Chalukyas of Badami (6-8 Century AD), Gold Varaha (Gadyana), Obv: a caparisoned Varaha (Boar), the Chalukya insignia facing right, with sun and crescent symbols above, Rev: a single horizontal line of blurred Kannada legend "Sri Sana (la Bhoopa)" in the center between two beaded lines, artistically set within the feathers of the bird (presumably peacock as seen on the walls and pillars of ancient Jain temples) surrounded on the either sides, 3.7g, 14.55mm, cleaned otherwise about very fine, obverse is partially double-struck, Exceedingly Rare.

Pulakeshi I Chalukya, governor of Badami under the Banavasi Kadamba King Harivarman, (5th Century AD), established his sovereignty and founded the Badami Chalukya dynasty around 540 AD. He assumed the title Maharaja and performed the Ashvamedha sacrifice to assert his sovereign status. The Badami Chalukyas ruled for almost 2 centuries until 757 AD. During this time the Chalukya Kingdom had spread beyond the river narmada upto Malwa-Gujarat in the north, the Kalinga and South Kosala Kingdoms to the east and Kadamba Kingdoms located in the upper Tungabhadra basin to the south. Badami was the capital of Chalukya kings between 6th to 8th centuries CE.

The Badami Chalukyas had Boar (Varaha) as their symbol and designs such as the boar/temple, temple/sceptre, lamps/temple and boar/lamps, and issued a series of die struck coins bearing their dynastic devices. The temple design, seen on the coins, seems to be inspired from the temples at Aihole, the earlier capital of the Badami Chalukyas.

The title “Sana (la Bhoopa)” means the “Lord of SaNaLa”, which is not known in any of the inscriptions and is encountered only in the coinage. The script is in the early form of the 8th CE and coincides with the ruling period of Vikramaditya II (733-746 CE) and Kirtivarman II (746-753 CE). The place “Sanala" is presently a village in the Jamkhandi taluk of the Bagalkot district which is around 60 kilometers in the North-west of Badami.

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