Lectures on Ancient Indian Numismatics (Carmichael Lectures, 1921) c7.71

c7.71

Now, what is the upshot of the whole discussion? We find that not only Pāṇini’s Sūtras or Buddhist Birth Stories, but all sections of the Vedic literature, contain undoubted references to the different classes of coins. Thus the coins called Kṛiṣṇalas, Suvarṇas, Śatamānas and Nishkas have been mentioned not only in the Brāhmaṇa but also in the Saṃhitā portions of the Vedas. The conclusion is, therefore, irresistible that the art of coining was known to India when the Vedic Aryans composed their hymns. I am aware that different scholars have propounded different theories in regard to the duration of the Vedic period, especially in regard to its initial point. Thus according to some of them the Vedic period begins from 1200, according to some from 1500 and according to some again from 2000 B.C., all however agreeing that it terminates about 500 B.C. The ‘Age of the Veda’ was about eleven years ago subjected to a searching and exhaustive scrutiny by Prof. Winternitz, whose views have now-a-days to be accepted. “As the result of the investigations of the last ten years,” says he, “it could be said that it is probable that in place of 500 B.C. will have to be substituted the date 800 B.C., and it is more probable that the initial date falls in the third rather than in the second millennium.”¹