Lectures on Ancient Indian Numismatics (Carmichael Lectures, 1921) c7.16

c7.16

To find out, however, whether there was any foreign influence on the earliest metallic currency of India, we must discuss the question: to what earliest period the art of coin-making in India is traceable. The question can be satisfactorily answered only by ransacking our literature, sacred and profane, Brahmanic and Buddhist, and finding out what classes of coins were prevalent at different periods before 400 B.C. which is the earliest date assigned by Prof. Rapson to the Kārshāpaṇas.