Photo: Wikimedia Commons · Public domainSilver coins of the Shahi kings of Kabul and Udabhandapura, with Nandi on one side and a horseman on the other.
A humped bull lies on one face with the king’s name above it in Sharada, “Sri Spalapati deva” or “Sri Samanta deva”; on the other rides a horseman with a lance. The type was so trusted that it was copied for two centuries across north India, by the Tomaras and Chahamanas of Delhi and Ajmer and even by the early Ghurid conquerors.
They show the Shaiva kings who held the north-west gate against the invaders from the west, and how far their money travelled.
CoinThe first coins of Bharat: small pieces of silver of a set weight, stamped one symbol at a time with separate punches.
CoinSilver coins of a Greek king of Bactria that carry the oldest known images of Balarama and Vasudeva-Krishna.
CoinGold coins of the Kushana emperors showing Shiva with his trident and Nandi, named in the Bactrian inscription as OESHO.
CoinLead and potin coins of the Satavahana king Yajna Sri Satakarni showing a two-masted ship.
CoinCopper coins of the Yaudheya republic of the Haryana plains, dedicated to Kartikeya and struck in the name of the gana, not of a king.
CoinA gold coin showing Chandragupta I with his Licchavi queen Kumaradevi, both named, with the word “Licchavayah” on the back.
CoinA gold dinar struck to mark Samudragupta’s horse sacrifice: the consecrated horse stands before the sacrificial post.
CoinThe gold coins of the Gupta emperors, which their own inscriptions call dinaras: portraits of kings as archers, horsemen and lion-slayers, with Lakshmi on the back.
