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Rectangular shaped Obverse Elephant, Taurine in front of the elephant, svastika below the taurine and jayadhvaja or triangle headed standard below the elephant Reverse Three peaked hill, hollow cross, tree in railing and taurine, 9th-7th century BC ^[13][14]

Cast Copper coin c. 5-4th Century BCE-2nd Century CE

Ancient period (early 1st millennium BCE – 320 BCE)[edit]

Early Uninscribed Cast Copper Coins (EUCCC)[edit]

Cast copper coins along with punch marked coins are the earliest examples of coinage in India, archaeologist G. R. Sharma based on his analysis from Kausambi dates them to pre Punched Marked Coins (PMC) era between 855-815 BC on the bases of obtaining them from pre NBPWperiod^[15], while some date it to 500 BC and some date them to pre NBPW end of 7th century BC.^[16][17] Archaeological excavations have revealed these coins both from PMC and pre PMC era. The dating of these coins remain a controversy.^[18]

 

Kosala karshapanas. Circa 525-465 BC. Average diameter 25mm, average weight 2.70 gm. Each piece with a variety of separate punch-marks applied to both sides.

Indian Punched mark Karshapana coins[edit]

 

Magadha kingdom, circa 430–320 BCE, Karshapana.

 

Kurus (Kurukshetras) circa 350-315 BCE

India developed some of the world's first coins, but scholars debate exactly which coin was first and when. Sometime around 600BC in the lower Ganges valley in eastern India a coin called a punchmarked Karshapana was created.^[19][20] According to Hardaker, T.R. the origin of Indian coins can be placed at 575 BCE^[21] and according to P.L. Gupta in the seventh century BCE. According to Page. E, Kasi, Kosala and Magadha coins can be the oldest ones from the Indian Subcontinent dating back to 7th century BC and kosambi findings indicate coin circulation towards the end of 7th century BC.^[17] It is also noted that some of the Janapadas like shakiya during Buddha's time were minting coins both made of silver and copper with their own marks on them.^[22]

Punch-marked coins were a type of early Coinage of India, dating to between about the 6th and 2nd centuries BCE. There are actually vast uncertainties regarding the actual time punch-marked coinage started in India, with proposal ranging from 1000 BCE to 500 BCE.^[23] However, the study of the relative chronology of these coins has successfully established that the first punch-marked coins initially only had one or two punches, with the number of punches increasing over time.^[23]

The first coins in India may have been minted around the 6th century BCE by the Mahajanapadas of the Indo-Gangetic Plain, The coins of this period were punch-marked coins called Puranas, Karshapanas or Pana. Several of these coins had a single symbol, for example, Saurashtra had a humped bull, and Dakshin Panchala had a Swastika, others, like Magadha, had several symbols. These coins were made of silver of a standard weight but with an irregular shape. This was gained by cutting up silver bars and then making the correct weight by cutting the edges of the coin.^[24]

They are mentioned in the Manu, Panini, and Buddhist Jataka stories and lasted three centuries longer in the south than the north (600 BCE – 300 CE).^[25]

• Shurasena
• Surashtra^[26]

Early coins of India (400 BCE – 100 CE) were made of silver and copper, and bore animal and plant symbols on them.^[1]

 

copper Coin from Taxila, Pakistan, 304–232 BC.

Saurashtra die struck Quarter Karshapana coins[edit]

Saurashtra Janapada coins are probably the earliest die-struck figurative coins from ancient India from 450-300 BCE which are also perhaps the earliest source of Hindu representational forms. Most coins from Surashtra are approximately 1g in weight. Rajgor believes they are therefore quarter karshapanas of 8 rattis, or 0.93 gm. Mashakas of 2 rattis and double mashakas of 4 rattis are also known.

The coins appear to be uniface, in that there is a single die-struck symbol on one side. However, most of the coins appear to be overstruck over other Surashtra coins and thus there is often the remnant of a previous symbol on the reverse, as well as sometimes under the obverse symbol as well.^[26]

 

Gandara Bent bar coins

Gandhara Janapada (Bent bar)[edit]

Coin finds in the Chaman Hazouri hoard in Kabul or the Shaikhan Dehri hoard in Pushkalavati have revealed numerous Gandharan Punched marked Bent bar coins, a variation of indian Punch mark coins minted during Achaemenid era in Gandhara.^{[27][28][29][30]}

Classical period (320 BCE – 320 CE)[edit]

Mauryan Empire[edit]

The Mauryan Empire coins were punch marked with the royal standard to ascertain their authenticity.^[31] The Arthashastra, written by Kautilya, mentions minting of coins but also indicates that the violation of the Imperial Maurya standards by private enterprises may have been an offence.^[31] Kautilya also seemed to advocate a theory of bimetallism for coinage, which involved the use of two metals, copper and silver, under one government.^[32]

Popularity of cast die-struck coins (end of 3rd century BCE)[edit]

Punch marked coins were replaced at the fall of the Maurya Empire by cast, die-struck coins.^[34] Each individual coins was first cast by pouring a molten metal, usually copper or silver, into a cavity formed by two molds. These were then usually die-struck while still hot, first on just one side, and then later on the two sides. The coin devices are Indian, but it is thought that this coin technology was introduced from the West, either from the Achaemenid Empire or from the neighboring Greco-Bactrian