Socio - Religious & Cultural Study of The Ancient Indian Coins

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The Present work strives to reflect-through the prisms of numismatical sources- the forces at work in the fields of religion, society, art and culture during the pre- Christian and post-Christian period up to the end of the rule of the Gupta Kings in Northern India. It also delves into the epigraphic, literary and other sources as and when necessary. The first chapter contains a history of coinage, the evolution of coins right from the early crude pieces to artistic Gupta coins, to coins of alien rulers and a large range of silver and copper cast variety. The second records the manifestations on coins of different religious traditions held sacred during different periods. While the third attempts to highlight social growth, the fourth accommodates an interpretation of the artistic impulses of those times. The fifth and the concluding chapter is as much a homage to as a retrospective study of the cultural past of India. No facet of study has been left unexplored in this tantalizing study of facets of coins.

Dr. Swati Chakraborty (born 1952) is a practicing advocate at the Calcutta High Court. Apart from Law, she has developed keen interest in History, Literature, Philosophy and Art which led her to write the present book on Coins. Besides she has written books on the Law of Equality in India and is going to submit her post-Doctoral Thesis on 'Judicial System in Ancient India'.

I take this opportunity to express my deep gratitude to my respected teacher and supervisor, Dr. S.K. Maity. He spent an enormous lot of time and energy to see this work through. But for his competent guidance and generosity, I should have been lost. I also thank Dr. Amitabha Mukherjee, Head of the Department of History, Jadavpur University, for some valuable advice, he gave me. I would also like to thank Dr. B.N. Mukherjee, Carmichael Professor, University of Calcutta, for allowing me access to the books in the library of the Centre of Advanced Studies, Department of Ancient Indian History and Archaeology, University of Calcutta. I am grateful to Dr. Upendra Thakur, Head of the Department of Ancient Indian and Asian Studies, Magadh University, for permitting me to consult the unpublished thesis of Dr. O.P. Singh. I am much indebted to Dr. Thakur, for all the trouble, he ungrudgingly took to make a copy of the said thesis available to me and the hospitality, he showed me when I called on him at his Bodhgaya residence. I am thankful to Dr. S.C. Ray, Director, Indian Museum, Calcutta, for allowing me to use photographs of coins in the collection of the Museum. My profound thanks go to Sri Benu Sen and all other staff members of the Photography Unit of the Indian Museum for preparing the photographs of coins in spite of heavy odds. I am thankful to Sri Subhash Basak for typing the manu script painstakingly. I also thank Sri Bibhuti Bhusan Dutta for typing a portion of the original manuscript and Sri Sailabilash Mukherjee for seeing the thesis through the binders and helping F me in various other ways. Sri Mihir Kumar Chakrabarty, Smt Lina Chakrabarty and Smt. Rita Chakravarty have assisted me by comparing the original manuscript with the typescript and by getting portions of the manuscript ready for typing. I am grateful to all of them. Script I owe much to my parents-Sri Sudhir Kumar Chakrabarty and Smt. Roma Chakrabarty. Without their love, co-operation and care, this work would never have been prepared. I should be frustrated, should I try to express my deep love and feeling of gratitude for them.

**Contents and Sample Pages**