THE EARLIEST COINAGE OF INDIA
Among primitive peoples trade was carried on by barter. that is, exchange in kind. Gradually,
with the spread of civilising influences the inconvenience of promiscuous exchange made itself
felt, and certain media were agreed upon and accepted by the community at large. Wealth in
those early times being computed in cattle, it was only natural that the ox or cow should be
employed for this purpose. In Europe, then, and also in India, the cow stood as the higher unit of
barter. At the lower end of the scale, for smaller purchases, stood another unit which took
various forms among different peoples-shells, beads, knives, and where those metals had been
discovered, bars of copper or iron. In India the cowrie-shell, brought from the Maldive Islands,
was so employed, and is still to be seen in many bazars in the shops of the smaller money
changers. The discovery of the precious metals carried the evolution of coinage a stage further:
for the barter unit was substituted its value in metal, usually gold. The Greek stater and the
Persian daric certainly, and possibly the Indian suvarna, so frequently mentioned by Sanskrit
authors, was the value of a full-grown cow in gold, calculated by weight. However this may be,
in ancient India gold dust, washed out of the Indus and other rivers, served the purposes of the
higher currency, and from 518 B.C. to about 350 B.C., when an Indian province or satrapy was
included in the Achaemenid Empire of Persia, 360 talents in gold dust was, Herodotus tells us,
paid annually as tribute from the province into the treasury of the Great King.
Silver from natural sources was at that time less plentiful in India, but was attracted thither in
large quantities in exchange for gold, which was cheaper there than elsewhere in the ancient
world. The transition from metal weighed out to the required amount to pieces of metal of
recognized weight and fineness regularized by the stamp of authority is not difficult of
explanation. The great convenience of the latter would recommend them at once to the
merchant, and to the ruler as the receiver of tribute and taxes. Both in Asia and Europe this
transition can be illustrated from extant specimens; but, whereas in Europe and Western Asia,
from the inscriptions which appeared early on the coins themselves and from outside evidence,
we know the origin of the earliest coins and the names of the cities or districts which issued
them, the origin of India's earliest coinage, like so much of her early history, is still shrouded in
mystery.
This much can be said, that in its earliest stages the coinage of India developed much on the
same lines as it did on the shores of the Aegean. Certain small ingots of silver, whose only mark
is three circular dots, represent probably the earliest form; next in order are some heavy bent
bars of silver with devices stamped out with a punch on one side.2 These two classes of coins
are computed to have been in circulation as coins at least as early as 600 B.C., but they have
not been found in any quantity. The time as well as the territory in which they circulated was
probably therefore restricted. On the other hand, from almost every ancient site in India, from
the Sundarbans in Bengal to Kabul, and as far south as Coimbatore, have been recovered
thousands of what are known to numismatists as "Punch-marked coins" and to Sanskrit authors
as Purāņas ("ancient") or Dharanas. These are rectangular (Pl. I, 2) and circular (Pl. I, 1) flat
pieces of thin silver (much alloyed), or more rarely copper, cut from a hammered sheet of metal
and clipped to the proper weight. One side (the obverse) is occupied by a large number of
symbols impressed on the metal by means of separate punches. In the oldest coins the other,
the reverse side, is left blank, but on the majority there appears usually one, sometimes two or
three, minute punch marks; a few coins have both obverse and reverse covered with devices.
