Catalog
See full images - free registration
Continue with Google - no registration!
or register with email
Why register? Just to keep bots out of our catalog. Your email stays private - we will never share it or send you anything uninvited. We guarantee you that!
1 Karshapana - Ajatasatru
| Issuer | Magadha Kingdom (Janapadas (pre-Mauryan)) |
|---|---|
| Year | 592 BC - 370 BC |
| Type | Log in to see details |
| Value | Log in to see details |
| 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 | 1 mm |
| Shape | Log in to see details |
| Technique | Log in to see details |
| Orientation | Log in to see details |
| Engraver(s) | Log in to see details |
| In circulation to | Log in to see details |
| Reference(s) | Log in to see details |
| Obverse description | Five punch marks distributed across the flat, irregularly shaped flan, each applied individually by a distinct die. The marks comprise the characteristic Magadha spoked-wheel symbol, an arc flanked by pellets, an arrow motif, a solar symbol, and a rectangular box enclosing five pellets arranged in a quincunx pattern. The symbols are impressed in shallow relief against the granular silver field, typical of the punch-marked coinage tradition of the Janapada period. |
|---|---|
| Obverse script | Log in to see details |
| Obverse lettering | Log in to see details |
| Reverse description | Plain, unworked flan with no devices, symbols, or inscriptions, consistent with the standard practice of early Indian punch-marked silver coinage of the Magadha Janapada period. The surface retains the natural texture of the hammered silver blank. |
| Reverse script | Log in to see details |
| Reverse lettering | Log in to see details |
| Edge | Log in to see details |
| Mint | Log in to see details |
| Mintage | Log in to see details |
| Additional information |
Ajatasatru, who seized the Magadhan throne around 492 BC by imprisoning and starving his own father Bimbisara, aggressively expanded the kingdom through nearly three decades of warfare — most notably a sixteen-year campaign against the Vajjian Confederacy, which he finally broke by deploying a catapult-like weapon and armed chariots described in Pali sources. The punch-marked karshapana issued under Magadhan authority during this period circulated across a trade network that stretched well into the Gangetic plain, financing both military logistics and the emerging urban economies of early northern India.
Attribution to specific rulers within the janapada punch-marked series remains genuinely difficult; the GH#126 designation anchors this piece to a symbol set associated with the Magadhan sequence, but individual reign attribution is still contested among specialists.