Archaeology

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Archaeology refers to the systematic study of the human past through the material remains that earlier communities produced, used, modified, or discarded.
- These remains are diverse and include:
  - Large architectural structures such as palaces, temples, and fortifications.
  - Everyday discarded objects like fragments of pottery, broken tools, and household refuse.
  - Organic remains—bones, seeds, pollen grains, shells, wooden pieces—often preserved under favourable conditions.
  - Cultural artefacts, for example:
    - Seals and coins
    - Sculptures and figurines
    - Inscriptions carved on stone, metal, terracotta, or other materials
- Through these remains, archaeology helps:
  - Recover physical traces of ancient life.
  - Reconstruct cultural processes, settlement patterns, and technological stages.
  - Offer insights into societies for which written records are absent or limited.

Exploration and Excavation

The scientific process of locating, studying, and systematically digging ancient mounds forms the core of archaeological work.
- Digging allows archaeologists to trace:
  - Successive cultural layers
  - Material life of people living in different chronological phases.
Mounds (Ancient Habitation Sites)
- A mound represents an elevated accumulation of debris left by long-term human activity.
- Various types include:
  - Single-culture mounds
    - Display only one cultural phase throughout.
    - Examples may include:
      - Painted Grey Ware (PGW) sites
      - Satavahana settlements
      - Kushana sites
  - Major-culture mounds
    - One culture is dominant, while others appear in secondary, limited proportions.
  - Multi-culture mounds
    - Contain multiple cultural phases, often overlapping or succeeding one another.
Methods of Excavation
- A mound may be excavated in two major ways:
  - Vertical Excavation
    - Involves digging lengthwise, deep into the mound.
    - Helps uncover the chronological sequence of cultures layer by layer.
    - Usually conducted on a limited portion of the site but provides:
      - A clear time-wise progression of tools, pottery, housing, and other artefacts.
  - Horizontal Excavation
    - Entails digging wide areas, sometimes entire mounds.
    - Useful for studying:
      - Settlement layout
      - Architecture of a specific period
      - Spatial distribution of houses, workshops, storage areas, and public spaces
    - Though extremely informative, it is rare because of high cost and large labour requirements.
Preservation Conditions Across Regions
- Artefacts survive differently depending on climate:
  - Dry, arid regions (Western UP, Rajasthan, NW India):
    - Provide excellent preservation, allowing recovery of fragile materials.
  - Moist, humid regions (mid-Gangetic plains, delta areas):
    - Cause corrosion of iron, decay of mud structures, and poor survival of organic remains.
    - Only burnt brick or stone structures survive well.
Discoveries Through Excavations
- Excavations have revealed:
  - Early agricultural villages in Baluchistan dating to around 6000 BC.
  - Material culture of the Gangetic plains from the second millennium BC.
  - Important information about:
    - Settlement layouts
    - Pottery varieties
    - Types of houses people lived in
    - Crops consumed and cultivated
    - Tools, weapons, and implements used in everyday life
- Megalithic burials in South India:
  - People buried the dead along with:
    - Tools, weapons, pottery, ornaments, and other possessions
  - Large stone circles (megaliths) help reconstruct Iron Age Deccan society.

Methods of Fixing Dates and Extracting Additional Information

Archaeologists use many scientific methods to determine the age of mounds and objects:
- Radiocarbon Dating (C-14)
  - The most crucial technique for dating organic materials.
  - Based on the uniform decay rate of radioactive Carbon-14 present in all living organisms.
  - When alive:
    - Living beings constantly absorb C-14 through air and food.
  - After death:
    - Absorption stops, but decay continues at a fixed rate, enabling age measurement.
  - Key attributes:
    - Half-life = 5568 years
    - Effective up to 70,000 years
- Pollen Analysis (Palynology)
  - Examines pollen grains to reconstruct:
    - Climate conditions
    - Vegetation history
  - Evidence indicates early agriculture in Rajasthan and Kashmir (7000–6000 BC).
- Metallurgical Analysis
  - Studies metal objects to determine:
    - Composition of alloys
    - Sources of ores
    - Technological stages of metallurgy.
- Faunal Analysis (Animal Bone Studies)
  - Helps identify:
    - Domesticated species
    - Their uses (food, traction, dairy, ritual).

Geological and Biological Studies

These disciplines enrich archaeological understanding by analysing:
- Geology
  - Studies soils, sediments, and rock layers to reconstruct:
    - Environmental conditions
    - Habitat changes
    - Landscape evolution
  - Crucial for understanding the context of prehistoric sites.
- Biology
  - Provides insights into:
    - Plants and animals that coexisted with humans.
    - Ecosystem interaction through time.
- Combined geological + biological evidence:
  - Helps interpret human adaptation, mobility, subsistence, and environmental pressures.
  - Essential for studying nearly 98% of Earth’s historical timeline, especially before written records.

Ethno-archaeology

It studies the behaviour and practices of living communities in order to interpret the archaeological evidence related to communities of the past.
The Indian subcontinent preserves many traditional features and methods, which makes it valuable for such studies:
- Traditional practices survive in:
  - Agriculture
  - Animal husbandry
  - House building
  - Clothing
  - Food preparation and consumption
- Modern craftspersons help us understand how ancient craftspersons made objects.
Example:
- A long-standing tradition of carnelian bead manufacturing still exists in Khambhat, Gujarat.
- Studying modern bead-making provides clues about:
  - How Harappan beads were produced
  - How bead-makers may have been socially organized
Ethno-archaeology helps fill silences and gaps in history:
- It helps archaeologists infer women’s roles in subsistence and craft activities in early times.
- Studies of modern hunter-gatherers and shifting cultivators help explain the life-ways of people who followed similar subsistence strategies in the past.
However, such evidence must be used carefully:
- Similarities between present and past communities exist, but
- Differences in context must always be kept in mind when drawing conclusions.

