Punch-Marked Coins in Telangana State Museum

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This Monograph is the result of the keen interest of the members of the Advisory Board of the Hyderabad Museum, in my studies of the Punch-marked coins of that Museum that I did during my visit to Hyderabad in August, 1952. They recommended to the then Government of Hyderabad State to publish a monograph on this valuable collection and the Government readily accepted it. Accordingly it is now being published under the auspices of the Andhra Pradesh Government. My sincere thanks are due to them. I am deeply indebted to Shri Md. Abdul Wali Khan, the Keeper of the coins, who with interest and enthusiasm, showed me these coins and helped me in. preparing an exhaustive note. I am also grateful to. Dr. P. Sreenivasachar, the Director of Archaeology, Andhra Pradesh and Khwaja Muhammad Ahmad, the Curator of the Museum, for their keen interest in this work. They put at my disposal all their resources, necessary for the preparation of this Monograph.

This Monograph is the first of a series that the Government of the Andhra Pradesh propose to bring out on the coins of the Government Museum, Hyderabad. These coins cover almost all the periods of the history of Andhra.

This Monograph, which is first of the series, deals with the Punch-marked coins, the earliest coins of the country. The Punch-marked coins are generally dated from fifth century B. C. to second centrury B. C. But it is not unlikely that they were current still earlier, as early as the eighth century B. C. The Brahmanas and the Upanishads of the Vedas, refer to the actual use of coins, called Niskha, Satamana, Pada, etc. Coin named Karshapana is also mentioned in one of the later Brahmanas. Karshapana was the common coin of the times of the Ashtadhyayi, of Panini (sixth century B. C.), the Arthasastra of Kautilya and the Buddhist Jatakas. These coins should be identified amongst the Punch-marked coins, that we possess.