These devices appear in wonderful variety-more than three hundred have been enumerated;
they comprise human figures, arms, trees, birds, animals, symbols of Buddhist worship, solar
and planetary signs. Much further detailed study of these coins will be needed before anything
can be definitely stated about the circumstances under which they were minted. It seems
probable that in India, as in Lydia, coins were first actually struck by goldsmiths or silversmiths,
or perhaps by communal gilds (seni). Coins with devices on one side only are certainly the
oldest type, as the rectangular shape, being the natural shape of the coin when cut from the
metal sheet, may be assumed to be older than the circular; on the other hand, both shapes, and
also coins with devices on one as well as on both sides, are found in circulation apparently at
the same time. It has also been recently shown³ that groups of three, four, and sometimes five,
devices on the obverse are constant to large numbers of coins circulating within the same
district. It may perhaps therefore be conjectured that the "punch- marked" piece was a natural
development of the paper hundi, or note of hand; that the coins had originally been struck by
private merchants and gilds and had subsequently passed under royal control; that they at first
bore the seal of the merchant or gild, or combination of gilds, along with the seals of other gilds
or communities who accepted them and that, when they passed under regal control, the royal
seal and seals of officials were first added to, and afterwards substituted for, the private or
communal marks. Be that as it may, we see here in the very earliest coinage the commence-
ment of that fascination which the square coin seems to have exercised upon Indian moneyers
of all periods; for it continually reappears, in the coins of the Muhammadan kingdoms of Mālwā
and Kashmir for example, in some beautiful gold and silver issues of the Mughals, Akbar and
Jahāngīr, and even in the nineteenth century in copper pieces struck by the Bahawalpur State in
the Panjab. Most writers agree, as indeed their shape, form, and weight suggest, that the
"punch-marked" coins are indigenous in origin, and owe nothing to any foreign influence. In
what part of India they originated we do not know, present evidence and the little knowledge we
possess of the state of India in those times indicate some territory in the north. As to the period
during which they were in active circulation we are not left so completely at the mercy of
conjecture. Finds and excavations tell us something: contemporary writers, Indian and foreign,
drop us hints. Sir John Marshall records, during the recent excavations round Taxila, the find of
160 "punch-marked" coins of debased silver, with a coin in fine condition of Diodotos of Bactria
(circ. 245 В.С.). Then there is the interesting statement of the usually trustworthy Latin writer,
Quintus Curtius, that Omphis (Ambhi) presented "Signati argenti LXXX talenta"-"80 talents of
stamped silver"-to Alexander at Taxila. These and similar pieces of evidence show us that
"punch-marked" coins were well established in Northern India during the fourth and third
centuries B.C., when the great Maurya Empire was at the height of its power. The large
quantities continually being unearthed suggest a long period of circulation, so that in their
earliest forms "punch-marked" coins may go back to the sixth century, and may have remained
current in some districts of the north as late as the second century B.C. At some period,
perhaps during the campaigns of the great Chandragupta and the settlement of the Empire
under his grandson Aśoka, these coins became the established currency of the whole Indian
peninsula, and in the southern districts, at least, they must have remained in circulation for
three, perhaps four, centuries longer than in the north, for in Coimbatore district "punch-marked
"coins have been found along with a denarius of the Roman Emperor Augustus; and some of
the earliest individualistic coinages of the south, which apparently emerge at a much later
period, the so-called "padmatankas," for instance, seem to be the immediate successors of
these "punch- marked" coins.
Now the distinction between north and south which has just been drawn in tracing the history of
this primitive coinage is very important; for this same distinction enables us to divide the
remaining ancient and mediaeval Indian coins down to the fourteenth century into two classes,
northern and southern. The reason for this is that Northern India, during that period, was
subjected to a series of foreign invasions; the indigenous coinages of the north were therefore
continually being modified by foreign influences, which, with a few exceptions to be noted, left
the coinages of the south untouched, to develop by slow stages on strictly Indian lines. The
coins of the south will be described in a separate chapter.
To return to Northern India: at the time of Alexander's invasion the whole of North-Western India
and the Panjab was split up into a number of small states, some, like the important state of
Taxila, ruled by a king, others governed by "aristocratic oligarchies." Almost all the coins about
to be dealt with are either of copper or brass, and the earliest of them were struck, doubtless, by
the ruling authorities in these states. Even after their subjection to the great Maurya Emperors
some of these states may have retained their coining rights, for it is a salient fact in the history
of coins that coinage in the base metals in India and elsewhere has not, until quite recent times,
been recognized, like coinage in gold and silver, as the exclusive privilege of the ruler. A striking
example is afforded in the copper token money issued by private tradesmen in England during
the eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries. On the break up of the Maurya Empire, at the
close of the third century, a number of small independent kingdoms sprang into existence, and
these proceeded to issue coins, some bearing evident traces of foreign influence, but on the
whole following Indian models closely enough to be included here.
No attempt can be made to deal with this class of coins exhaustively: a few typical examples
only can be selected for description and illustration. The reader who wishes to pursue the
subject further is referred for guidance to the Bibliography at the end of this book; and, since at
present little attempt has been made to classify or examine these coins in any detail, fewer
fields of research are likely to yield a richer reward to the patient student.
The earliest of these copper coins, some of which may be as early as the fifth century B.C.,
were cast. The casting of coins by pouring molten metal into a cavity formed by joining two
moulds together must have been a very ancient practice in India. Sometimes the moulds of
several coins were joined together for the casting process, and the joins thus left are not
infrequently found still adhering to the coins (Pl. I, 3). These coins are for the most part
anonymous. Even after striking from dies had superseded this clumsy method in the
North-West, we find cast coins being issued at the close of the third century by the kingdoms of
Kauśāmbī, Ayodhya and Mathura, some of which bear the names of local kings in the Brahmī
script.
