Coins- an important sources to the study of history, a reflection of the past, simply put- an essential medium of exchange for our ancestors. Coins help understand the socio-political, cultural and administrative aspects of past kingdoms and rulers. They also help immensely in archaeology in determining dates.

The study of Ancient Indian coins, also called numismatics, is both interesting and fascinating. The studies of ancient and medieval coinage have authenticated historical events known from literature, artifacts and archaeological findings. Coins have more than anything else, helped to determine chronology in archaeological excavation when its presence in a particular stratum (a firm layer and not a mere dump) has fixed the date of the same. Essentially, it was the deciphering of Kharoshthi and Brahmi , which allowed historians to read the ancient rock and other inscriptions and thus whole history of ancient India was unfolded. Further, the evolution of the designs, the changes in the languages, scripts and dates shown on the coins, enabled scholars to establish the sequence of rise and fall of kingdoms and their rulers. The provenance of the coin hoards also helped to determine the region occupied and governed by the numerous emperors and kings over last three millenniums. India was always bubbling of various cultures since ancient times, witnessing numerous invasions and attacks by rulers of other regions of the world. India was always perceived as a land of bounty and enormous wealth. Thus it attracted attention of some of the world`s most famous rulers like Alexander, the Huns and the Islamic rulers. Most kings and dynasties which ruled over India would otherwise be totally unknown, are today made famous and given a place in history only because they have been inscribed on their coins. A very apt example is the Indo-Greeks and other nomadic kingdoms and dynasties, which existed in Afghanistan and Northwest India (the Pakistan today).

One passage in the Rig Veda mentions the price of the image of Indra offered on sale to be ten cows!

During the pre-Vedic period in ancient India, self-subsistent economy was prevalent. Family would cultivate and produce what was required for itself. Gradually, these small families came together to form small communities or tribal clans. That`s when the needs of people elevated from the self subsistence economy to barter economy where goods were exchanged between people or between various communities. But in this system the two commodities exchanged, were never of the same value. This resulted in conflicts between parties or most often, there was no equal benefit accrued to one of the parties because of the transaction. People soon realized this limitation of the Barter system. That`s when the need for a common commodity as a medium of exchange arose and they were the precursors of coins.

Agricultural products were used as a medium of exchange. The huge granaries found at the Mohenjo Daro and Harappa excavation sites corroborate to this fact. The Vedic people used cows as a medium of exchange and this is evident from various ancient literary sources like the Aitreya Brahmana, the Rig Veda and the Ashtadhyayi. Cows remained as a medium of exchange till the later part of the post-Vedic period. Cows met the needs of the age, as they were not easily perishable, can be moved from one place to another and had the capacity to multiply, work and supply milk. However, cows were a troublesome medium of exchange as they required to be cared and some degree of skill in rearing. Hence, this medium was not suitable for large transactions and long-term savings etc.

This gave rise to the need for a more stable medium of exchange - and this is where metals come into the picture. The problem of how to use them was solved by inventing balances and weights, and the metals were cut according to a pre-defined standard weight. Metal was weighed against seeds and different kinds of seeds were introduced in different regions as standard weights according to their availability. But even this transaction proved to be equally tedious. Scales were required to weigh the metals and touchstones to determine the purity of the metal was used. In addition, there were problems of rampant debasement of metal, forgery etc that again resulted in a loss of value in transactions. Hence, official authorities or merchant guilds stamped metal pieces, and conducted a check to ensure genuineness and the purity of the metal content.

One of the first Indian coins was minted some 2600 years ago! Thus, first coins of Ancient India came into existence and were known as "Punch Marked Coins". The Ashtadhyayi mentions that the metallic pieces were stamped (ahata) with symbols (rupa). These were in circulation along with the unstamped variety of metallic coins, which were referred to as the `nishka`, `satamana` and `pada`. There is also a mention of `shana` and `karshapana`, terms used for different monetary denominations.

Ever since Mohen-jo-daro and Harappa have been discovered, more than 500 seals have been exposed with fine representation of animal figures and pictorial writing, which has not yet been deciphered. Trade between Mesopotamia (modern Iraq) and Harappa is evident with the finding of two seals. With the coming of the British East India Company, minting of coins began from mid 17th century.

Coins were cut out of metallic sheets of silver and then punched with various symbols. A complete understanding of all the symbols is still debatable but scholar`s feel that these symbols depicted the various aspects of nature, for eg symbols of frog and turtle, which don`t assume significant importance but can be seen on the "Punch Marked Coins". However, the early punch marked coins are attributed to various janapadas (republics) based on the symbol that they have on their coins. The other symbols that are found on these punch mark coins are geometrical patterns, floral designs, hill, trees, birds, animals, reptiles and human figures etc. The symbols have a specific or limited geographic spread. A group of symbols were confined to a particular area or period. Copper coins were produced by casting from moulds and were widely circulated almost all over northern India, and are known in several varieties. These coins are not attributed to any particular state or ruler as they are found throughout the northern and central parts of India.

With the advent of the Greeks, Indian coinage underwent a major change. The fine execution of the rulers bust, depiction of their gods and goddess with legends on the Indo Greek coins inspired the later coinage of the Indian rulers. The Kushana, the Satvahana dynasty and the Western Kshatrapa dynasty copied the silver drachms and tetra drachms of the Indo Greek kings. The brisk trade between Rome and India introduced the roman denarii in India. Indian spices were imported to Rome in exchange for Roman gold in the form of Roman gold coins. The shortage of Roman coins for trade transactions led to the striking of Roman coins in India and many roman coin dies have been found in the Karur region of Tamil Nadu state in South India.

