BHU professor receives grant to study 2800-year-old Indian punchmark coins

Currently, ASI has 49 verified Punchmark coins, which will be a part of the study. Numismatics or the study of coins offers one of the most reliable insights into the past.

Banaras Hindu University (BHU) has announced that a history professor has received a grant from the Indian National Science Academy (INSA) to study the more than 2,000 years old Punchmark coins, considered India’s earliest coins. Amit Kumar Upadhyaya, assistant professor in the Department of Ancient Indian History, Culture and Archaeology, Faculty of Arts at BHU, will be scrutinizing the coins that have been found either by excavation by the Archaeological Society of India (ASI) or procured from personal collections.

Currently, ASI has 49 verified Punchmark coins, which will be a part of the study. Numismatics or the study of coins offers one of the most reliable insights into the past. Numismatic study answers several economic and social questions. Punchmark coins or Aahat Mudra, made of silver, are noted as the first coins issued in India. The technique used to mint the coins involved stamping certain designs onto the coin faces. The punching technique used to manufacture the coins gives them their name.

Punchmark coins were widely in circulation all over India during the reigns of various dynasties. “The coins which are to be studied were minted between 800 and 300 BC. The dynastic history of India is observed to have started around 600 BC, thus the Punchmark coins coincide with the beginning of the dynastic history of India. The study will be on local Punchmark coins belonging to regions in Uttar Pradesh. Later, I plan to expand my study to different regions of India as well,” Upadhyaya said.

Even though Punchmark coins are common ancient coins that are found in India, there are several details about these coins that remain unknown. INSA appreciated the importance of the project as it would answer several pivotal questions.

“When you see a coin, the first question that comes to mind is who issued the coin and where did the coin come from? In the case of Punchmark coins, we have been able to associate them with the region they came from. However, we are yet to discover the issuing authority of the coins. We need to find out which dynasty the coins belonged to,” Upadhyaya said.

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