Minerals and Metals in Ancient India v1.c28.s7.t1.2

v1.c28.s7.t1.2

Dikshit (1981) reported on the overlooked silver pieces, some flat, circular, square and rectangular, found in a silver vase from the DK area in Mohenjo-Daro. He submitted that these pieces were ‘the precursors of punch-marked coins of later times’. Comparing the weights, Mukherjee (1988: 54) came to the same conclusion that the pieces could be related to standard cubical weights found at the Indus sites and therefore belonged to a metallic currency system. There was alphabetic cuneiform script on one of the pieces which must have been imported from Ur, Mesopotamia around 2000-1700 BC. The expression *manā hiraṇyayā* in *Ṛgveda*, 8.78.2 could have an allusion to the Babylonian weight called *minā*. The *Ṛgveda* (1.56.2; 1.126.2; 4.24.9-10; 5.19.3; 8.47.15) contains many references to *niṣka* or monetary currency of noble metals. Post-Vedic literatures refer to gold pieces, *śatamāna* etc. Pāṇini’s *Aṣṭādhyāyī* refers to *rūpya-rūpa* and Kauṭilya’s *Arthaśāstra* to *tāmra-rūpa* meaning punch-marked silver and copper coins respectively. Archeological data corroborate the literary evidences.