Archaeology as a Source of History

Archaeology usually provides an anonymous form of history
- Focuses more on cultural processes rather than specific political events.
- Helps reconstruct broad patterns of life rather than individual personalities.
Mainly used to study prehistory and ancient history
- Prehistory refers to the period without written sources.
- History is traditionally based on written material.
- Archaeology is the only source for understanding prehistory.
Role in proto-history and historical periods
- Remains the only source for periods where writing existed but is not yet deciphered.
- Continues to add valuable information even after written records begin.
- Historians often treat archaeology as a secondary corroborative source, which limits its full potential.
Current challenge in Indian history
- Integrating archaeological evidence effectively into broader historical narratives remains a major task.
Reveals aspects of everyday life not highlighted in texts
- Archaeology often shows details of daily life, craft practices, food habits, and settlement patterns that texts ignore.
- Despite reliance on Vedic and post-Vedic texts for pre-Ashokan history, archaeology remains a critical and independent source.
Material remains of ancient Indians
- India has countless material remains:
  - Massive stone temples in South India
  - Brick monasteries in Eastern India
- However, most remains are buried in mounds across the subcontinent and become accessible only through excavation.
Information about human settlements and subsistence
- Archaeology provides specific details on:
  - Food sources people depended on
  - Methods used to procure and produce food
- Gives information about:
  - Crops grown
  - Agricultural tools
  - Animals that were hunted or domesticated
History of ancient technology
- Offers insights into:
  - Raw materials and where they came from
  - Tools and artefact-making processes
  - Technological stages across time
Reconstruction of routes and networks
- Helps map ancient trade routes, exchange systems, and interaction spheres among diverse communities.
Religious practices
- Texts exist in large numbers, but exclusively textual interpretations are incomplete.
- Material remains—temples, sculptures, ritual items, inscriptions—provide essential evidence of actual religious practice.
Problems in translating archaeological cultures into history
- An archaeological culture does not necessarily map onto:
  - A linguistic group
  - A political unit
  - A clan, tribe, or lineage
- A major unresolved issue is understanding why and how material culture changes, especially pottery traditions, which remain poorly understood for ancient India.

Limitations of Archaeology (Preservation & Representation Issues)

Archaeological evidence is incomplete
- Represents objects:
  - Thrown away
  - Lost
  - Forgotten
  - Hidden
  - Left behind unintentionally when people migrated
Not all material traits survive
- Survival depends heavily on:
  - The nature of the object
  - Soil conditions
  - Climate
  - Surrounding environment
Durability differences
- Inorganic materials are most durable:
  - Stone
  - Clay
  - Metal
- Organic materials rarely survive:
  - Wood
  - Bone
  - Leather
  - Fibres
- Stone Age people used many wooden and bone tools, but only stone tools survived in abundance.
Tropical climatic challenges
- Heavy rains
- Acidic soils
- Warm temperatures
- Dense vegetation
- These conditions destroy many artifacts, making reconstruction difficult.

