Lectures on Ancient Indian Numismatics (Carmichael Lectures, 1921) c10.3.1

c10.3.1

The earliest composition of the Vedic period is, as you all know, represented by the hymns of the Rig-Veda. And in my second lecture I had occasion to tell you that in the Rigvedic period itself there were two types of metallic currency, prevalent side by side. One of them was known as *hiranya-piṇḍa* or buttons of gold, and the other *nishka* which were actually gold coins. If at the beginning of the Vedic period stamped money was current side by side with unstamped money, it is clear that the metallic currency of India must have had an earlier origin, *i.e.* an origin earlier than the time of even the Rig-Veda. And if such is the case with the metallic coinage of this country, the age when any kind of currency first originated in India must be pushed back still earlier. Hence before we actually begin the history of coinage in ancient India, it seems desirable to say a few words, or rather to make a few guesses, in regard to the condition of currency that may have prevailed in this country before the advent of the Aryans. I can quite imagine at this stage some doubt crossing the mind of most of you here as to how I could even surmise the state of currency in pre-Vedic India. But what Professor Ridgeway has done in regard to the pre-historic or proto-historic currency of Greece can also be attempted on a modest scale in regard to India provided we follow his method which is typically the anthropological method.