Coins and Seals in Ancient India an Annotated Bibliography

COINS AND SEALS IN ANCIENT INDIA AN ANNOTATED BIBLIOGRAPHY SUBMITTED IN PARTIAL FULFILMENT FOR THE DEGREE OF MASTER OF LIBRARY SCIENCE 19T9—SO by JABEEN FATIMA Roll No. 28 Enrolment No. J 8977 Under the supervision of Mr. ISHRAT ALl QURESHI DEPARTMENT OF LIBRARY SCIENCE ALIGARH MUSLIM UNIVERSITY ALIGARH '•>V •L.v .•, V 9»d In CMiMtM / . n'-'^ M 'ay ^-0^^ 71' DEDICATED TO MY PARENTS ACKN OtfLBDGEMEN TS I am grateful to Prof. M.H. Razvi, University Librarian and Head, Department of Library Science, for providing the necessary facilities to carry out this Project and giving me an opportunity to study this fascinating subject. I am Indebted to my supervisor, Mr. I.A. Qureshi, Deputy Librarian, for suggesting this interesting problem, encouragement and valuable guidance* thanks are also due to Prof. K.A. Kizami, Head, Department of History, for permitting mei to consult the seminar library of the department of History. Careful typing of this manuscript by Mr. Mohd. Rashid is also thankfully acknowledged. CONTENTS PAflT CME Pages Chapter 1 . INTHQDUCTICN ,•. ,,, • •• 1-3"^ Chapter 2. ABf, SCOffi AND MSIHODOLOGY • •• 35-36 Chapter 3. LIST CF IERIC3DICAIS AND BOCKS DOCUMENTED • • • 37-39 PART TWO Chapter 1 . ANNOTATED BIBlOGKAffll ... 14-0-160 PART TSBEE Chapter 1. AUTHOR BÎEX ... I6l-I6»f Chapter 2. SUBJECT INIEX ... 165-171 Chapter 3. TITIE INDEX ... 172-178 PART ONE INTHODUCTION COINS Every coin has its setting, its bistorial back ground} it has links with the religion, the art and the literature of the period. The world of numismAtics is vast. It was in Ancient Greece that coins began; it wsts there that they achieved perfection. Importance is attached to early Jiidian coins; and nutnisflaatics, as science of coins is regonised as a great source of ancient history. The scope of numienuitics study is very wide. It covers not only the materials of which coins are made but also takes within its ambit the sources of such materials. It includes the forms which coins take from the point of view of weight, design and technique of manufacture. It studies the organizaticsi and control of their production and circulation by the state or by some other authority, including such questions, as the size and frequency of issues and the monetary and the metallic values attached to each type of coin. In other words the coins are a source of study of the political, administrative, social, economic, religious and cultural life of a particular period of history of a country or people. The circulation of coins, however, need not always be confined to the dominion of the issuing soverign jjower. Coins may travel far beyond the borders of such dominions under curious circumstances. Their geographical distribution may often indicate either political conquest or commercial relations, but sometimes they indicate nothing more than the wide popularity of a coin-series. Coins may also travel with pilgrims to religious places, Hov/ever, the story of coins is interwoven with the history of maJikind, In the palacolitMc period the basis of subsistence was hunting ^d food gathering; and the small groups of families or tribes used to domesticate animals for food and other purposes. They were primarily the hunting pastors and their relationghit) with other tribes was mainly hostile, They thus reauiresd no means of exchsinge for their daily life. But when people settled in locala- tics and the communities grew in size,, the exohapfige of different products becê a necessity; then the mutual exchange of things took the shape of trade and the barter system was evolved. But the disadvantage of the barter system was soon realized and hence a new method wae evolved, A common commodity was fixed to serve as m intermediaJT in all transactions. In due couiree of time, certain commodities got preference over others snd a higher value was attached to them. They assumed tlie character of a medtom of exchange and got a standard by which the value of other things was estimated. Thus emerged the notion of the unit of value the first step towards tfm evolution of coinage. Prof. Francis A, Walker points out, 'The need of money comes from the fact of trade. Trade in the beginAing assumes the form of direct exchange, Ooimnodity for commodity that is call Truck or Barter. But trade cannot proceed far without serious obstacle to dirct exchange•. This point is also further stressed by Prof, Jevons in his fgpous vmik, *Money and the Mechanism of Sxoh^ge*. Such was the case with the Indus Valley people. During Vedic and Post-vedlc period silver coin was called "Rayis*. The system of barter existed along with the metallic coins in the age of the epics. In the Ramayana it is âio-m as *NiPkraya*, A new phase of Indian history beirins with Alexander