Epigraphy

Inscriptions and coins come under the general umbrella of archaeology and archaeological sources.
The study of inscriptions is known as epigraphy.
The study of the old writing used in inscriptions and other old records is called palaeography.
Inscriptions were carved on seals, stone pillars, rocks, copperplates, temple walls, wooden tablets, and bricks or images.
- In India, the earliest inscriptions were recorded on stone. However, in the early centuries of the Christian era, copperplate began to be used for this purpose.
- Even then the practice of engraving inscriptions on stone continued on a large scale in south India. We have also in that region a large number of inscriptions recorded on the walls of temples to serve as permanent records.
Evidences of early inscriptions:
- The Harappan inscriptions, which await decipherment, seem to have been written in a pictographic script in which ideas and objects were expressed in the form of pictures.
- The oldest deciphered inscriptions belong to the late 4th century BCE, and are in Brahmi and Kharoshthi.
  - These include those of the Maurya emperor Ashoka, which are in a number of different languages and scripts, but mostly in the Prakrit language and Brahmi script (written from left to right) but some were also incised in the Kharoshthi script which was written from right to left.
  - In the fourteenth century AD two Ashokan pillar inscriptions were found by Firoz Shah Tughlaq, one in Meerut and another at a place called Topra in Haryana.
    - He brought them to Delhi and asked the pandits of his empire to decipher the inscriptions, but they failed to do so.
    - These epigraphs were first deciphered in 1837 by James Prinsep, a civil servant in the employ of the East India Company in Bengal.
- Brahmi script prevailed virtually all over India except for the north-western part.
  - Greek and Aramaic scripts were employed in writing Ashokan inscriptions in Pakistan and Afghanistan, but Brahmi continues to be the main script till the end of Gupta times.
- After the seventh century, there is strong regional variations in Brahmi script.
- As there are no obvious links between the Harappan script and Brahmi or Kharoshthi, what happened to writing in between remains a mystery.
- Evidences of writing:
  - There is no direct mention of writing in Vedic literature, but references to poetic metres, grammatical and phonetic terms, very large numbers, and complex arithmetical calculations in later Vedic texts are taken by some historians to indicate the possibility that writing may have been known at the time.
  - The first definite literary references to writing and written documents occur in the Buddhist Pali texts, especially the Jatakas and the Vinaya Pitaka.
  - Panini’s Ashtadhyayi refers to the word lipi (script).
  - The Brahmi of Ashoka’s inscriptions seems a fairly developed script, and it must have had a prior history of at least a few centuries. Recently, important direct evidence that Brahmi existed in pre-Maurya times has come from Anuradhapura in Sri Lanka, where excavations unearthed potsherds with short inscriptions that can be dated to at least the early 4th century BCE.
Both the Brahmi and Kharoshthi scripts stand midway between alphabetic and syllabic scripts, and can be described as semi-syllabic or semi-alphabetic.
Kharoshthi scripts:
- Kharoshthi’s core area lay in the north-west—the land known as Gandhara in ancient times. Ashoka’s Shahbazgarhi and Mansehra inscriptions are in this script.
- Kharoshthi was later used in north India under the Indo-Greek, Indo-Parthian, and Kushana kings, and was also used in certain records outside the Gandhara area, including in parts of central Asia.
- Written from right to left, Kharoshthi seems to have been derived from the north Semitic Aramaic script.
Brahmi script:
- A script written from left to right.
- Origin:
  - Some scholars have suggested an indigenous origin, others an Aramaic origin.
  - A problem in accepting the latter theory is that the direction of writing and the forms of the letters in Brahmi and Kharoshthi are different, so it is unlikely that they were derived from the same script.
- Kharoshthi declined and died out in about the 3rd century CE. Brahmi, on the other hand, became the parent of all the indigenous scripts of South Asia, and also of those used in parts of central and Southeast Asia.
- The different stages of the Brahmi script are often labelled on the basis of dynasties, e.g., Ashokan Brahmi, Kushana Brahmi, and Gupta Brahmi.
- In the late 6th century, Gupta Brahmi evolved into a script known as Siddhamatrika or Kutila, which had sharp angles at the lower right hand corner of each letter.
  - Regional differences became sharper after this point of time.
  - The modern north Indian scripts gradually emerged out of Siddhamatrika.
- Nagari or Devanagari was standardized by about 1000 CE and an eastern script (known as proto-Bengali or Gaudi) took shape between the 10th and 14th centuries.
  - From here, it was a short step to the emergence of the Bengali, Assamese, Oriya, and Maithili scripts in the 14th–15th centuries.
  - This is also the time when the Sharada script emerged in Kashmir and adjoining areas.
Tamil script:
- The earliest inscriptions in the Tamil language are engraved in rock shelters and caves especially in the area near Madurai.
  - They are in a script known as Tamil–Brahmi, an adaptation of Brahmi for writing the Tamil language.
- Three southern scripts emerged in the early medieval period—Grantha, Tamil, and Vatteluttu.
  - The first of these was used for writing Sanskrit, the second and third for writing Tamil.
- The Tamil script first appeared in the Pallava territory in the 7th century CE.
- Something similar to the modern Telugu and Kannada scripts took shape in the 14th–15th centuries, while the Malayalam script developed out of Grantha at about the same time.
Bi-script:
- Ancient Indian inscriptions include a few bi-script documents, in which the text is given in the same language written in two different scripts.
- Most of the instances come from the north-west and consist of short bi-script Brahmi– Kharoshthi inscriptions.
- The longer records include an 8th century Pattadakal pillar inscription of the Chalukya king Kirttivarman II.
  - The language is Sanskrit; the text is written both in the north Indian Siddhamatrika script and in the local southern proto-Telugu–Kannada script.

Languages of Inscriptions

The earliest Brahmi inscriptions, including those of Ashoka, are in dialects of Prakrit.
- Between the 1st and 4th centuries CE, many inscriptions were written in a mixture of Sanskrit and Prakrit.
The first pure Sanskrit inscriptions appeared in the 1st century BCE. The first long Sanskrit inscription is the Junagadh rock inscription of the western Kshatrapa king Rudradaman.
By about the end of the 3rd century CE, Sanskrit had gradually replaced Prakrit as the language of inscriptions in northern India.
In the Deccan and South India, Sanskrit inscriptions appeared along with Prakrit ones in the late 3rd/early 4th century CE, for instance at Nagarjunakonda in Andhra Pradesh.
- The Sanskrit element gradually increased.
- In the transitional phase of the 4th and 5th centuries, there were bilingual Sanskrit–Prakrit inscriptions, as well as those in a mixture of the two languages. Thereafter, Prakrit fell into disuse.
Between the 4th and 6th centuries, Sanskrit emerged as the premier language of royal inscriptions all over India.
- Thereafter, it attained the status of a language associated with high culture, religious authority, and political power not only in the subcontinent but also in certain other areas such as Southeast Asia.
However, in the post-Gupta period, there was also an important parallel trend towards the evolution of regional languages and scripts.
- Inscriptions began to be composed in regional languages in the ninth and tenth centuries.
- Even Sanskrit inscriptions show the influence of local dialects in spellings and words of non-Sanskrit origin.
Tamil inscriptions and bilingual Tamil-Sanskrit:
- In South India, inscriptions in the old Tamil language (and the Tamil–Brahmi script) appeared in the 2nd century BCE and the early centuries CE.
- Tamil became an important language of South Indian inscriptions under the Pallava dynasty.
- There are examples of bilingual Tamil–Sanskrit Pallava inscriptions from the 7th century onwards.
  - In these, the invocation, genealogical portion, and concluding verses are often in Sanskrit and the details of the grants in Tamil.
  - Kings of the Chola and Pandya dynasties also issued Tamil and bilingual Sanskrit– Tamil inscriptions.
- Hundreds of donative Tamil inscriptions were inscribed on temple walls in various parts of South India in early medieval times.
Kannada and bilingual Kannada-Sanskrit:
- The earliest Kannada inscriptions belong to the late 6th/early 7th century CE. From this period onwards, there were many private donative records in Kannada, and this language was also used in some royal grants.
- There are some bilingual Sanskrit– Kannada inscriptions and a 12th century inscription found at Kurgod in Karnataka is in three languages—Sanskrit, Prakrit, and Kannada.
Telugu and Malayalam:
- The late 6th century epigraphs of the early Telugu Chola kings mark the beginnings of Telugu as a language of inscriptions. Thereafter, there are many private donative records in this language.
- Malayalam inscriptions appeared in about the 15th century.
Marathi, Oriya, Hindi, Gujarati:
- As for inscriptions in the modern north Indian (New Indo-Aryan) languages, Marathi and Oriya inscriptions can be identified from the 11th century.
- Inscriptions in dialects similar to what is referred to today as Hindi appear in Madhya Pradesh from the 13th century onwards, and Gujarati can be identified in epigraphs from the 15th century.

