abhishreshthaa
Abhijeet S
The story of the rupee has the fascination of which legends are made of. It has survived ups and downs through more than four centuries.The word rupee comes from the hindi/urdu word rupaiya which is derived from the Sanskrit word rupya or rupika, meaning coinage or wrought silver.
The earliest Indian coins were cut and chipped to desired weights. Sometimes pre-weighed metals were melted and poured on a flat surface to take its own shape. Metals were mostly silver but occasionally copper and other contemporary metals were used.
These pieces were then punched-marked with symbols and designs but there were no inscriptions so the coins cannot be ascribed to any particular king or dynasty.
There are more than a 100 different symbols and occur in a maddening array of permutations and combinations. These are called punch-marked coins and are perhaps the earliest known coins in the world (c 700 BC-c200 BC). The silver required for minting these coins was mined from modern day Afghanistan and Kangra in Himachal Pradesh.
Hoards of these coins were found in Central Asia, Bactria, and in South India. This shows the extent of the Indian empires and spread of culture with a well developed fiscal and monetary administration.
The advent of Green adventurers and their assimilation into the Indian cultural society around 200 BC gave rise to India-Greek dynasties and the coinage system was overhauled to show the profile of the then rulers and their names in Green and in Indian languages—khrosthi and brahmi. These coins are known as India-Greek and are quite different from Greek coins.
Coins of various dynasties, empires and regions continued till the advent of the Islamic Sultanates (11th century AD). Islamic law strictly forbade the portrayal of any living being in art or on the face of coins. Profile or rulers was replaced by the kalima (la ilahi il Allah…).
The reverse side of the coins bore the name of the king, year of mintage and place of issue. The coins issued were all of unequal weight “minted mass” i.e. silver coins were weighed and not counted in any financial transaction during this period.
The earliest Indian coins were cut and chipped to desired weights. Sometimes pre-weighed metals were melted and poured on a flat surface to take its own shape. Metals were mostly silver but occasionally copper and other contemporary metals were used.
These pieces were then punched-marked with symbols and designs but there were no inscriptions so the coins cannot be ascribed to any particular king or dynasty.
There are more than a 100 different symbols and occur in a maddening array of permutations and combinations. These are called punch-marked coins and are perhaps the earliest known coins in the world (c 700 BC-c200 BC). The silver required for minting these coins was mined from modern day Afghanistan and Kangra in Himachal Pradesh.
Hoards of these coins were found in Central Asia, Bactria, and in South India. This shows the extent of the Indian empires and spread of culture with a well developed fiscal and monetary administration.
The advent of Green adventurers and their assimilation into the Indian cultural society around 200 BC gave rise to India-Greek dynasties and the coinage system was overhauled to show the profile of the then rulers and their names in Green and in Indian languages—khrosthi and brahmi. These coins are known as India-Greek and are quite different from Greek coins.
Coins of various dynasties, empires and regions continued till the advent of the Islamic Sultanates (11th century AD). Islamic law strictly forbade the portrayal of any living being in art or on the face of coins. Profile or rulers was replaced by the kalima (la ilahi il Allah…).
The reverse side of the coins bore the name of the king, year of mintage and place of issue. The coins issued were all of unequal weight “minted mass” i.e. silver coins were weighed and not counted in any financial transaction during this period.