Foreign Denominations of Ancient Indian Coins
By Surendra Kishore Chakraborty
Summary
This numismatic study traces how foreign coin names and standards entered the Indian monetary system. It begins with indigenous punch‑marked coins of the first millennium BCE, such as the purana/dharana and karsapana, which were originally weight terms but became names for silver and copper coins. Through trade with Persia, the Hellenistic world and Rome, Indian merchants encountered foreign currencies; as a result, denominations like dinara (from the Roman denarius) and suvarna appear in inscriptions. The article analyses references in legal texts and literature to show how terms like kahapana came to denote any small coin regardless of metal. Indo‑Greek and Roman coins circulated widely in north‑west India, influencing local weights and prompting the minting of bilingual imitations. By the Gupta period, foreign names were assimilated and used for high‑value gold issues, illustrating the adaptability of India’s monetary system. The author argues that these borrowings reflect the cosmopolitanism of ancient Indian commerce and the syncretic nature of its coinage.
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Conclusion
Drawing on numismatic and textual evidence, the article shows that ancient India absorbed foreign coin names and standards into its currency, revealing extensive trade links and a flexible monetary culture.