Catalog
1/2 Karshapana
| Issuer | Bhagila, City of |
|---|---|
| Year | 150 BC - 75 BC |
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| Value | 1/2 Karshapana |
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| Composition | Log in to see details |
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| Obverse description | Zebu (humped bull) depicted in profile facing right, occupying the upper central field of the irregular square flan. Below or adjacent to the bull appears a tree-in-railing symbol, a standard Punch-marked coinage motif representing sacred enclosures. A river or water symbol is present in the field, alongside a Brahmi inscription identifying the issuing city of Bhagila. The devices are rendered in a provincial, somewhat schematic style consistent with late-period janapada coinage of the Indian subcontinent. |
|---|---|
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| Edge | Plain |
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| Additional information |
Bhagila, identified with the ancient site of Baijanath in the upper Beas valley, was among the small autonomous city-states that briefly issued their own coinage in the northwestern Indian subcontinent during the period when Indo-Greek political control was fragmenting. These civic bronze issues occupy an understudied corner of South Asian numismatics — their attribution to specific cities was largely worked out through comparison of symbols and punch sequences over the latter half of the twentieth century.