Q1.
Notice the different symbols on the coins. Can you guess what any of the symbols in the coins below might mean?
Answer
Look at the three symbols drawn below Fig. 5.29.2. They are the marks punched into the silver, redrawn clearly so you can study them.
| Symbol on the coin | What it looks like | What it might mean |
|---|---|---|
| The rayed wheel / sun | A circle with many spokes radiating from a small hub | The sun — light, energy, kingship — or a chakra, the wheel of authority and of dharma. It is the commonest mark on Mauryan coins. |
| The six-armed symbol | A small circle with six arms ending in arrow-like or taurine tips | Often called the ṣhaḍara chakra — a six-spoked wheel. Probably a mark of royal or imperial authority, possibly of a particular mint or issuing officer. |
| The stacked oval / taurine symbol | Two rounded shapes set one above the other with a bar between | Usually read as a ‘hill with crescent’ or taurine mark — hills, a river, or an auspicious sign; it appears on both faces of Aśhoka's coin, so it may be a mark of the issuing authority. |
What the symbols in general are thought to stand for:
- Nature and the land — the sun, hills, trees within a railing, rivers, animals such as the elephant and the bull.
- Authority — the wheel, which stands for a ruler's sovereignty.
- Auspiciousness — signs believed to bring good fortune to whoever holds the coin.
- A guarantee — each punch was a stamp confirming that the piece of silver had been checked for weight and purity.
Why several marks on one coin? These are punch-marked coins: the symbols were not struck in one go from a single die but punched in separately, often by different authorities — the state mint, a regional officer, sometimes a guild or a merchant who tested the coin. Each extra punch was another signature saying ‘this silver is good’. That is why the coins in the hoard (Fig. 5.29.1) are irregular squares rather than neat circles.
Be honest as a historian: Nobody today can read these symbols with certainty — no ancient text explains them. The best answer says what a symbol probably means and admits that scholars still disagree.