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The Kuru janapada was located around the modern city of Delhi, with its capital at Indraprastha. It was said to include a considerable area around, and to be ruled by the family of Yudhishthira, the head of the Pandavas in the Mahabharata. Mahapadma Nanda incorporated the Kuru domain into the Magadhan empire around 350 BCE.
The four coins presented here are not assigned by Rajgor to any janapada. Rather, he simply calls them "Babyal coins," after the town of Babyal in the state of Haryana, where coins of this type have been found. Others have assigned them to the Kurus, and indeed the known parts of the Kuru janpada are in any case very close to Babyal. We have therefore adopted this assignment of these coins.
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| Silver 1/2 karshapana
c. 400-350 BCE
Weight:1.73 gm., Diam:12-13 mm.
Triskele with crescents and dots /
blank
Ref: Rajgor, 429b. |
| Silver 1/2 karshapana
c. 400-350 BCE
Weight:1.77 gm., 14 x 14 mm.
Triskele with crescents and dots /
blank
Ref: Rajgor, 426-427, but square flan. |
| Silver 1/2 karshapana
c. 400-350 BCE
Weight:1.56 gm., 13 x 13 mm.
Triskele with crescents and dots /
blank
Ref: Rajgor, 429b, but square flan. |
| Silver 1/2 karshapana
c. 400-350 BCE
Weight:1.53 gm., Diam: 15 mm.
Triskele with crescents and dots /
(Magadhan ?) 6-arm symbol
Ref: Rajgor, 428. |
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Rajgor has suggested that this coin is an overstrike "on an earlier type having a Six-armed-like symbol." However, on this specimen, if there is any flattening, it is on the "obverse" side with the triskele design. This might suggest that the six-arm symbol was either added later or simultaneous to the triskele. Perhaps this was issued shortly after Mahapadma Nanda annexed the Kuru lands to Magadha. |
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