Classification of inscriptions

Classification into official and private records:
- Inscriptions can classified into official and private records, depending on whose behalf they were inscribed.
- Official records:
  - They convey royal orders and decisions regarding social, religious, and administrative matters to officials and the people in general.
  - Ashoka’s edicts and royal land grants are examples of official records.
- Private records:
  - Inscriptions recording grants made by private individuals or guilds to temples, or to Buddhist or Jaina establishments are examples of private records.
Classification according to content and purpose into types such as donative, dedicative, and commemorative inscriptions:
- Commemorative inscription:
  - For instance, the Lumbini pillar inscription of Ashoka is a royal commemorative inscription, recording a specific event—the visit of the king to the Buddha’s birth-place.
  - Erecting memorials to dead people:
    - There is evidence of an ancient practice of erecting memorials to dead people.
    - Thousands of memorial stones are found all over the country, not always connected with burials. Some only have sculpted scenes (realistic or symbolic), others also have inscriptions.
    - The most common memorial stones were erected in memory of dead heroes or women who committed sati.
    - Stones were set up in honour of Jaina men and women who gave up their lives in the exemplary Jaina fashion of death by starvation.
    - On the Konkan coast, many stones were erected in memory of sailors who lost their lives in sea battles.
    - Some memorial stones were worshiped.
- Donative inscriptions
  - Refer especially to gifts of money, cattle, land, etc., mainly for religious purposes, made not only by kings and princes but also by artisans and merchants.
  - Inscriptions in favour of religious establishments:
    - They were inscribed on shrine walls, railings, and gateways. The excavation and donation of caves to ascetics was recorded in inscriptions in the caves.
    - Donative inscriptions include records of the installation of religious images, often inscribed on the images themselves.
    - Others record investments of money made by people, out of the interest of which lamps, flowers, incense, etc. were to be provided for the worship of the deity.
  - Royal land grants:
    - Inscriptions recording land grants, made mainly by chiefs and princes, are very important for the study of the land system and administration in ancient India.
    - There are thousands of such inscriptions, some on stone, but mostly inscribed on one or more copper plates.
    - They record grants of lands, revenues, and villages made to monks, priests, temples, monasteries, vassals, and officials. They were written in all languages, including Prakrit, Sanskrit, Tamil and Telugu.
    - The earliest stone inscriptions recording land grants with tax exemptions are Satavahana and Kshatrapa epigraphs found at Nashik.
    - The mid-4th century Pallava and Shalankayana grants are the earliest surviving copper plate grants. One of the oldest copper plate grants from north India is the late 4th century CE Kalachala grant of king Ishvararata. Copper plate grants increased in number and frequency in the early medieval period.
- Prashastis:
  - Royal inscriptions include prashastis.
  - Most royal inscriptions (and some private ones too) usually begin with a prashasti, but some inscriptions are entirely devoted to eulogizing their subject.
  - They eulogize the attributes and achievements of kings and conquerors, and ignore their defeats or weaknesses.
  - Examples are:
    - Hathigumpha inscription of Kharavela, a 1st century BCE/1st century CE king of Kalinga in Orissa,
    - Allahabad prashasti of the 4th century Gupta emperor Samudragupta.
Certain inscriptions record the building of waterworks, wells, and charitable feeding houses by private individuals. A series of unique records of royal initiatives of this kind are inscribed on a granite rock at Junagadh (Girnar) in Gujarat.
- Apart from a set of Ashokan edicts, this rock bears two other important inscriptions.
  - A 150 CE inscription of the Shaka ruler Rudradaman records the beginning of the construction of a water reservoir known as Sudarshana lake in the 4th century BCE during the time of the Maurya emperor Chandragupta, its completion during the reign of Ashoka, and its repair in the 2nd century CE.
  - A 5th century inscription on the same rock, of the time of the Gupta king Skandagupta, describes how the lake burst its banks due to excessive rains and was repaired after two years’ work.
- Others are votive records of the followers of Buddhism, Jainism, Vaishnavism, Shaivism, and the like.
  - They appear on pillars, tablets, temples, or images as marks of devotion.
Miscellaneous types of inscriptions:
- There are other miscellaneous types of inscriptions—labels, graffiti left by pilgrims and travellers, religious formulae, and writing on seals.
- Certain inscriptions from Madhya Pradesh give a condensed summary of the basics of Sanskrit grammar.
- ‘Footprint inscriptions’ are found in many parts of the country, accompanying a pair of engraved footprints of a holy man, king or other noteworthy person.

