Shraddha, the cult of ancestor worship

Ancestor worship is one of the oldest belief systems in the world along with nature worship. According to Raj Bali Pandey, during ancient times family members of the deceased cherished mixed sentiments towards the dead whom they believed proceeded to the realm of the dead after their earthly life ended. First there was the sentiment of dread. It was believed that the deceased still had some kind of interest in his family property and relatives whom he would not like to quit and therefore was lingering about the house. It was also supposed that because he was alienated from the survivors by death, he might cause injury to the family and so attempts were made to avoid his presence and contact. The next sentiment was of love and affection towards the deceased. The survivors thought that it was their duty to help the dead in reaching his destination after death and hence provided him with food and other articles necessary for a traveller so that he could resume his journey to the next world. The next world was believed to be a replica of this world and everything necessary for starting a new life was presented to him. For example, food was offered and also an old cow or a goat to serve as a guide in his journey to the world of the dead.¹

The seed of the shraddha rite can be probably attributed to the Atharva Veda which tells us that the dead man is conducted upward by the Maruts and meets the fathers who reside in the company of Yama. The idea that the dead in heaven are nourished by the piety of the relatives on earth is also found in the Atharva Veda. Accordingly, such nourishments may either be buried with the dead so that the grains of corn and sesame, so buried may turn into wish-cows in heaven, or the nourishment may be conveyed through subsequent offerings.²

Shraddha, the rites associated with ancestor worship

The rites associated with ancestor worship is called Shraddha. It is a ceremony performed by a son for the gratification of his departed father, paternal grandfather and paternal great grandfather who are identified with the three orders of superintending pitr deities namely Vasus, Rudras and Adityas and combines three aspects –

• homa or food oblation into the sacred fire by uttering mantras

• feeding of Brahmins and

• the offering of pindas (rice balls)³

Contradictory to doctrines of karma and punarjanma

According to P.V.Kane, a firm believer in the doctrines of karma and punarjanma may find it difficult to reconcile that doctrine with the belief that by offering rice balls to his three deceased paternal ancestors a man brings gratification to the souls of the latter. In Bhagavad Gita chapter two, verse 22 and Brihadaranyaka Upanishad IV.4.4, it is said that the spirit leaving the body enters into another and a new one. But the doctrine of offering rice balls to ancestors requires that the spirit of the three ancestors even after a lapse of 50 or 100 years are still capable of enjoying in an ethereal body.⁴ According to P.V.Kane the worship of ancestors by means of shraddha was probably a very ancient institution and the doctrine of punarjanma and karma were comparatively later ones and that Hinduism being all embracing retained the institution of shraddha while also adopting the doctrines of metempsychosis.⁵

Contradictory to the teaching of the Upanishad

The Upanishad taught that atman was essentially identical with the Paramatman, Supreme Spirit or the Brahman. If the soul of the deceased were atman pure and simple, on the death of its body, it would immediately merge in the Supreme Spirit and thus attain moksha or liberation. This would render the performance of pinda pitryajna meaningless.⁶

Contradictory to the teaching of Advaita

Adi Shankaracharya in his Advaita philosophy propounds that Brahman is the only reality and declares the whole world to be an imposition of avidya. Ultimate reality is one and without any relation and so all the smacks of multiplicity must be due to the influence of avidya and the Vedas and shastras which deal with multiplicity of the world, however full of wisdom must be stigmatised as such. They lose their validity and authoritativeness when true knowledge springs.⁷

Shraddha rite is devoid of rational thinking

According to Matsya Purana and Agni Purana being gratified by rice balls offered by their descendants these pitrs bestow them with long life, learning, progeny, wealth, happiness, kingdom, heaven and moksha.⁸ No sane person can believe that offering made here can reach persons living in another world. Also it looks strange that these pitrs who are capable of giving various boons to their descendants are eager for these rice balls to satisfy their hunger.

The proponents of shraddha say that it is the duty of a son to perform shraddha. Yes, a son has obligations towards his parents, but when they are alive. Saying that we have duties towards the dead is like saying that we have duties towards the unborn and that the unborn are to be fed, clothed and educated and provided with recreation. Will it not sound absurd? If at all a son has a duty after the death of his father it is to take care of his mother and other siblings if they were dependent upon the deceased father. Also, to repay any debt his father had occurred, but that too, if the son is able to do so.

Contradictory injunction in texts

The texts which give information about Shraddha are full of contradictory injunctions. For instance, Gobhila Smriti says that the husband should not offer pinda to his wife even if she dies sonless, nor a father to his son and an elder brother to a younger brother. But Baudhayana and Brddhasatatapa allow a shraddha to be performed by anyone for any relative with affection particularly at Gaya.⁹ In the Samhitas and Brahmanas there is no reference to Shraddha in honour of deceased female maternal ancestors. It is found only in the Grhyasutra literature though some like Paraskara Grhyasutra and Hiranyakeshi Grhyasutra are silent about it.¹⁰

Shraddha a source of livelihood for the priestly class

Originally the articles of food offered to deceased ancestors were cast into fire (agnaukarana) and the fire carried the essence to the deceased. Later on this was replaced by offerings to the Brahmins in the name of the deceased: it was believed that the essence of the offerings reaches the deceased spirits through the medium of the Brahmins and the Garuda Purana II.5.47 mentions that the Brahmin should be fed to satisfy the hunger of the departed souls.¹¹

