In
ancient times, there were no metallic coins, paper currency notes or digital
money in the form of debit cards/credit cards/electronic wallets. Since money
did not exist in the form that we know today, how did people in those days
trade or do transactions with each other ?
In those early days, the barter system was
prevalent where one type of goods were exchanged for another, like rice being
exchanged for fruits. From this, over the centuries, the concept of money
emerged gradually evolving to coins (made of various metals), currency notes
(made of paper and even plastic) and digital money that we are all very
familiar with today. While different commodities were initially used as medium
of exchange, later on cowries, beads, whale tooth, salt, small metallic pieces
made of copper, silver or gold with punch marks/ symbols/inscriptions on them
began to be used. In fact, some consider the seals excavated from Mohenjo
Daro and Harappa (2500 BC - 1750 BC) were actually coins, but there is
no consensus on this.
India was one of the first to issue coins and the history of
Indian coinage goes back more than 2600 years. Indian coinage is
diverse in terms of shape, size, metal, scripts, etc. ranging from punch marked
coins to machine made coins, copper coins to silver and gold coins, small coins
to large coins, square coins to round and octagonal coins. Symbols from nature
like sun, tree, hills, animal motifs like bull, geometric symbols and later on
kings, queens, Gods and Goddesses, etc are to be found on these coins. While
the front side of a coin is known as the Obverse, the back of a
coin is known as the Reverse.
Indian Coins, for convenience, can be categorised into Ancient,
Medieval, Mughal, Late Pre-Colonial, British India and Republic India. The
earliest Indian coins called Shatamana (meaning hundred
measures) weighing 100 rattis were silver punch marked bent
bar coins issued around 6th century BC by the Gandhara Empire (located
in present North Pakistan and East Afghanistan upto Taxila). The weight of a
Shatamana was around 11.2 grams of pure silver and these coins are extremely
rare today. Their length was generally 40-50 mm and width 7-9 mm. These coins
have a typical six-armed symbol punched on the face at each end and as the
coins were narrow, the punchmark was generally only partial. Later around 500
BC, Shatamana fractions were minted on circular concave flans with a
single punchmark of the six-armed symbol on one side. The denominations
were 1/2, 1/4, 1/8, 1/16 and 1/32 Shatamana weighing around 5 grams, 2.8 grams,
1.5 grams, 0.7 grams and 0.2 grams.
The Shatamana Coinage system continued till around 300 BC when
Gandhara was captured by Chandragupta Maurya. The Magadhan and Mauryan empires
issued the Imperial series of punch-marked coins with a uniform weight of 7.6
grams, 5.4 grams, 4.6 grams and 3.4 grams.
It is interesting that a black and red seed of the gunja berry
known as ratti was the basic unit of the Indian coin weight
system, which has now been standardised at 0.1215 grams. Coins were minted by
the British initially in silver but gradually they shifted to brass, bronze,
aluminium, etc which were not precious and thus the shift from precious metal
coinage to token currency took place. Earlier in 1330, Muhammed-Bin-Tughlak (AD
1325-1351) had issued token currency of brass and copper coins whose value was
equal to that of gold and silver coins. His experiment, however, failed as a
large number of fake coins were minted which disrupted trade and the token
currency was, therefore, discontinued in 1333.
The Reserve Bank of India has established the Monetary
Museums at Kolkata and Mumbai, which gives a detailed history of
Indian Coinage, and it is definitely worth visiting for anyone who has an
interest in Numismatics or the history of Indian Coinage.
As every coin tells a story, Numismatics or collecting coins and
currency notes is often seen as an interesting hobby. However, it is also
emerging as a good investment opportunity. Numismatic Exhibitions are held from
time to time across the country where you can not only view and understand the
history of coins and paper currency, but also buy and sell them. Of course, one
has to be careful as some fake coins are also in circulation and some
unscrupulous traders may try to pass off common coins as rare coins and sell
them to you at fancy prices. The “Buyer has to Beware” and for this
purpose, you need to read books on numismatics, attend numismatic exhibitions,
view videos/blogs on the internet, visit the RBI Monetary Museum as well as
talk to experts in this field to increase your knowledge.
With a view to enhance the knowledge in this area, I am starting
this Blog called “sikkekikahani” to serve as a forum to discuss the
intricacies and exchange knowledge on the subject and will be showcasing coins
from my collection from time to time. I am beginning this Blog by sharing
photos of the first Indian Coins in my collection of
around 6th Century
BC (period of Buddha) minted in Gandhara, Afghanistan:
Two Extremely
Rare Silver Punchmarked Bent Bar Coins called Shatamana (11.43
gms & 11.4 gms)
Two Rare Silver
Concave Flans Punchmarked Coins called 1/4 Shatamana (2.78
gms each)
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