. There are only two coins found so far. Both of them are in copper with a tree in railing on the reverse. There is however a tiny symbol at the corner resembling a square within which a + mark is placed.
After Silalusiri, the reigns appear to have been taken over by Achadasiri. The advent of Malhar symbol "
" could be seen on his issues. The coins are in lead and copper (1, 2, 4 and 6). All copper issues have a Tree in railing on the reverse while on most of the lead coins the reverse is blank.
(Double click over the photograph for an enlargement)
The earliest inscribed coins found at Malhar belong to a ruler named Silalu Siri. Palaeographically, his coins are placed in the 1st Century BC. Initially the reading on the coin was confusing and appeared as if it is Salapusa but later, addition of more coins made the legend clear. Few of his coins are overstruck with the typical Malhar Symbol "
" (Device) and it appears within an incuse. All coins are in lead and do not bear any symbol on the reverse.
After having traced the Magha’s origin at Malhar, it would be pertinent to dw
ell on the mysterious “Angular Nandipada” or the Malhar Symbol. This is purely native to South Kosala as indicated by coin finds. Occurrence of this device had been rare elsewhere excepting perhaps on coins from Kausabi reported by Altekar (JNSI IV p.1 & JNSI VII p.7). The coins reported have been counter struck with Nandipada symbol. This is indicative of the period during which Maghas gained control over Kausambi. The ruler named ‘Pothamitra’ could have preceded Maghas thereat. Coming down to Malhar, we find coins of a king named Silalusiri (who could have been a Saka chief) immediately before the advent of Raja Maghashri (Ranjo Maghasirisa).We come across lead coins of the former king counter struck with the Malhar Device. We have one copper and four lead coins of Silalusiri with and without the so called mint mark. Instead of considering this device as a mint mark for Malhar, we could assume that, to begin with the Magha ruler used his initial letter ‘Ma’ for stamping the coins of the erstwhile rulers to indicate his suzerinity and used the same device for his own issues for smaller denominations.
This symbol is seen in all the coins from Malhar being used by (different or may be by the same dynasty) issues upto the 4th century AD.
A friend of mine, after examining my coins, was in favour of calling it a religious symbol – a Fire Altar. This can not, however, be ruled out. The rulers could have been fire worshippers
Our Puranas (Vayu Purana) contain references to the rule of 9 rulers of Magha or Megha dynasty in South Kosala (present day Chhattisgarh) during the ancient times. However, in the absence of epigraphical or any significant numismatic evidence to support the Puranic reference, Ajay Mitra Shastri (Kausambi Hoard of Magha 
Coins) had to remain contended with the assumption that the Kosala Country could have extended upto Bandhogarh (Shahdol District in Madhya Pradesh) as its northern most boundary. On the other hand K.D. Bajpai (Indian Numismatic Studies, Delhi 1976 Page 16/17) has reported issuance of Copper Coins by Magha rulers in the South Kosala region. His discovery is assigned to the second half of the 3rd Century A.D. The coins are supposedly discovered by him at Bandhogarh. It seems that he has assumed Bandhogarh as being in South Kosala so as to validate the Puranic references. Secondly no coins of Maghas excepting of Sivamagha and Yamagha are known from South Kosala. However tonnes of coins assignable to a second or third generation Sivamagha in Bell Metal are known from Shahdol (Bandhogarh) and Rewa regions.
It may be remembered that the earliest epigraphic evidence (N.P. Chakravarty – Brahmi Inscriptions from Bandhogarh – Epigraphica Indica, Vol.XXXI-1955-56 p.167) relating to one of the Magha rulers, Bhimasena reckoned to be of 129 and 130 A.D. were found at Bandhogarh (Shahdol) and Ginja Hills (Rewa) respectively followed by one of Bhattadeva of 168 A.D. at Bandhogarh itself. The latest one is of Bhimavarman of 217 A.D. from Kosam (the ancient Kausambi) near Allahabad, which indicates a South to North movement of the dynasty.
Two copper coins reported by Shri R.R. Bhargava (Numismatic Digest, Vol VIII, June & December 1984) from Tewar (ancient Tripuri near Jabalpur) have been found to be almost identical to the two coins of Sivamagha from Malhar reported later by Shastri and Rishbud (Numismatic Digest, Vol. IX). Together with the above two coins, in the reportings, a third copper coin of Yamagha from the same place i.e. Malhar was also published. Provenance of the aforesaid coins were also not considered sufficient to establish Malhar as the original seat of the Maghas. The hesitation was due to non occurance of the coins of the founder “Maharaja Magha” in the region But now in view of fresh evidence of coins attributed to a ruler named Maghasiri or Magha from Malhar, the puzzle remains resolved. Therefore the Maghas originated at Malhar and then moved to Bandhogarh and finally to Kausambi as indicated in previous paragraph.
As I had earlier stated, I started reading literature available with the Bilaspur Museum. It was believed that at the beginning of the Christian Era, Dakshina Kosala, was under the suzerainty of the Satavahanas. All inscriptions of that period are referred to as that of Satavahanas. The 2nd Century rock inscription at Gunji (Barpali) near Sakti (now Janjgir district) is also attributed to Satavahana period. The inscription tells about distribution of 1000 cows to local Brahmins twice by Raja (King) Kumaravaradatta and a third time by his minister. Because of this hangover I largely read about the Satavahanas and their coinage. To cap it, a coin fo
und at Balapur in the sands of the river Mahanadi is attributed to a king named Apilaka, who happens to be the 5th in the Satavahana lineage.[ Now it has been established that the attribution was faulty. The name has been read as Rano Siva Siri Silalukasa by Dr. (Mrs.) Susmita Bose Majumdar in her monograph titled “a new series Coins of Malhar” wherein most of the coins covered are from my collection](IIRNS Publication available here).
