Lectures on Ancient Indian Numismatics (Carmichael Lectures, 1921) c10.51.1

c10.51.1

The next designation of monetary value that we have to consider is Diṇāra. I have again and again told you that it was the name of the gold coins introduced by the Kushana kings and continued by the Gupta sovereigns and that Dīnāra was so called after the Roman Denarius. There were, however, two kinds of Denarius, *viz.* gold and silver, and it was the former, that is, *Denarius aureus* of about 122 grains, that was adopted, by the Kushana rulers, for their gold coins. It was for this reason that only the gold coins of the Kushanas and the Guptas are designated Dīnāras, no silver Dīnāras being yet known. Now, the question here arises: why did the Kushanas adopt the Roman standard of weight for their coins? Does it not indicate that there was brisk trade going on between Rome and India? Of course, this trade had begun long prior to the reign of Augustus, for do we not know that silver denarii of the Consular period have been found in Stūpas on the north-west frontiers of India?¹ It is worthy of note that Roman coins have been found in India in abundance and that they are generally found in two regions, namely, (1) in the north-west, and (2) in and near the Coimbatore District and at Madura in the Madras Presidency. Those picked up in South India pertain to the period commencing with Augustus and ending with the death of Nero, that is, from 27 B.C. to 68 A.D. Hoards of Roman coins belonging to this period are reported to have been discovered in this region.