Hobby Of Kings - Part 5

Coins in India before Mauryan Empire

Pre-Coinage
In the Rig Veda, the price of an image of Indra, which was being offered for sale, is said to be ten cows. In another passage, a sage is said to have refused to sell his image of Indra for a hundred, or a thousand, or even ten thousand cows. In a third passage, we are told that the Bharat army went out for war, impelled by the desire to acquire cows. Again, we find that Indra sent his messenger to recover his stolen treasure and treasure was nothing deals but cows. Similarly, in the Aitareya Brahmana, wealth is frequently estimated in terms of cows.

It was then; found that metal, which could not be destroyed easily and was handier, could be used as a stable medium of exchange. However, mere discovery of metal as a suitable medium could not serve the purpose. The problem was how to use metal. However, transactions involving metal were equally tedious as scales were required for every transaction. To overcome this difficulty metallic pieces of definite weight and value began to be used. In course of time, settlement of bargains on the basis of a particular weight and form became customary.

The medium was required to be uniform in weight and size to serve the purpose of exchange. Consequently, balance was invented, and with it raised the need for a standard weight. Seeds were considered a suitable medium, as they were fairly uniform in weight and size. Metal was weighed against seeds and various kinds of seeds were introduced as standard weights in different regions, according to their availability.

In spite of the apparent uniformity in weight and size of ingots and metal sheets, or pieces made from them, there was no guarantee as to the quality of the metal. To obviate these difficulties, the practices of stamping the metallic pieces with a mark or device of a responsible authority as assign of guarantee were introduced in many countries. This led to the birth of the coin.

Coin System

Ancient Indian coinage was based on `Karshapana' unit that consists of 32 rattis (3.3 grams of silver). A `Ratti' is equivalent to 0.11 gms which is the average weight of a Gunja seed (a bright scarlet colored seed). Subsidiary denominations of Karshapana like half Karshapana (16 ratti), quarter Karshapana (8 ratti) and 1/8 of Karshapana (4 ratti) were also minted.

Panini, Sanskrit grammarian ( c500 BCE) in his treatise Astdhyayi wrote about coins and various fractions suggesting that the concept of coins existed prior to 500 BCE. He mentioned Satamanas (sata= 100, manas = units) and Karshapana ( subfraction). Each unit was called "Ratti" weighing 0.11 grams. Ratti was average weight of a Gunja seed (a bright red seed with a black tip - see the picture below). He has also mentioned Satamana, Nishkas, Sana, Vimastika, Karshapana and it's various sub-divisions as coins. There is a sutra that illustrate that metallic pieces were stamped (ahata) with rupa (symbols). it appears that during his time stamped metallic pieces had become contemporary and that along with the unstamped metallic and were concomitantly current. In the Ashtadhyayi, coins are also called karshapna and sana.

It is stated in the Taitariya Brahmans suggests that ' Krishnala ' was the unit for weighing metal. Krishnala or abrus precatorius is referred to in later literature as raktika or gunja and known to us today as ratti. But this is the only reference of krishnala in Vedic literature.

Another type of money mentioned in Vedic literature is Nishka; it is generally believed that nishka was ornament, some kind of a necklace. Nishka is mentioned in tens and hundreds as payment towards dakshina. It was absolutely a term of value, as is apparent from the ashtadhayi where objects purchased with one, two or three nishkas are called naishkikam, dvi-naishkikam, and tri-naishkikam.

Coins described in Later Vedic Literature:

1) Nishka ( Material : Gold ) : Weight 320 Ratti or 560 Grains

2) Shatamana ( Material : Gold ) : Weight 100 Ratti or 175 Grains

3) Suvarna ( Material : Gold ) : Weight 80 Ratti or 140 Grains

4) Paada ( Material : Gold ) : equal to Quarter Suvarna / Shatamana


Beginning of Indian Coinage
In Rig-Vedic period (Rig Veda is the first out of the four Vedas which contains scriptures and hymns in Sanskrit, probably composed in 10th-13th century BC), the Aryan tribes had spread over the whole country from Kabul (Kubha in Sanskrit) to upper Ganga (Ganges) and had built up small states mostly under hereditary monarchs and few republics. By 11th century BC, India was divided into many small and large states called Janapadas and Mahajanpadas. About 6th century BC, sixteen Mahajanapadas or kingdoms rose to pre-imminence in India. According to ancient text Anguttara Nikayas they were as follows: Anga, Magadha, Kashi, Koshala, Vajji, Malla, Vatsa, Chedi, Kuru, Panchala, Matsya, Surasena, Ashvaka, Avanti, Gandhar and Kamboja. One of the earliest coins of india were minted by following Mahajanapadas.

In north western part of India, Takshashila or Taxila and Pushkalavati, became an important commercial centers for the trade with Mesopotamia. These wealthy satrapies (provinces) introduced a unique coinage to facilitate the trade. These were silver concave bars of 11 gms which are popularly called as `Taxila bent bars' or `Satamana bent bars'. Satmana or Shatamana represented 100 rattis of silver in weight (Shata means 100 while mana means unit). These silver bars were punched with two septa-radiate (seven arms) symbols, one at each end. These bent bars represents one of the earliest coins of India.

The earliest coins of India are commonly known as punch-marked coins. As the name suggests, these coins bear the symbols of various types, punched on pieces of silver of specific weight. Interestingly earliest Indian coins have no defined shapes and they were mostly uniface. Secondly, these coins lack any inscriptions written in contemporary languages and almost always struck in silver. These unique characters makes early Indian coins very different than their contemporaries in Greece.

Many early historians believed that concept of coinage was introduced in India by Greeks. But unlike Indian punch-marked coins, Greek coins had inscriptions, they were round in shape, were stamped on both the sides and minted using silver, electrum and gold too. Today we are certain that the concept of coinage was invented in India independent of foreign influence which imparted the unique characteristics to these punch-marked coins, not seen in any other coins of the ancient world.


Most of these Janapadas were subsequently absorbed into Magadha empire (ruled by Saisunaga dynasty) between 600-321 BC. Pradyotas of Avanti were defeated by Saisunaga in 400 BC. The most remarkable king of Magadha was Bimbisara (also called Shrenika) who ascended on throne in 545 BC. He annexed kingdom of Anga (east Bihar) and married princesses of Koshala and Vaishali thereby expanding his kingdom to the borders of Nepal. He was a very efficient administrator and built the city of RajGriha (Rajgir in Bihar). Both, Goutam Buddha and Mahavir Jain preached their doctrines during his reign. His son Ajatshatru (494-462 BC) defeated many of his adversaries including humbling his uncle Presanjit of Koshala. He founded the city Pataliputra (modern Patna) which was metropolis of ancient India for next four centuries.


In ancient India during 600-321 BC, many Janapadas issued coins with only one symbol like Lion (Shursena of Braj), humped bull (Saurashtra) or Swastika (Dakshin Panchala). Four symbol coins were issued by Kashi, Chedi (Bundelkhand), Vanga (Bengal) and Prachya (Tripura) Janapadas. Five symbol punch marked coins were first issued by Magadha which were continued during Mauryan expansion.

Ajatshatru was followed by many kings who eventually lost this kingdom to the family of Nandas who began line of Shudra or semi-Shudra kings. To maintain the huge army of 200,000 infantry and 3000 elephants (supported by Greek evidence), Nandas had to resort to heavy taxation which was detested by people. They found a new leader in Chandragupta Maurya (321-297 BC) who eventually with the help of Taxilian bramhin Kautilya or Chankya overthrew the Nanda and laid the foundation of illustrious dynasty of Maurya






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