Coin it!

India's tryst with money began in the 5th-6th century B.C. when local states and the succeeding Mauryan empire issued tiny, hand-cut silver coins 'punched' with multiple religious and state symbols.

Alexander's invasion of the north-western frontier of India resulted in the creation of an Indo-Greek dynasty of rulers, who issued Greek-style coins with images of Indian deities like Vasudeva-Krishna and Lakshmi. The transition to gold coinage began under the Kushanas and the Guptas in the first few centuries of the Christian era.

Indian coinage floundered in the post-Gupta period due to the arrival of barbaric Hunas but revived in the ninth and tenth centuries in the last phase of 'Hindu' coinage. Then came the Islamic rulers of the Dehli Sultanate with coinage that had the date and place of minting inscribed in Arabic-Persian legends but no images. This tradition was temporarily modified by Akbar and Jehangir, who issued coins with images of the Emperor, birds and even 'Rama-Siya' inscribed in Devanagari. Akbar also issued gold, silver and copper coins called Mohur, Rupaiya and Paisa to stabilise the country's economy.

The Mughal coinage continued for the next two-and-a-half centuries to be slowly replaced by coinages of local states and European companies in the late 18th century. It was estimated that there were at least 100 types of rupees issued during this period. The situation was soon remedied by the British in 1835 with the introduction of Uniform Coinage in the name of the British monarch and the ensuing 'British Indian' currency, which was used until India's Independence.

Independent India issued its own coinage in 1950 after the formation of the Indian Republic and reformed the currency by the decimalisation of the Rupee 'Naya Paisa' and the vigorous issuing of bank notes by the Reserve Bank of India. Two excellent numismatic galleries in Mumbai showcase the glorious aspects of India's monetary history. The first is the 'House of Lakshmi' Gallery at the CSMVS Museum, Kala Ghoda and the second is the RBI Monetary Museum at Horniman Circle, which also houses an admirable collection of bank notes, medieval Hundis and other indigenous banking instruments of the pre-colonial era.

The author is a professional numismatist and the Convenor of CENNUMIS, an organisation committed to the promotion of Indian numismatics. He can be contacted on drkalra1@gmail.com