Coins of India

Short history of Money

As humans started to settle, cultures developed and spread. Earlier, barter system was used which was later replaced by variaous materials like shells, piece of metals, terracota units, cattles, etc. However, metal, because of its long(or infinite) life time and malleability and ductility became the prefered medium to be used by people as money.

Coins: Metal money

When people started using metal as money, there was need to prove the authenticity of the metal money which lead to use of symbols stamped on to these piece of matal. Thus punch mark coins came into use. As civilizations further developed, more advanced methods were used to make the coins. In time more metals discoverd and uesd as technology advanced. Now, Numismatics is the field which related to the study or collection of currency, including coins, tokens, paper money, and related objects.

Coins and Money in India

India's hisory is thousands of years old. There are many forms of primitive money found from different parts of India. As coins, punch mark coins(PMC) are the firs form of currency. PMCs were in use aroun 6th century BC and it was widespread during the Mayuran period(322–185 BC). Now, we get a lot of silver PMCs during excavation which are from these ancient period. Mayuran PMCs were with local punch mark coins were used in South India. Various punch mark coins belonging to Sangam age has been found from various parts of south India.

Symbols in Coins

As coins were minted over time, various symbols are used on coins which gives us a glimpse of the past world. The symbols may denote cultural beliefs, religion, emblem of ruling authority or incriptions with ancient scripts. These informations gives us a glimpse of the past and are also used in archeology as Numismatic evidence to support findings or to determine the chronology of rulers etc.

Numismatics as a hobby

Many people(Including Me) considers Numismatics/Coin collecting as a hobby. It gives a lot of pleasure in collecting a new coin and finding the history associated with it. Please enjoy my collections which I have published as Images in this blog.

Posted By Arun J