The earliest die-struck coins, with a device on one side of the coin only, have been assigned to
the end of the fourth century B.C. Some of these, with a lion device, were certainly struck at
Taxila, where they are chiefly found. Others present various Buddhist symbols, such as the
bodhi-tree, svastika, or the plan of a monastery, and may therefore belong to the time of Aśoka,
when Buddhism first reached the North- West, or Gandhāra, as the territory was then called.
The method of striking these early coins was peculiar, in that the die was impressed on the
metal when hot, so that a deep square incuse, which contains the device, appears on the coin.
A similar incuse appears on the later double-die coins of Pañcāla (Pl. I, 4), Kauśāmbī, and on
some of Mathurā. This method of striking may have been introduced from Persia, and was
perhaps a derivative from the art of seal-engraving.
In the final stage of die-striking, devices were impressed on both sides of the coin, and the best
of these "double-die" coins show not only greater symmetry of shape, either round or square,
but an advance in the art of die-cutting. Some of the earliest of this type have been classed as
gild tokens. The finest were struck in Gandhāra: among these one of the commonest, bearing a
lion on the obverse, and an elephant on the reverse (Pl. I, 5), is of special importance, since an
approximate date can be assigned to it, for it was imitated by the Greek princes, Pantaleon (Pl.
II, 2) and Agathokles, who reigned on the North-West frontier about the middle of the second
century B.C. In the execution and design of some die-struck coins from the North-West there
are undoubted traces of foreign influences, but such devices as the humped bull, the elephant
and the religious symbols are purely Indian. There is, on the other hand, little foreign influence
traceable in the die-struck coins, all closely connected in point of style, which issued during the
first and second centuries B.C. from Pañcāla, Ayodhyā, Kauśāmbī and Mathurā. A number of
these bear Brāhmī inscriptions, and the names of ten kings, which some would identify with the
old Śunga dynasty, have been recovered from the copper and brass coins of Pañcāla, found in
abundance at Ramnagar in Rohilkhand, the site of the ancient city Ahichhatra. Similarly twelve
names of kings appear on the Mathurā coins, but we have little knowledge of these kingdoms
beyond what the coins supply. Certain devices are peculiar to each series: thus most of the
Ayodhyā coins have a humped bull on the obverse, the coins of Kauśāmbī a tree within a railing.
In the coins of Eran we have an illustration, as Rapson says, "of the development of the
punch-marked system into the die system." These coins are rectangular copper pieces (Pl. I, 6),
and the device on each consists of a collection of symbols like those which appear on the
"punch-marked" coins, but struck from a single die. They are specially interesting in that they
represent the highest point of perfection reached by purely Indian money. Some of these, in
common with a class of round coins found at Ujjain (Avanti), display a special symbol, the "cross
and balls," known from its almost universal occurrence on the coins of ancient Malwa as the
Malwa or Ujjain symbol.
Though its territory lay partially in Southern India, it will be convenient to include here the
coinage of the great Andhra dynasty, since several of its issues are closely connected with the
currency of the north. The Andhras probably became independent about the year 230 B.C., and
their rule lasted for four and a half centuries. Their coins of various types have been found in
Malwa, on the banks of the Kṛṣņa and Godāvarī rivers, the original home of the race, as far
south as Madras, in north Konkan, and elsewhere in the Deccan and the Central Provinces. The
earliest to which a date can be assigned are those bearing the name of a king Śrī Sāta, about
150 B.C. Most Andhra coins are either of billon or lead, with Brāhmī legends on both obverse
and reverse, and characteristic devices are the elephant, chaitya (Buddhist chapel), and bow
(Pl. I, 7). Sometimes the "Ujjain symbol" appears on the reverse. One issue, in lead, of Vasisthi-
putra Śrī Pulumāvi (about A.D. 130) is interesting, in that it has on the obverse a ship with two
masts, and was evidently intended for circulation on the Coromandel coast. Coins have been
assigned to seven Andhra kings, the latest of which, Śrī Yajña Sātakarņī (about A.D. 184),
struck not only the usual lead and billon coins, but restruck and imitated the silver hemidrachms
of the satrap Nahapana (Pl. III, 1). The Andhra lead coinage was copied by one or two feudatory
chiefs in Mysore and North Kanara.