Inscriptions as a source of history

Advantages:
- Compared with manuscript of texts, inscriptions have the advantage of durability.
- They are usually contemporaneous to the events they speak of and their information can be connected to a time and place.
- Changes and additions made to them can usually be detected without great difficulty.
- Compared to literary sources, which tend to give a theoretical perspective, inscriptions often reflect what people were actually doing.
Inscription are a valuable source of information on political history. The geographical spread of a king’s inscriptions is often taken as indicating the area under his political control.
- But discovery of inscriptions depends on chance and not all the inscriptions inscribed during a king’s reign need necessarily be found. Furthermore, movable inscriptions are not always found in situ, i.e., in their original place.
The earliest royal inscriptions do not contain much geographical material, but later ones generally do. Their prashastis give details about the history of dynasties and the reigns of kings. Of course, there are problems:
- Royal inscriptions naturally tend to exaggerate the achievements of the ruling king.
- Sometimes, confusion is created when a genealogy mentions kings with the same name, or when different inscriptions contradict each other on particular details.
- Sometimes genealogies skip names, for instance, in the case of Skandagupta and Ramagupta, who are ignored in Gupta genealogies because they did not come within the direct line of succession of the later ruler.
- There are cases where inscriptions of different dynasties make conflicting claims. For instance, a Gurjara-Pratihara inscription states that king Vatsaraja conquered all of Karnataka. However, the contemporary Rastrakuta king claims in his inscriptions to have defeated Vatsaraja and to have ruled over the Karnataka area.
- Wherever possible, details of political events given in inscriptions have to be cross-checked.
Inscriptions have also been used as a major source of information on political structures and administrative and revenue systems.
There are very few ancient records of secular land transactions and records of land disputes, which some inscriptions provide us. They also show the social and economic issues.
- For instance, an inscription of the time of the Chola king Rajaraja III (1231 CE):
  - It states that farmers of a certain village found the burden of arbitrary levies in money and paddy and the demand of compulsory labour made on various pretexts by several agencies so unbearable that they could no longer carry on cultivation.
  - A meeting of the Brahmana assembly and the leading men of the locality was held in the village temple.
  - Decisions were taken, fixing the dues that farmers were to give to the Brahmanas and royal tax collectors, and the labour services that they were expected to perform
Inscriptions shed light on the history of settlement patterns, agrarian relations and class and caste structures.
Inscriptions provide dateable information on the history of religious sects, institutions, and practices.
- Donative records help identify the sources of patronage enjoyed by ancient religious establishments.
- They also give glimpses into sects and cults that were once important but did not leave any literature of their own e.g., the Ajivika sect and the yaksha and naga cults.
Inscriptions can help identify and date sculptures and structures, and thus throw light on the history of iconography, art, and architecture.
They are also a rich source of information on historical geography.
- In fact, the location of several ancient Buddhist monastic sites such as Kapilvastu (identified with Piprahwa in Basti district, UP) has been fixed on the basis of inscribed monastic seals.
Inscriptions reflect the history of languages and literature and a few refer to the performing arts.
- For example, the 7th century Kudumiyamalai inscription gives the musical notes used in seven classical ragas.
- Inscriptions from Tamil Nadu refer to the performing of various kinds of dances. The pillars of the eastern and western gateways of the Nataraja temple at Chidambaram have label inscriptions describing the dance poses of 108 sculpted figures carved on them, quoting verses from the Natyashastra of Bharata.

Numismatics

The study of coins is called numismatics.
Ancient Indian currency was not issued in the form of paper but as metal coins.
Ancient coins were made of metal— copper, silver, gold, and lead.
Coin moulds made of burnt clay have been discovered in large numbers.
- Most of them relate to the Kushan period. The use of such moulds in the post-Gupta period virtually disappeared.
As there was nothing like the modern banking system in ancient times, people stored money in earthenware and also in brass vessels, and maintained them as precious hoards on which they could fall back in time of need.
- Many of these hoards, containing not only Indian coins but also those minted abroad, such as in the Roman empire, have been discovered in different parts of India.
Our earliest coins contain a few symbols, but the later coins depict the figures of kings, and divinities, and also mention their names and dates.

