Persian and Greek Coins and their Imitations in Ancient India
By Surendra Kishore Chakraborty
Summary
Surveying the history of coinage, the author argues that India’s earliest punch‑marked coins are indigenous. He cites Rapson and Bhandarkar to show that the origin of Indian coinage lies within India and not in Babylon, Persia or Greece. The article explains that Indian coins were based on the rati weight system; a silver dharaṇa weighed 32 ratis and a copper kārṣāpaṇa 80 ratis. The punch‑marked coins were irregular in shape—rectangular, square or polygonal—because they were cut from metal sheets. Their symbols were largely indigenous. The paper contrasts Indian coins with Persian and Greek coins, detailing differences in weights, metals and iconography, and summarises the evolution of Greek coinage from Lydia and Ionia to Athens. While acknowledging that later Indian coins imitated Greek types, the author insists that the earliest Indian monetary system was original and suggests that foreign influence became significant only in subsequent centuries.
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Conclusion
The conclusion stresses that Indian numismatics has its own independent origins. Early punch‑marked coins reflect local economic needs, and later imitations of Greek and Persian coins should not obscure this indigenous development.