6 Masaka - Avanti Janapada

The Avanti janapada, centered on Ujjain, was one of the sixteen Mahajanapadas documented in early Buddhist and Jain texts. Its punch-marked coinage circulated during a period when the kingdom competed directly with Magadha for dominance over the Gangetic plain — a rivalry that ended when Chandragupta Maurya absorbed Avanti into the empire around 320 BC. These fractional silver pieces facilitated trade along routes connecting the Deccan to the northern plains well before standardized imperial coinage displaced regional issues.