Seven Days Of Ancient India- Day Two: First Of It's Kind.

This coin hails from the Kuninda Kingdom, which lay at the foothills of the Himalayas, on what is the modern India/ Nepal border. The ancient Greek historian Ptolemy places the origins of the homeland of the Kuninda where the rivers Sutlej, Yamuna and the Ganges originate. Although unfamiliar to most collectors of ancient coins, the Kuninda Kingdom is mentioned in the famous Indian epic The Mahabharata, where it is said their armies were defeated by the Undefeated Hero Arjuna.

The Kuninda Kingdom emerges from obscurity in two distinct series of coins. One minted in the 2nd to 1st century BC and the other around the 2nd century AD shortly before they disappear from the historical record. They struck coins in bronze and silver, while bronze coins are often crude and weakly struck the silver coins are amazingly gorgeous made from highly detailed and cramped dies, conveying an multitude of Buddhist symbolisms.

Here I will show my example, dating from the 2nd century BC, a coin struck in the name of King Amoghabhuti. These drachms were struck in the same numismatic model as their Indo-Greek contemporaries. They followed a nearly identical weight standard of about 2.18 grams and 19 millimeter in diameter. Currently there is no catalog that thoroughly covers these coins and an unknown number of variations exist. Although due to hoard evidence, these coin have been found along side the coins of Apollodotus, cementing a solid, equal and peaceful economic exchange.

It is thought that coins bearing the name of King Amoghabhuti were struck and circulated long after his death well into the 3rd century AD, and often bare the likeness of the Hindu God Shiva.

Unlike most other Indian coins of earlier period this coin was the first of its kind to be made from dies rather than a strip of weighted cut metal and impressed with bankers(?) punchmarks common in the Archaic and Mauryan Periods. This coin was made much like the coins of European influence, yet unlike the circulating Indo-Greek coins these were made by natives in to facilitate ancient trade through out the ancient east.


India,
Kuninda Kingdom
Amoghabhuti c. 2nd cent. BC
17 mm x 2.11 g
obverse: Deer standing crowned by two cobras attended by Lakshmi holding lotus flower, ghadiya under deer. Brahmi Legend- Rajanah Kunindasa Amohabhutisa maharajasa.
Reverse: Buddhist Stupa surmounted by the Buddhist symbol triratna and surrounded by a Swastika a "Y" symbol and a tree.-Kharoshti legend Rana Kunindasa Amoghabtusia maharajasa. (Great King Amoghabhuti of the Kunindas)
ref: MACW 4440-4441, ACC #3