History of Indian Coinage

Stone age people had neither currency nor coinage and conducted exchange via barter. The
Harappans, for instance, had a very extensive trade network based on barter.
The Rig Veda mentions words such as nishka and nishkagriva (gold ornaments), and hiranyapinda (gold globules), but these cannot be understood as coins.
Later Vedic texts use terms such as nishka, suvarna, shatamana, and pada.
- These may have been metal pieces of definite weight, not necessarily full-fledged coins.
The earliest definite literary and archaeological evidence of coinage in the Indian subcontinent dates from the 6th–5th centuries BCE in a context of the emergence of states, urbanization, and expanding trade.
- Buddhist texts and the Ashtadhyayi refer to words such as:
  - kahapana/ karshapana,
  - nikkha/ nishka,
  - shatamana,
  - pada,
  - vimshatika,
  - trinshatika, and
  - suvanna/ suvarna.
- The basic unit of Indian coin weight systems was a red-and-black seed of the gunja berry known as the raktika, ratti, or rati.
- In South India, the standard weight of coins was theoretically calculated on the basis of the relationship between two kinds of beans—
  - The manjadi and
  - The kalanju.
- The advent of coinage did not mean the disappearance of barter—both co-existed for a very long time.
Punch-marked coins:
- The oldest coins found in the subcontinent are punch-marked coins, made mostly of silver, some of copper.
- They are usually rectangular, sometimes square or round and often irregular in shape.
- The blanks for making these coins were generally cut from a metal sheet.
  - The symbols were then hammered on these coins using dies or punches.
- Most of the silver punch-marked coins weighed 32 rattis or about 56 grains.
- Punch-marked coins are found all over the subcontinent, and continued to circulate in many places till the early centuries CE, with a longer period of circulation in peninsular India.
- The punch-marked coins of northern India can be divided into four main series on the basis of their weight, the number and nature of punch marks, and their area of circulation-
  - Taxila Gandhara type:
    - of the north-west
    - a heavy weight standard and
    - a single punch type;
  - Kosala type:
    - of the middle Ganga valley,
    - a heavy weight standard and
    - multiple punch marks;
  - Avanti type:
    - of western India,
    - a light weight standard and
    - single punch mark;
  - Magadhan type:
    - a light weight standard and
    - multiple punches.
- Changes in coinage patterns mirrored political changes.
  - With the expansion of the Magadhan empire, the Magadhan type of punch-marked coins came to gradually replace those of other states.
- Although these coins do not have any legends (i.e., anything written on them), it is likely that most of them were issued by states.
- In later times, there is evidence of city issues and guild issues, and it is possible that this practice also prevailed in the period of the punch-marked coins.
- Symbols on these coins include:
  - geometric designs,
  - plants,
  - animals,
  - the sun,
  - wheel,
  - mountain,
  - tree (including treein-railing),
  - branches, and
  - human figures.
- Some symbols may have had a religious or political importance.
- The coins often have primary and secondary punch marks.
  - The latter are ‘counterstamps’ or ‘countermarks’ which were added on later, without heating the coins.
Uninscribed cast coins:
- Uninscribed cast coins made of copper or alloys of copper appeared soon after the punchmarked coins.
- They have been found in most parts of the subcontinent except the far south.
- These coins were made by melting metal and pouring it into clay or metal moulds.
  - Clay moulds have in fact been found at many sites and a bronze mould was found at Iran in central India.
- The discovery of punch-marked and uninscribed cast coins in the same archaeological level at some early historical sites indicates that they overlapped in time.
Uninscribed die-struck coins:
- Uninscribed die-struck coins were mostly in copper, rarely in silver.
- The symbols, some similar to those on the punch-marked coins, were struck onto coin blanks with metal dies that were carefully carved with the required designs.
- The minting of such coins may have begun in about the 4th century BCE and they have been found in large numbers at sites such as Taxila and Ujjain.
Die-struck Indo-Greek coins:
- The next stage in the history of Indian coinage is marked by the die-struck Indo-Greek coins of the 2nd/1st century BCE.
- These are very well-executed, usually round (a few are square or rectangular) and mostly in silver (a few are in copper, a silver–copper alloy called billon, nickel, and lead).
- They bear the name and portrait of the issuing ruler on the obverse.
  - Coins of Menander and Strato I show them slowly aging from teenagers to old men, indicating their long reigns.
- Coins issued jointly by kings reflect the practice of conjoint rule.
- The reverse of the coins usually had religious symbols.
- The Indo-Greeks issued bilingual and bi-script coins, the name of the issuer appearing on the obverse in Greek and on the reverse in the Prakrit language and usually in the Kharoshthi script (rarely in Brahmi).
- Coins of the Shakas, Parthians, and Kshatrapas follow the basic features of Indo-Greek coinage, and include bilingual and bi-script issues.
Kushana’s coins:
- The Kushanas (1st–4th centuries CE) were the first dynasty of the subcontinent to mint large quantities of gold coins; their silver coins are rare. They also issued many copper coins of low denominational value, which indicates the increasing spread of the money economy.
- Kushana coins have the figure, name, and title of the king on the obverse. On the reverse are deities belonging to the Brahmanical, Buddhist, Greek, Roman, and other pantheons.
- The legends are either entirely in Greek, or in some cases in Kharoshthi on the reverse.
Local coins:
- A number of coin types ranging from the 3rd century BCE to the 4th century CE, referred as indigenous, tribal, janapada, or local coins form an important source of information on the history of the dynasties of northern and central India.
- These coins are mostly cast or die-struck in copper or bronze, but there are some silver coins and a few rare examples of ones in lead and potin (an alloy of copper, lead, tin, and dross).
- They include those issued by chieftains, kings, and non-monarchical states such as the Arjunayanas, Uddehikas, Malavas, and Yaudheyas.
- There are also coins bearing the name of cities such as Tripuri, Ujjayini, Kaushambi, Vidisha, Airikina, Mahishmati, Madhyamika, Varanasi, and Taxila, presumably issued by the administration of these cities.
- Some coins with the word negama seem to represent coins issued by merchant guilds.
- Certain Taxila coins with the legend pancha-nekame may have been issued jointly by five guilds.
Satvahana’s coins:
- In the Deccan, the pre-Satavahana coinage was followed by the copper and silver coins of the Satavahana kings. Rulers of this dynasty also issued coins of small denominational value made of lead and potin.
- Most Satavahana coins were die-struck, but there are some cast coins.
- The legends were generally in the Prakrit language and Brahmi script. However, the portrait coins (mostly in silver, but also in lead) use a Dravidian language and Brahmi script.
- Punch-marked coins continued to circulate alongside the Satavahana issues.
Ikshvakus:
- In the post-Satavahana period in the eastern Deccan, the Ikshvakus of the lower Krishna valley (3rd–4th centuries) issued lead coins similar in fabric to the Satavahana ones.
Western Deccan:
- There was a greater demand for silver currency in the western Deccan, perhaps due to commercial reasons.
- The Kshatarapa ruler Nahapana introduced a silver currency in the Nashik area.
- Roman gold coins also flowed into peninsular India in large quantities in the early centuries CE and may have been used as a medium of exchange for large-scale transactions or as currency reserves and capital deposits.
  - Locally made imitations of Roman gold coins have also been found.
- So, in the early centuries CE in the western Deccan, there was a co-existence of Satavahana, Kshatrapa, punch-marked, and Roman coins.
- Currencies of the western Deccan also flowed into the eastern Deccan.
South India:
- Some of the punch-marked coins found in various parts of South India have been identified as dynastic issues on the basis of their symbols. For example, coins found in a hoard at Bodinaikkanur near Madurai had a double carp fish—the symbol of the Pandya kings.
- In recent times, there has been increasing evidence of dynastic issues (some with portraits) with legends of the Cholas, Cheras, and Pandyas.
  - Coins with the legend Valuti have been assigned to the Pandyas.
  - Silver coins with the portrait of a Chera king and the legend Makkotai have been found in the Krishna riverbed near Karur.
  - There are also coins with the legends Kuttuvan Kotai and Kollippurai along with the Chera symbols of the bow and arrow and the double fish and tiger.
Gupta’s coins:
- The imperial Gupta kings issued well-executed die-struck gold coins with metrical legends in Sanskrit.
- Known as dinaras, these coins have been mostly found in north India.
- The obverse depicts the reigning king in various poses, usually martial ones, but there are interesting instances of coins of Samudragupta and Kumaragupta I showing them playing the vina (a stringed instrument).
- The reverse of the Gupta coins have religious symbols indicating the kings’ religious affiliations.
- There was a decline in the metallic purity of gold coins in the later part of Skandagupta’s reign.
- The Guptas also issued silver coins, but their copper coins are rare.

