Numismatics is the study or collection of currency, including coins, tokens, paper money, and related objects. While numismatists are often characterized as students or collectors of coins, the discipline also includes the broader study of money and other payment media used to resolve debts and the exchange of goods.
With this approach the archaeologist can add a degree of precision to his study of coins, and modern governments can improve the procedures with which they control their coinages and even their paper currency.
The archaeologist finds coins useful because they are normally issued by a governing authority and hence constitute a form of official document. The archaeological value of coins arises from the fact that they survive to an extent unmatched by most other documents, both because they arc physically durable and because they have value for the members of the society and so are likely to be put away in hoards.
Coinage of India:
Coins provide not only evidence of art and economy, but also a wisdom for understanding the history and politics of a nation. As a means of communication, they speak to the political and religious ideologies that underpinned a ruler's or state's claim to power. Coinage of India, issued by Imperial dynasties and Middle kingdoms began anywhere between 6th century BCE to 1st millennium BCE, and consisted mainly of copper and silver coins in its initial stage.
Scholars remain divided over the origins of Indian coinage. Cowry shells was first used in India as commodity money. In recent discoveries punched mark 'Mudras'(A symbolic hand gesture used in Hindu ceremonies and statuary) Coins of stone have been found in lost city of Dwaraka. Which is said to be existed at least 5,000 years ago.
The Indus Valley Civilisation dates back between 2500 BC and 1750 BC. What is known, however, is that metal currency was minted in India well before the Mauryan Empire (322–185 BCE), and as radio carbon dating indicates, before the 5th century BCE.
The practice of minted coins spread to the Indo-Gangetic Plain from West Asia. The coins of this period were called Puranas, Karshapanas or Pana. These earliest Indian coins, however, are unlike those circulated in
West Asia, were not disk-shaped but rather stamped bars of metal,
suggesting that the innovation of stamped currency was added to a
pre-existing form of token currency which had already been present in
the Mahajanapada kingdoms of the Indian Iron Age.
The tradition of Indian coinage was further influenced by the coming of Turkic and Mughal invaders in India.
The East India Company introduced uniform coinage in the 19th century CE, and these coins were later imitated by the modern nation states of Republic of India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, and Bangladesh. Numismatics plays a valuable role in determining certain period of Indian history.
THE TERM ‘Numismatics’ is normally associated with the avocation of collecting coins. It is well known, of course, that the study of coins also plays an important role in archaeology.
The archaeologist finds coins useful because they are normally issued by a governing authority and hence constitute a form of official document. The archaeological value of coins arises from the fact that they survive to an extent unmatched by most other documents, both because they arc physically durable and because they have value for the members of the society and so are likely to be put away in hoards.
Coins provide not only evidence of art and economy, but also a wisdom for understanding the history and politics of a nation. As a means of communication, they speak to the political and religious ideologies that underpinned a ruler's or state's claim to power. Coinage of India, issued by Imperial dynasties and Middle kingdoms began anywhere between 6th century BCE to 1st millennium BCE, and consisted mainly of copper and silver coins in its initial stage.
Scholars remain divided over the origins of Indian coinage. Cowry shells was first used in India as commodity money. In recent discoveries punched mark 'Mudras'(A symbolic hand gesture used in Hindu ceremonies and statuary) Coins of stone have been found in lost city of Dwaraka. Which is said to be existed at least 5,000 years ago.
The Indus Valley Civilisation dates back between 2500 BC and 1750 BC. What is known, however, is that metal currency was minted in India well before the Mauryan Empire (322–185 BCE), and as radio carbon dating indicates, before the 5th century BCE.
The tradition of Indian coinage was further influenced by the coming of Turkic and Mughal invaders in India.
The East India Company introduced uniform coinage in the 19th century CE, and these coins were later imitated by the modern nation states of Republic of India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, and Bangladesh. Numismatics plays a valuable role in determining certain period of Indian history.
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Silver punch mark coin of the Maurya Empire, with symbols of wheel and elephant. 3rd century BCE. -
Silver coin of Chandragupta II of Gupta Empire, 400 CE -
Gold coins of Chandragupta II of Gupta Empire, 400 CE -
Queen Kumaradevi and King Chandragupta I on a coin of their son Samudragupta 3y50 380 CE. -
Gold coin of Gupta era, depicting a Gupta king holding a bow, 300 CE -
Maratha Empire, Chhatrapati Shivaji, Gold hon, c. 1674-80 -
Silver Rupee coin of Rudra Simha of Ahom kingdom, 1696 AD -
Maratha Kingdom of Baroda, Sayaji Rao III, 1870 -
Gold coin of Raja Raja Chola I, 985 - 1014
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