Æ Unit

Obverse description	Uniface cast bronze unit bearing a Brahmi inscription reading 'mahisamati' in the field, identifying the issuing city. The legend is arranged within a roughly circular flan of irregular form, typical of early Indian cast coinage. Symbols including what appear to be a cross or floral motif, a six-pointed star, and additional punch-mark style devices are visible in the field alongside the inscription. The overall fabric is coarse, consistent with cast production techniques characteristic of early Deccan regional issues.
Obverse script	Brahmi
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Additional information	Mahishmati, identified with modern Maheshwar on the Narmada River in Madhya Pradesh, was a major urban center of the Anupa janapada and appears in both the Mahabharata and Ramayana as a city of considerable strategic importance. Its autonomous bronze coinage is among the lesser-documented issues of the post-Mauryan regional series, emerging as Mauryan administrative control fragmented across the Deccan periphery in the early second century BC. The punched and cast bronzes attributed to this mint are known from only a handful of hoards, most recovered from the Narmada valley.