Tuesday, June 16, 2020

Ancient Indian Coins And Their Innumerable Varieties

There has always been a good demand for old Indian coins in the field of numismatics. The main reason for this has been the fact that Indian history is thousands of years old. It has witnessed hundreds of dynasties, rulers and kingdoms since ancient times, each of which have issued various types of ancient Indian coins

Image Courtesy: www.mintageworld.com
Coins of Ancient Janapadas:
Gandhara Janapada issued ancient coins of India from 600 BC to 300 BC. During the same era, several other Janapadas issued different kinds of coins within their own territories. These include Indian ancient coins of Magadha Janapada, Magadha-Mauryan, Kashi Janapada, Kuntala Janapada, Ayodhya Janapada, Vanga Janapada, Malla Janapada, Kosala Janapada, Vatsa Janapada, Kalinga Janapada, Avanti Janapada, Ashmaka Janapada, Andhra Janapada, Saurashtra Janapada, Kuru Janapada, Panchala Janapada, Shakya Janapada, Shurasena, Matsya, Chedi and Anga. These coins were issued using the punch-marked technique and featured unique interesting symbols on them.

Coins of Ancient Kingdoms:
Historical coins of India issued under the Gupta Empire from 320 AD to 550 AD are considered to be some of the most beautiful ancient coins of the world. Some of these rare historical coins are even sold by auction houses around the world for lakhs of rupees. Apart from Guptas, other kingdoms such as Western Kshatraps, Satavahanas, Kalachuri of Tripuri, Shuga etc also issued some really attractive Indian old Coins during this period.

Ancient Coins of South India and Invaders:
Pallavas, Cheras, Cholas and Pandyas were the most powerful ancient dynasties of South India. Apart from them, the Kadambas of Banvasis, Alupas, Ishvakus, Western Gangas also issued some brilliant ancient coins of India. The Indian subcontinent was invaded by several foreign powers from the northwest frontier. This gave rise to another category of ancient Indian coins. This category includes coins issued by the Indo-Greeks, Greco-Bactrian, Indo-Scythian, Kushan, Indo-Parthian, Huns, Sassanian Imitation and Kushano-Sassanian. There’s more! Ancient city states like Ancient City States of India like Eran, Taxila, Rajgir, Almora, Mathura, Ayodhya, Suktimati, Kolhapur, Ujjain, Erich, Kurapurika also issue some wonderful old Indian coins. 

All the categories that have been mentioned above are further divided into subcategories based on name of ruler under which the ancient coins of India were struck. It is almost impossible to study all these varieties of old historical coins at one go! You can pick up one category of your choice and study its history in detail.