If I am lucky, I could dig out Raja Kumaravaradatta, I thought. May be I could also bring out other Satavahana rulers who are not known by their coin issues. Cleaning of the coins was proving difficult. All the pieces had hardened mud coating. Finally I put them in Acetic Acid overnight and I could succeed in getting rid of the deposits using a tooth brush. Out of half a dozen pieces, one was a lead coin with inscription. Others were copper and highly corroded. However I was very happy and started trying to figure out the name of the King on the lead coin. With my limited knowledge of Brahmi characters, I read the name as 
Maagha Sirisa. Immediately I referred to the list of Satavahana rulers and thrilled to find something matching. There was one Meghaswati listed there. I showed it to my friends in the Archaeological department. They encouraged me and suggested further readings. However, I could not resist myself from sending out a letter to Dr. Ajay Mitra Shastri at Nagpur reporting my findings. In turn he expressed his doubts and asked me to go through his book on “Kausambi Hoard of Magha Coins”.
Steadily my collection started growing with many more additions establishing the real cradle of Maghas at Malhar
Maghasiri was the founder of Magha Dynasty sometimes during the 1st Century AD as discussed in my earlier page on Maghas. All his coin issues are in lead. In few of them we find tree in railing as the reverse symbol. The topmost coin is not rectangular. It is broader and thinner at the top. This gives an impression that perhaps the name ‘Maghasirisa’ was impressed with some device. In that case the original coin could have belonged to some other ruler.
Maghashri is considered to have been succeeded by a ruler named Siriya Magha whose coin appears alongside. The legend has been read as “Siri Yamagha” by some scholars. This seems absurd, devoid of any meaning. I am inclined to go for “Siriya Magha” as explained by P.L. Gupa (Numismatic Digest Vol 14, pp. 10-11). In that case the issuer would be “Maghasiri” with the honorific prefix of “Siriya”. If we consider “Siriya” as part of the name, the issuer of the coin would be a different ruler. We leave it at that for further numismatic evidence to come up.
" could be seen on his issues. The coins are in lead and copper (1, 2, 4 and 6). All copper issues have a Tree in railing on the reverse while on most of the lead coins the reverse is blank.
" (Device) and it appears within an incuse. All coins are in lead and do not bear any symbol on the reverse.
ell on the mysterious “Angular Nandipada” or the Malhar Symbol. This is purely native to South Kosala as indicated by coin finds. Occurrence of this device had been rare elsewhere excepting perhaps on coins from Kausabi reported by Altekar (JNSI IV p.1 & JNSI VII p.7). The coins reported have been counter struck with Nandipada symbol. This is indicative of the period during which Maghas gained control over Kausambi. The ruler named ‘Pothamitra’ could have preceded Maghas thereat. Coming down to Malhar, we find coins of a king named Silalusiri (who could have been a Saka chief) immediately before the advent of Raja Maghashri (Ranjo Maghasirisa).We come across lead coins of the former king counter struck with the Malhar Device. We have one copper and four lead coins of Silalusiri with and without the so called mint mark. Instead of considering this device as a mint mark for Malhar, we could assume that, to begin with the Magha ruler used his initial letter ‘Ma’ for stamping the coins of the erstwhile rulers to indicate his suzerinity and used the same device for his own issues for smaller denominations.
Coins) had to remain contended with the assumption that the Kosala Country could have extended upto Bandhogarh (Shahdol District in Madhya Pradesh) as its northern most boundary. On the other hand K.D. Bajpai (Indian Numismatic Studies, Delhi 1976 Page 16/17) has reported issuance of Copper Coins by Magha rulers in the South Kosala region. His discovery is assigned to the second half of the 3rd Century A.D. The coins are supposedly discovered by him at Bandhogarh. It seems that he has assumed Bandhogarh as being in South Kosala so as to validate the Puranic references. Secondly no coins of Maghas excepting of Sivamagha and Yamagha are known from South Kosala. However tonnes of coins assignable to a second or third generation Sivamagha in Bell Metal are known from Shahdol (Bandhogarh) and Rewa regions.
und at Balapur in the sands of the river Mahanadi is attributed to a king named Apilaka, who happens to be the 5th in the Satavahana lineage.[ Now it has been established that the attribution was faulty. The name has been read as Rano Siva Siri Silalukasa by Dr. (Mrs.) Susmita Bose Majumdar in her monograph titled “a new series Coins of Malhar” wherein most of the coins covered are from my collection](IIRNS Publication available here).
Maagha Sirisa. Immediately I referred to the list of Satavahana rulers and thrilled to find something matching. There was one Meghaswati listed there. I showed it to my friends in the Archaeological department. They encouraged me and suggested further readings. However, I could not resist myself from sending out a letter to Dr. Ajay Mitra Shastri at Nagpur reporting my findings. In turn he expressed his doubts and asked me to go through his book on “Kausambi Hoard of Magha Coins”.
