Exhibit: Western Satraps 1st Century - 2nd Centry India -R-Drachm

Western Satraps Obverse Drachm


Western Satraps Reverse Drachm

The Western Satraps Dynasties rules the north western providences of India from 35 to 405 AD strateling a key historical moment of cultural development of the region and know to Western societies of the time as Indo-Scythians related to the Kushans, further north, whom they are likely related. Sartaps linguistically related to the Persian word Ksatrapavan meaning Governor.

They were responsible for fixing the yearly date for the Indian calender. The court language was Sanskrit and Greeks were employed to transcribe Greek works into Sanskrit. The exact dynasty which created this coin is a bit of a puzzle to me but it might be similar to this coin from Rudradaman I dated about 130 BCE.



The coin is not,however, this one with different script and design.

 

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Further looking at the Obverse we can see in a couple of different light and photo editing:






http://www2.mrbrklyn.com/coins/nycoinshow/dsc05951.jpg

 

And a another look at the reverse





The Script on the reverse is Brahami and the obverse often had pidgin Greek.

 

Further reading and research is possible. Here are some links

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Western_Satraps
http://www.coin-newbies.com/articles/drachmas.pdf
http://www.forumancientcoins.com/historia/coins/in/n301.htm

http://books.google.com/books?id=b9...&hl=en&sa=X&oi=book_result&resnum=5&ct=result
http://data.numismatics.org/cgi-bin/libsearch?format=default&fld=any&kw=satraps
http://www.nationmaster.com/encyclopedia/Rudrasena-I
http://books.google.com/books?id=O-...&hl=en&sa=X&oi=book_result&resnum=9&ct=result
http://www.summum.us/top/gallery/main.php?g2_view=core.ShowItem&g2_itemId=4208
http://www.summum.us/top/gallery/ma...2_GALLERYSID=440d47c1752276c22a068be20ca1accf

 

http://www2.mrbrklyn.com/coins/nycoinshow/dsc05951.jpg

 

nice we are finally getting someone interested in indian coins. i thought all my efforts were in vain. you should buy the shivaji coin i got today really nice and quite difficult to find at the right price.

 

Like most coins, I buy what I find interesting and these was very reasonably priced for the interesting civilizations that they represented.

The only thing I really like about India though is the women

Ruben

 

well if you come across any mohurs let me be the first one to know

 

Thanks for putting this very nice exhibit with lots of good information.

I am not sure if the coin in OP is Rudrasena I or not, unless you really read all the Brahmi characters on reverse. Also, these coins usually have the saka era date behind king's hair.

I have collected Western Satrap's coins issued by various satraps and it is an interesting series to collect in ancient Indian coins.

Regards,
Ballabh Garg

 

Well then, if we misatrributed it then we have a 1500+ year mystery, don't we ?

glad you enjoyed it.

Ruben

 

Any luck in reading the Brahmi?

 

well i dont want my eyes to do the shimmy those coins are not good to read