Catalog
1/4 Karshapana - Saurastra
| Issuer | Saurashtra Peninsula |
|---|---|
| Year | 50 BC |
| Type | Log in to see details |
| Value | Log in to see details |
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| Composition | Log in to see details |
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| Diameter | Log in to see details |
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| In circulation to | Log in to see details |
| Reference(s) | ACR#429 |
| Obverse description | Log in to see details |
|---|---|
| Obverse script | Log in to see details |
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| Reverse description | Central field featuring a swastika — an ancient auspicious symbol — with a taurine device placed at each of its four terminals, forming a cruciform composition. The design is executed in the punch-marked style typical of early Indian regional copper coinage. The devices are distributed across the irregular square flan with no encircling legend or border. The surface exhibits green and brown patination consistent with long-term burial or circulation. |
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| Edge | Plain |
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| Additional information |
The Saurashtra Peninsula maintained its own copper coinage well into the period of expanding Indo-Scythian pressure from the northwest, and these fractional pieces circulated in a region that Greek geographers knew as Syrastrene — a prosperous coastal zone whose ports fed westward trade into the Persian Gulf. Whether this issue predates or overlaps with the establishment of Western Kshatrapa authority in the region remains debated; the chronology of local autonomous issues here resists clean periodization.