Numismatic history of the early medieval period:

The numismatic history of the early medieval period is a subject of continuing debate. Historians who describe this period as marked by a feudal order talk of a decline in coinage along with a decline in trade and urban centres, followed by a revival in the 11th century.
- This hypothesis can be questioned.
- There was certainly a decline in the aesthetic quality of coins, in the number of coin types, and in their message content.
- Many are devoid of names or titles, and are therefore difficult to associate with a particular king.
- However, as demonstrated by John S. Deyell, there does not seem to have been a decline in the volume of coins in circulation.
A number of base metal alloy coin series were issued by dynasties in early medieval times.
Rajputana and Gujarat:
- In the Ganga valley, billon coins circulated in the Gurjara-Pratihara kingdom, while other coin types circulated in Rajputana and Gujarat.
Sindh:
- Copper coins were minted by the Arab governors of Sindh between the mid-8th to mid-9th centuries.
Kashmir:
- In Kashmir, copper coins were supplemented by bills of exchange (hundikas) denominated in terms of coins or grain, and the use of cowries.
Bengal:
- During the 6th– 7th centuries, kings of Bengal such as Shashanka issued gold coins.
- No coin issues of the Pala and Sena dynasties have so far been identified. It has been suggested that the references to currency units in their inscriptions do not represent actual coins but theoretical units of value made up by a fixed number of objects such as cowries.
- However, a number of silver coins known as Harikela coins were circulating in Bengal between the 7th and 13th centuries and these had corresponding local eastern series, issued in the name of various localities.
Western Deccan:
- In the western Deccan, some early medieval coin types have been tentatively identified with the Chalukyas of Badami.
- Although gold and silver coins found in the Andhra region have been attributed to the early eastern Chalukyas, there seems to be a subsequent gap of about three centuries till the end of the 10th century, when there was a revival of gold and copper coinage under the later kings of this dynasty.
- The attribution of certain gold and silver coins to the Chalukyas of Kalyana (8th–12th centuries) and to the Kalachuri Rajputs remains uncertain.
- Coins issued by the Kadambas of Goa (11th–12th centuries) have been identified, and a few gold coins have been attributed to the Shilaharas of the western Deccan (11th century).
Far South:
- In the far south, coins with lion and bull motifs, some inscribed with titles, have been associated with the Pallavas.
- The tiger crest is the emblem on Chola coins.
  - The seals of several Chola copper plate inscriptions show the tiger, fish (the Pandya emblem), and bow (the Chera emblem), indicating that the Cholas had achievedCoins as a source of history political supremacy over these two dynasties.
  - The appearance of these three emblems on many gold, silver, and copper coins suggests that these were Chola issues.
- Gold coins found at Kavilayadavalli in Andhra Pradesh have the motifs of the tiger, bow, and some indistinct marks.
  - The obverse has the Tamil legend sung which seems to be a short form of sungandavirttarulina (abolisher of tolls), one of the titles of the Chola king Kulottunga I.
  - The legends on the reverse may indicate the names of mint towns.
- The last phase of Chola rule is only represented by copper coins.
- Coins—mostly copper ones—of the early medieval Pandyas have been found largely in Sri Lanka.
Cowries:
- Cowries were also used as coins, though their purchasing power was low. They appear in substantial numbers in post-Gupta times, but may have been used earlier.
- In many parts of early medieval India, cowries continued to be used as money along with coins.
  - At Sohepur in Orissa, 25,000 cowries were found along with 27 Kalachuri coins.
  - At Bhaundri village in Lucknow, 54 Pratihara coins were found along with 9,834 cowries.
- Cowries were probably used by people either for small-scale transactions or where coins of small denominational value were in short supply.
- The market value of cowries fluctuated, depending on demand and supply.

