ANCIENT INDIAN COINAGE
It is very difficult to know today where the concenpt of coinage first evolved, but based on available evidences, it appears that the concept of money as coins, which by definition here would be a piece of metal of defined weight stamped with symbol of authority for financial transaction, was conceived by three different civilizations independently and almost simultaneously. Coins were introduced as a means to trade things of daily usage in Greece (Archaic period), India and China in about 6th century BC. Most historians agree that the first coins of world were issued by Greeks living in Lydia and Ionia (located on the western coast of modern Turkey). These first coins were globules of Electrum, a naturally occurring alloy of gold and silver. These were crude coins of definite weight stamped with incuse punches issued by the local authorities in ~650 BC.
Most likely the first coins of India were minted just before 5th century BC in northern and central India. Both, literary and archaeological evidence confirm that the Indians invented the unique coinage, the punch-marked coins, somewhere between 6th to 5th century BC, free of any foreign influence. A hoard of coins discovered at Chaman Huzuri in 1933 contained 43 silver punch-marked coins with Athenian (coins minted by Athens city of Greece) and Achaemenian (Persian) coins. Bhir (Taxila) hoard discovered in 1924 contained 1055 punch-marked coins in very worn out condition and two coins of Alexander in mint condition. These archaeological evidences indicate that the coins were minted in India before 4th century BC, i.e. before Greeks advanced towards India (Alexander’s invasion of Persia and India).
Panini wrote Ashtadhyayi in 4h-5th century BC, in which he has mentioned Satamana, Nishkas, Sana, Vimastika, Karshapana and it’s various sub-divisions to be used in financial transactions. Thus, coins are known in ancient Indian literature from 500 BC. There is also a strong belief that silver as a metal which was not available in Vedic India (pre 600 BC), became abundantly available by 500-600 BC. Most of the silver came from Afghanistan and Persia (modern Iran) as a result of international trade, leading to formation of definite currency.
Earliest Coins of India:The Punch-Marked Coins
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.
Punch-marked coins are marked with 1-5 (and sometimes more) marks representing various symbols. Historian and numismatists, Spooner and Bhandarkar independently concluded that the punching of various symbols representing animals, hills, tree and human figures followed a definite pattern and these coins were issued by royal authority.
In Rig-Vedic period (Rig Veda is the first out of the four Vedas, which contains scriptures and hymns in Sanskrit, probably composed in 8th-10th century BC), many small kingdoms came into existence all over the Indian subcontinent, from Kabul (Kubha in Sanskrit) to upper Ganga (Ganges) valley. Most of these were the small states under hereditary monarchs and few republics. These small and large states called Janapadas and Mahajanapadas. 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.
Ganga River valley: Kashi, Koshala, Shakya, Brij (?)
Upper Ganga river valley: Kuru-Panchala
Indus river valley: Takshashila (Taxila) & Gandhara (Pushkalavati)
Southern India (Godavari and Narmada river vallys): Ashmaka or Ashvaka, Kuntala and Avanti