Early Ancient Silver coin:
India developed some of the world`s earliest coins. This was around 600BC. These coins were made by taking a flat, though often irregularly shaped, piece of silver, cutting it to the proper weight, then applying a series of punches to the front of it, indicating where and when it was made. The punches covered a wide variety of symbols. The coin, known as the Punchmarked Karshapana, continued to be issued until about the second century BC. Today the coin is one of the least expensive early coins available, and represents one of the earliest approaches to the development of coinage.

Phallic coin:
After many generations crudely copying the coins found in circulation, the original design becomes garbled and forgotten. The design begins to take on new elements and new meanings.

Military camp mint coin of the Great Akbar:
During his reign Akbar transformed the Mughals from a poor and divided regional state in Northern India into a strong and wealthy empire that included much of Afghanistan and the Indian subcontinent. This vast expansion required vast armies, which of course needed to be paid. To assist in paying the troops, Akbar created special military camp mint that moved with the troops. The mint was called Urdu Zafar Qarin, which roughly translates as "The Victory Camp". This was during 1556 and 1605 A.D.

Old coin of the Sikh Empire:
This was during the 15th century. After years of Mughal oppression, the Sikhs transformed themselves into a formable military power and created an empire that encompassed much of northern India and Pakistan. After a series of disastrous wars with the British in the 1840`s, the Sikh Empire was annexed into British India. This copper 1 Paisa, whose design featured a leaf, was struck at the Amritsar Mint between 1828 and 1847.

The Nazraana Paisa of Jaipur:
The Majaraja of Jaipur was a very wealthy man. He grew even wealthier due to an unusual practice in this native state in Northern India. Special, extra large coins, called Nazarana coins, were struck each year. If one wanted to be on good terms with the Maharaja, one would purchase these special coins from the mint and present the coins to the Maharaja for his birthday or on other special occasions. The mintages of these unusual coins were quite low, so collectors rarely see them. The coins acknowledged both the Maharaja and the King of England, who also ruled India.

Gold coins- the favorite:
Although the world`s first coins were Greek coins made in Lydia about 640 BC, is seems clear that India and China both invented coins independently within a few centuries of the Lydians. The earliest Indian coins were silver, and it was not until about 100 AD that the Kushan emperor Vima Kadaphises introduced the first Indian gold coin, which was a gold dinar bearing the image of Shiva. So India`s history of issuing gold coins dates back almost 2,000 years. India has produced many different denominations of gold coins, which include Dinars, Staters, Kahavanus, Pagodas, Tankas, Ashrafis, Mohurs, Gadyanas, Bhairava Gadyanas, Varahas, Fanams, Koris, Xerafims, and Tolas.

Indians love gold. Over centuries, many ancient rare and ultimately valuable gold coins have been melted and made into jewellery. The word fanam was first used in the twelve century.Many Southern Indian states issued small gold coins called Fanams between about 1700 to about 1830.Fanams were the smallest gold coins issued by any of the Indian States. States, which issued gold fanams, include Maratha, Mysore, Cochin, Coorg or Kurg, Travancore, Negapatnam (for circulation in Ceylon), Tuticorin, and the Mughal Empire.

An extremely important coin is the first known coin of the great Pala king, Dharmapala. The Palas appear to have left little by way of coinage. Indeed, in his study of the coinage of post-Gupta Bengal, B.N. Mukherjee asserted that `No metallic money was coined in the major portion of the Pala … kingdom.` There is, however, one gold coin that has been put forward as a Pala issue, but because of its Uniqueness, its authenticity has been called into question. The Palas were perhaps the most important dynasty to have ruled eastern India, particularly Bengal, and Dharamapala has been called "one of the greatest kings that ever ruled in Bengal." Buddhist art reached new heights under Pala patronage (the Pala rulers were themselves Buddhist) and Pala art is said to have had profound influence on art throughout east and Southeast Asia.

Though the British controlled most of India prior to its independence in 1947, many of the Indian states retained their right to issue coins. Most coins could only be used within the state they were issued and there was little standardization of the coins or denominations issued from state to state. The result was a bewildering array of coins, many of which have limited mintages. The Indian Coin set today also includes odd shapes. There is a thick 2000 5 Rupee coin with an unusual security edge to discourage counterfeiting. The 11-sided 2002 2 Rupee features a map of India. The 2001 1 Rupee is struck in stainless steel. The 1999 50 Paisa features the Parliament building and a map of India. A rhinoceros is featured on the 1994 25 paise. The aluminum 1988 20 Paisa coin is a siven sided coin. The 1988 10 paisa is also struck in stainless steel. The square 5 Paisa is dated 1993. The 1971 3 Paisa coin is a six sided coin. The 1976 2 Paisa has scallopped edges. The 1972 1 Paisa is square. Because of their low purchasing power and the high cost of production, the lower four denominations are no longer issued and are increasingly difficult to get. The reverse of the coins features three lions from the ancient Pillar of Asoka, a sandstone pillar from the third century BC.

More on Coins
Coins of Princely States of India
Coins of Independent Kingdoms
1. Coins of Modern India
2. Coins of Slave & Mughals Rulers
3. Coins of the Southern Indian Dynasty
4. Coins of Western and Central Indian Dynasties
5. Coins of the Gupta Dynasty
6. Coins of Kushana Dynasty
7. Indo-Greek dynasty coins