The currency of the maurya empire (about 325-185 B. C.E.) included such silver and copper coins, particularly those bearing the symbols of three hills, a crescent, and a peacock. One issue showed three deities and a peacock, with a single peacock and a hill on the other side. These are widespread in India and reflect the establishment of central authority under the Mauryas. The political text known as the ARTHASASTRA of Kautilya, a minister to King CANDRAGUPTA MAURYA (about 325-297 B. C.E.), specified that coins be minted in silver and copper. The silver coinage began with the pana, then descended to a half, a quarter, and 1/16 of a pana. Copper coins were denominated in a unit of weight known as a masaka, one of which was the value of 1/16 of a pana. There were, in the ideal state, a minister in charge of mining and metalworking, a second for minting of coins, and a third for ensuring that the currency was sound and legal. The silver coins were punched with symbols that might have indicated the regnal period when they were minted; the copper coins were usually cast and bore symbols as well as images of the lion and elephant.
Indo-Greek Coinage
The earliest inscribed coins followed the establishment of the Bactrian Greek colonies and are an essential source of information on the many rulers of that period. Indeed, without the numismatic evidence, little would be known of the vast majority of Indo-Greek kings. The coins bear an image of the king and his name, first in Greek but increasingly in Prakrit (regional Indian languages descended from Sanskrit). The distribution of a given king’s coinage provides historic evidence for the extent of his power. Some Greek issues, however, copied local punch-marked coinage. Apollodotus II (180-160 b. c.e.) was responsible for a square coin with an image of an elephant on one side and a bull on the other, associated with a KHAROSHTHI (a writing system of Northwest India) inscription in Prakrit that records the king’s name. The coins of Menander are particularly widespread. An example minted at Taxila shows his portrait on one side with a Greek script reading, “King Menander,” while the obverse has an image of Athena with the Kharoshthi legend “by King Menander, the savior.” The coins of Strato showing him first as a youth and later as an old man attest to the longevity of his reign. Coins of Nicias (80-60 b. c.e.) are concentrated in the Jhelum Valley in Pakistan and reveal clearly the Indianization of the Greeks; the legend on the reverse of one of his coins reads, Maharajasa tratarasa Nikiasa (the great king, king of kings, Nicias) in Kharoshthi under an image of Athena, while the obverse shows the king with his name in Greek. Hermaeus (c. 40-1 B. C.E.) was the last Greek king before the saka invasions, and his coins show him riding a prancing horse and designated Maharaja on one side, and wearing a diadem with the Greek title basileus (king) on the other.
World History
