Tribes in Ancient India c33.118

c33.118

Kauśāmbī had great military strength. The remains at Kosam include those of a vast fortress with eastern ramparts and bastions, four miles in circuit, with an average height of 30 to 35 feet above the general level of the country. The fact that the city was an important commercial centre, is indicated by the extraordinary variety of the coins found there.⁶ Cast coins were issued at the close of the third century by the kingdoms of Kauśāmbī, Ayodhyā and Mathurā, some of which bear the names of local kings in the Brāhmī script.⁷ There is little foreign influence traceable in the die-struck coins, all closely connected in point of style, which were issued during the first and second centuries B.C. from Pañcāla, Ayodhyā, Kauśāmbī and Mathurā. A number of these bear Brāhmī Inscriptions. The coins of Kauśāmbī have a tree within a railing on the obverse.⁸ The coinage of the kings of Kauśāmbī seems to begin in the third century B.C., and to extend over a period of about 300 years.⁹