[Pramāṇa](https://indike.org/pramana/) › [Studies](https://indike.org/pramana/ins) › [Reference works](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.reference) › [An Encyclopaedia of Indian Archaeology](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.reference.ghosh-1989) › v1.c8.s1.6 # An Encyclopaedia of Indian Archaeology v1.c8.s1.6 An Encyclopaedia of Indian Archaeology v1.c8.s1.6 - **Language:** English ### [v1.c8.s1.6](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.reference.ghosh-1989.v1.c8.s1.6) The technique of casting coins is revealed by the discovery of several thousand moulds dating from 100 B.C from different localities such as KHOKRA-KOT, SUNET, Taxila, SANCHI, NĀLANDĀ and KONDAPUR. Of these the moulds found at KHOKRA-KOT and SUNET are of special interest. The KHOKRA-KOT moulds were made up of a series of clay discs placed in a vertical column, like a pile of coins. The whole pile was plastered over with clay, with a funnel-like crater leading vertically down into a central channel, like the shaft of a mine. From this channel, again as in a mine, horizontal sub-channels led out at different levels and these opened into the coin sockets. At the last level eight such subchannels radiated from the central shaft and opened into as many coin sockets arranged in the coin ring. The coupled faces of contiguous discs bore the negative impressions of the obverse and the reverse respectively and were so placed as to make the opposing sockets coincide exactly. After the metal had been poured and the mould was cold enough it was broken up and the coins taken out, the remaining metal being again put into the melting pot. Occasionally a coin hurriedly broken off would carry away with it one end of the spoke. On the other hand, a portion of the coin margin might be left behind on the spoke and the coin would show a concave scar. The two faces of the disc were quite independent of each other—one bore the obverse of the coin and the other its reverse. The KHOKRA-KOT moulds show many variations in designs and script, revealing that a number of different moulds were used once for making the first series of coins, the coins thereafter being freely used as models. It is not clear whether the moulds were made of clay or wax, wood, soapstone or some other material. It is possible that at the very outset a negative was made in wax or clay and a positive was prepared in either clay or metal. Tenon-and-mortise device was used for replacing the discs in their exact positions in coupling the moulds. Another device was an oblique groove drawn across the outer edge of each disc to serve as an index line to enable the workmen to check from outside the correct position of the discs in reconstructing a set after the models had been removed. The workman would have used as his appliances: a circular wooden base with a cylindrical peg fixed in the centre; a hollowed cylinder just wide enough to fit round the circular platform; a wide-mouthed cup or a small container without a lid for measuring out the quantity of kneaded clay; a stylet made of wood or metal with a rounded tip for engraving in clay or wax; some flat pieces of metal to serve as models for the radial channels; fine clay, wax, ash or charcoal dust; and bits of stone or brick and paddy or other grain with husk. Casting was done in a complex mould. The metal was poured into the crater which filled the central channel and thence spread horizontally at different levels through the radial subchannels into the whorls of the coin sockets. The clay luting round the entire mould served to bind the discs into a compact pile and prevented the leakage of the metal. At the same time the porous nature of the luting allowed the escape of hot gases with the advance of the inflowing metal. - [Previous: v1.c8.s1.5](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.reference.ghosh-1989.v1.c8.s1.5) - [Next: v1.c8.s1.7](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.reference.ghosh-1989.v1.c8.s1.7) - [Up: v1.c8.s1](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.reference.ghosh-1989.v1.c8.s1) ## Linked texts (4) - [Nālandā](https://indike.org/pramana/inp.site.nalanda) - [Sāñcī](https://indike.org/pramana/inp.site.sanchi) - [Sunet](https://indike.org/pramana/inp.site.sunet) - [Khokra-kot](https://indike.org/pramana/inp.site.khokra-kot) --- Source: [https://indike.org/pramana/ins.reference.ghosh-1989.v1.c8.s1.6](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.reference.ghosh-1989.v1.c8.s1.6) · Pramāṇa