Coins as a source of history

In the course of circulation, coins are subjected to wear and tear and their weight gradually decreases. This fact enables numismatists to arrange them in a chronological sequence.
Language and script:
- Legends on coins give information on the history of languages and scripts.
Economic history:
- As coins were used for various purposes such as donations, a mode of payment, and a medium of exchange, they throw considerable light on economic history.
- Some coins were issued by guilds of merchants and goldsmiths with the permission of the rulers. This shows that crafts and commerce had become important.
- Monetary history:
  - Coins are linked to monetary history, which includes:
    - an analysis of the production and circulation of coinage,
    - the monetary values attached to coins, and
    - the frequency and volume of issues.
  - Monetary history is in turn an important aspect of the history of exchange and trade.
- Trade:
  - The wide distribution of Kushana coins indicates the flourishing trade of the period.
  - The ship on certain Satavahana coins reflects the importance of maritime trade in the Deccan during this period.
  - Roman coins found in various parts of India provide information on Indo-Roman trade.
  - The largest number of Indian coins date to the post-Maurya period. These were made of lead, potin, copper, bronze, silver, and gold. The Guptas issued the largest number of gold coins.
    - All this indicates that trade and commerce flourished, especially in post-Maurya and a good part of the Gupta period.
    - However, only a few coins belonging to the post-Gupta period have been found, which indicates a decline of trade and commerce in that period.
- Importance of guild:
  - The few coin series issued by guilds indicate the importance of these institutions.
- Economic prosperity:
  - Coins are often taken to indicate levels of economic prosperity (or the lack of it) or the financial condition of ancient states.
  - Coins helped transactions on a large scale and contributed to trade.
  - Historians frequently interpret the debasement of coins as an indication of a financial crisis in the state or more general economic decline, for instance, in the time of the later Guptas.
  - However, in a situation where the supply of precious metals is restricted or reduced, alloying or debasement can be a response to an increase in the demand for coins created by an increase in the volume of economic transactions.
Helps in date the layers:
- Dates appear rarely on early Indian coins. Exceptions are western Kshatrapa coins which give dates in the Shaka era and some Gupta silver coins which give the regnal years of kings.
- Whether dated or undated, coins discovered in archaeological excavations often help date the layers. An example is the site of Sonkh near Mathura, where the excavated levels were divided into eight periods on the basis of coin finds.
Political history:
- As important royal message-bearing media, coins form a vital source of political history.
  - The area of circulation of dynastic issues is often used to estimate the extent and frontiers of empires.
    - This has enabled us to reconstruct the history of several ruling dynasties, especially of the Indo-Greeks who came to India from north Afghanistan and ruled here in the second and first centuries BC.
    - However, caution has to be exercised, because coins made of precious metals had an intrinsic value and often circulated beyond the borders of the state issuing them.
  - They also sometimes continued to circulate for some time after a dynasty faded from power.
  - Several different currency systems could prevail in an area, and it is necessary to visualize multiple overlapping and intersecting spheres of coin circulation.
- Numismatic evidence is an especially important source for the political history of India between c. 200 BCE and 300 CE.
  - Most of the Indo-Greek kings are known almost entirely from their coins.
  - Coins also offer information on the Parthians, Shakas, Kshatrapas, Kushanas, and Satavahanas.
  - The coins of over 25 kings with names ending in the suffix ‘mitra’ have been found in the area from east Punjab to the borders of Bihar.
  - Coins found in various parts of north and central India (Vidisha, Eran, Pawaya Mathura, etc.) mention kings whose names end in the suffix ‘naga’, about whom little is known from other sources.
- Ancient political systems:
  - Coins also offer information on ancient political systems. The term gana on coins of the Yaudheyas and Malavas points to their non-monarchical polity.
  - City coins are suggestive of the importance and possible autonomy of certain city administrations.
- Biographies:
  - Sometimes, numismatic evidence offers more than just the names of kings and provides biographical details.
  - For instance, the only specific detail we know about the life of the Gupta king Chandragupta I is that he married a Lichchhavi princess, and this detail comes from coins commemorating the marriage.
  - Coins have helped prove that a Gupta king named Ramagupta ruled between Samudragupta and Chandragupta II.
- The performance of the ashvamedha sacrifice by Samudragupta and Kumaragupta I is recorded on coins. The archer and battleaxe coin types of Samudragupta predictably advertise his physical prowess, while the lyrist type, which shows him playing the vina, represents a completely different aspect of his personality.
Religion:
- Coins also portray kings and gods, and contain religious symbols and legends, all of which throw light on the art and religion of the time.
- The depiction of deities on coins provides information about the personal religious preferences of kings, royal religious policy, and the history of religious cults.
- For instance, representations of Balarama and Krishna appear on 2nd century BCE coins of the Indo-Greek king Agathocles at Aï- Khanoum (in Afghanistan), indicating the popularity and importance of the cults of these gods in this region.
- The depiction of a great variety of figures from Indian, Iranian, and Graeco-Roman religious traditions on the coins of the Kushana kings is generally interpreted as a reflection of their eclectic religious views.
- But it can equally be read as evidence of the many religious cults prevailing in their empire and the wide range of religious symbols through which the Kushanas chose to legitimize their political power.

Conclusion

The various literary and archaeological sources for ancient and early medieval India have their own specific potential as well as limitations, which have to be taken into account by the historian.
Interpretation is integral to analysing the evidence from ancient texts, archaeological sites, inscriptions, and coins.
- Wherever several sources are available, their evidence has to be co-related.
- The co-relation of evidence from texts and archaeology is especially important for a more comprehensive and inclusive history of ancient and early medieval India.
- However given the inherent differences in the nature of literary and archaeological data, it is not always easy to integrate them into a smooth and seamless narrative.