the Great when he entered India in the spring of 326 BC, Gold coins for the first time are hea;rd of during this period, A few legendless gold coins ore attributed to Men^der on the basis of their type. If they were really issued by Menander, then they may be the earliest gold coins issued on the soil of India. The Indo-Bactri^ rulers used coins by die-striking technique v/hich was earlier unknown in India. Inscription is another feature on these coins, a feature which was quite new to India, The sake - Pahlava occupied the North-Westem India, Their supremacy in India ended with the advent of the kushanas some time in the first century AD, The earliest Indisffi Kushana coins are those which were issued by Kujula Kadphises in copper. The earliest of them bear the bust of Herraaeus, the last Baotrian ruler, on the obverse and Herakles on the reverse. These are in continua tion of the imitations which v/ere minted by the Parthlg^ successors after Hermaeus*s death. Another tyt>e of his 4 coins have a diademed Homan-style male head on the obverse, which was apparentIjr copied from the RoEian coins. The style and the form of the portrait are so general that there can be no precise identification of the Homan enqperor whose coins were copied, but generally it is identified with Augustus. On the reverse of these coins is shown a male, dressed in liido-Schthian costiume and seated on curule, who is probably Kujula Kadphises himself. A third type of coin bears a bull on one side and a double-humped Bactrian camel on the other* It probably reflects the nomadic habits of the Kushanas* All these coins are bilingual, having Greek inscription on the obverse and Kharoshthi on the reverse* T he coins of Kujula's successor Wima Kad];îses are so radically different from those of his father that had there not been other evidence, on the basis of coins, his succession would have been deemed improbable* The coins of Wima port ray his powerful and accomplished image, while those of his father are barbarous. He issued copper coins in contribution to the earlier tradition, but his most notable contribujteion is the introduction of extensive gold coins for the first time in liidia* Most likely he issued these coins, inspired by the Roman coins that were pouring into India in plenty through trade. Gold coins of three denominations were issued by him - double dinara, dinara and quarlber - dinara. The last one is rare* Wima is portrayed on the obverse of ttie coins as an elderly man of a heavy body in various attitudes - seated 5 on a couch; seated cross-legged, seated at a jharolcha (window)J rideng an elephant; driving in a Mga? standing sacrificing at an pltar. ?hio latter type; i.e., standing at an altar, appears only on copper, This introdnced a motif, which hecame the basic thewe of the royal portrait on the later Kushana coins. On some coins Wima is shoim floating through or risitig from the clouds and a flfane is shown issuing from his Bhoulders, Thesedistinctly Indicate that he claimed divinity for himself. On the reverse of the coins of v/ima, Siva with his long trident and sometimes acconrpîed "by his bull is in Variably seen. On a few coins îva is represented by his trident-battle axe, This shov/s that he had adapted himself to the Indian environment and had identified himself with Saivism. Another notable thing in Kughana numismatics is that Wlma was the last ruler who Issued bilingual coins bearing Greek ^d Kharoshthl Inscriptions, Wima Kadphises' successor was KEtnisMca (Kanlshka I), who, like his predecessor, issued coins only In gold and copper; but unlike him, he preferred only one type for his portrayal-standing, drosBed in a long tunic, shalwar, mantle held by double clasp at the chest and a lov; round oapt sacrificing at an altar and holding a spear In his left hand, but at the same time he did not confine the reverse of his coins at any one particularrlelty. He ended the blllnfmal tradition of Greek and Kharoshthl and retained only Greek for a while and Issued coins with the legend Baslleos Baîllon KanishkoTi. On the reverse of these coins, he introauced three deities with Greek najnes, Helios, SaLene aPd Het^hai but none of the fipiures hearing these names portrayed on coin-5 are Greek in their iconographic fowns. He soon di: carded Greek and introduced a new lanâge- the midi-Iranii (Bactarian) or Khotpnese-Srfca on the other side of his col From now on, Kanishka*s coins bear the legend Shaonsno Shs Kanishki Koshano, On the reverse of these coins are placei a number of dtltUs - male and female - bearing the Iranian names - Mihira or Mithra <SUK), Mao (lôon), Oado (Vayu,Mnd Orlagno (Vrithragna, the national lord of Iranian Inarifits) Luhraspa (Dnivaspa, the guardian of the health of animals), f Athsha (Five), Pharro (Khvareno, the Iranian

Load more