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1/2 Karshapana - Ashmaka Assaka Janapada
| Issuer | Assaka Kingdom (Janapadas (pre-Mauryan)) |
|---|---|
| Year | 401 BC - 301 BC |
| Type | Log in to see details |
| Value | 1/2 Karshapana |
| Currency | Log in to see details |
| Composition | Log in to see details |
| Weight | Log in to see details |
| Diameter | Log in to see details |
| Thickness | Log in to see details |
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| Technique | Log in to see details |
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| Engraver(s) | Log in to see details |
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| Obverse description | Four banker's punch marks applied to the obverse field: an elephant facing left, a stylized tree, and two taurine symbols at centre encircled by four fish. The punches are characteristic of the Janapada period, each individually impressed with a separate die, resulting in the slightly irregular placement typical of early Indian punch-marked coinage. The field surface is flat and unadorned beyond the four primary punch devices. |
|---|---|
| Obverse script | Log in to see details |
| Obverse lettering | Log in to see details |
| Reverse description | Log in to see details |
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| Reverse lettering | Log in to see details |
| Edge | Plain |
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| Additional information |
The Assaka Janapada occupied the Godavari river valley in what is now Maharashtra and Andhra Pradesh — one of the sixteen Mahajanapadas listed in early Buddhist and Jain texts. These punch-marked issues predate any centralized minting authority; weight standards were enforced by merchant guilds and local rulers rather than a state apparatus, which is why fractional pieces like this half-karshapana show measurable deviation across surviving specimens. The Assaka kingdom had largely ceased to exist as an independent polity by the time Chandragupta Maurya consolidated the subcontinent in the late 4th century BC.