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The Coin series of Independent Ayodhya

2017-08-17 Thu

Ayodhya, as we all know today, is one of the seven most important pilgrimages for Hindus. Ayodhya which was also known as Saketa is believed to be Lord Rama’s birth place! In ancient times Ayodhya was the capital of the ancient kingdom of Kosala.

According to Wilfried Pieper, the first independent local copper coinage of Ayodhya was issued in the 2nd century BC.

During the Second century BC, many dynasties in North India regained independence as there was no strong central power to maintain the control. The Ayodhyan kings around 150 BC became independent and started issuing the square cast coins with their names inscribed on it. This series is characterized by a depiction of a bull facing Indra dhvaja above a square box and Brahmi legend. While in the later series the bull is replaced by an elephant. The reverse of the coin has many symbols like railed tree, wavy line, Ujjain symbol, a swastika, and four-Nandi pada. The kings known through this type are Dhanadeva, Muladeva, Pothadeva, Vayudeva, Visakhadeva, Jayesthadatta, Naradatta and Sivadatta. The round die struck coins were also issued by the independent Ayodhyan kings.

Check these amazing series of Independent Ayodhya here.