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The present work contains thirty-three articles of the authors on some unique, interesting and significant coins and sigils which throw flashes of light on various aspects of the history, culture, religion, art, economy, trade and commerce, science and technology of the people of India in different periods of its long history. It is for the first time that minuscule copper punch-marked coins from Vidisha have been brought to light which acquaint us of the local economy during the later half of the first millennium BCE. The uniface cast copper coins collected from eastern Malwa and Khandesh region establish relationship of the area with the Deccan which has yielded similar coins. Coins of the city-state of Hathodaka indicate the role the city-states played in the development of trade and commerce in the Narmada valley during the early centuries before the commencement of the Common Era. The silver and copper coins from Eran-Ujjayin region indicate the continued use of the white metal and corroborate the popularity of Vaishavism in central India evidenced earlier by the discovery of an elliptical temple plan and the Garua-dhvaja pillar inscription at Vidisha.
The indigenous gold coin confirms the use of this valuable metal for indigenous coinage before the Kushas. Another coin takes back the antiquity of the auspicious Hindu mythological art-motif of cow suckling the calf to circa third-second century BCE. New Mitra and Stavhana coins add to our existing knowledge by bits while Kalachuri and inscribed Vishukuin type coins betray the existence of the scions of these dynasties or their allies in central India. Indo-Sassanian, Paramra and Ydava type coins from the region reveal the political developments of the medieval period while a piece with erotic theme tells of the use of a hitherto unknown motif. The darb of Akbar betrays the erring human nature and a coin-die of the emperor confirms the existence of a mint-town. The tetra-lingual silver seal of Nabha bears evidence to the use and popularity of various languages in the Malwa region of Punjab and the secular outlook of its rulers. All the articles thus help us in our understanding of our history in a better way to enlighten our future course.ISBN - 9788173201257
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Pages : 244
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