Haradatta commentator of Apastambha Dharma Sutra holds that feeding to the Brahmins is the principle act of shraddha.¹² shraddha according to Brahmapurana is “whatever given with faith to Brahmanas intending it to be for the benefit of pitr at a proper time, in a proper place, to deserving persons and in accordance with the prescribed procedure”.¹³ According to Vayu Purana, at the time of shraddha the ancestors enter the invited Brahmanas after assuming an aerial form and that when the best of Brahmanas are honoured with clothes, food, gifts, eatables, liquid, cows, horses and villages, pitrs become pleased.¹⁴ Similarly Manu prescribed the shraddha rite (ancestor worship) for the good of mankind wherein the objects of worship are the fathers, while the Brahmans who are fed on their behalf are for the purpose of ahavaniya that is the Brahmanas are as if they are the sacred fire into which oblations are made.¹⁵ All these statements contained in the dharma sutras shows that the importance given to shraddha rite was to provide a livelihood to a particular community though the rites went against the tenets of Hindu philosophy. The fact that absurd theories were created to prevent the cult from becoming redundant in the wake of the karma theory also proves the fact that the main beneficiaries of this cult was the priestly class. For instance when the law of karma rendered the rites of ancestor worship untenable, the votaries of the ancestor worship came up with a new theory stating that as soon as a person dies he does not enter a new body but will be in a unembodied existence (Preta) for a period of one year and to provide sustenance to it, the institution of ekoddista Shraddha was established. The ekoddista shraddha was to be performed every month for a period of one year after the death of an individual. Along with ekoddista shraddha, the Sapindikarana shraddha was introduced which was undertaken to terminate the state of Preta and make it a pitr or take a rebirth in accordance with its karma.¹⁶

Alternative to Shraddha

P.V.Kane says that it is a good practice to set apart at least one day in a year for the remembrance of one’s near and dear relatives that are no more, to invite relatives, friends and learned people to a dinner in memory of the dead and to make monetary gifts on poor but learned persons of character and devoted to the practice of plain living and high thinking. This will be in keeping with our past traditions and will also give a new orientation to and infuse new life into practices and usages that have become lifeless and meaningless to many people.¹⁷

But the best option would be to celebrate the birthdays of living parents by inviting friends and relatives and if financially stable donate money to orphanages or old age homes on their behalf. Today most parents suffer the pangs of separation and loneliness. Instead of performing shraddha after death, children could spend quality time with their parents when they are still alive and assist them in their mundane activities.

A flourishing Primitive Belief

According to Raj Bali Pandey in no other field of Hinduism the primitive beliefs regarding life and death survive so insistently as in the naive funeral operations. The next world is nothing but the replica of this earth and the needs of the dead are the same as those of the living. Throughout the ceremonies the prayers are offered for sensuous enjoyments and ease of the dead. We do not find any indication of the desire for his or her spiritual benefit, salvation or beatitude. The prayer for freedom from the cycles of birth and death is very casual and could be discovered only in the latest phase of the ritual. The whole performance is of the most primitive kind and speaks of a period of remote antiquity.¹⁸

Ancestor worship, though contrary to Hindu philosophy and defies common sense, is a flourishing cult in modern India with its votaries belonging to all sections of the Hindu society; from the highly educated to a simpleton illiterate fellow.

Reference

1. Raj Bali Pandey –Hindu Samskaras, A Socio-religious study of the Hindu Sacraments, Vikrama Publications, Banaras, 1949, pp:409-11

2. R.C.Majumdar Edited, The History and Culture of the Indian People, The Vedic Age, 1952, p.445

3. P.V.Kane – History of Dharmasastra, vol IV, 1953, pp:334-35 and B.Narayan Aiyangar – Sraddha (Brahman Ancestor Worship), Quarterly Journal of Mythic Society, vol III, no 3, 1911-12, p.80

4. P.V.Kane – Op.Cit, p.335

5. Ibid, p.339

6. Y. Krishan – The Doctrine of Karma and Sraddhas, ABORI, vol – 66, No. 1/4, 1985, p.110

7. Satindra Kumar Mukerjee – Sankara on the relation between the Vedas and Reason, The Indian Historical Quarterly, vol 6, Calcutta, 1930,p.113

8. P.V.Kane – Op.Cit, p.335

9. Ibid, pp:364-65

10. Y. Krishan – Op.Cit, pp:112,113

11. Ibid, p.98

12. P.V.Kane – Op.Cit, p.349

13. Ibid, p.334

14. Ibid, pp:339-40

15. B.Narayan Aiyangar – Op.Cit, p.80

16. Y. Krishan – Op.Cit, p. 108

17. P.V.Kane – Op.Cit, p.550

18. Raj Bali Pandey – Op.Cit, pp:479-80

A Brief account of the Surya (Sun) worship in India

The sun was worshipped as Ra by the ancient Egyptians, as Helios by ancient Greeks and as Mithra by the ancient Persians. In India the Sun god was known by various names like Surya, Aditya, Savitr, Bhaskara, Arka, Ravi, Prabhakara, Martanda, Bhanu, Divakara, etc. The Sun god was worshipped as a giver of life and heat, creator of night and day and the god of vegetation and fertility.

In the Vedic texts, the sun god Surya is looked upon as one of the greatest deities delivering man from trouble and dishonour, guilt and disease and in the Rigveda there are at least ten hymns invoking the Sun god. The Gayatri mantra addressed to Savitr, another name for the Sun god, is found in the third mandala of the Rigveda and composed by a rishi belonging to the Vishwamitra family.

Originally the Sun god was worshipped by chanting Vedic hymns and he was represented in symbolic forms like the wheel, swastika, gold-disc, lotus, etc. In due course when images were carved for him, he was worshipped by the offerings of flowers, Arghya (water libation), scents and other articles. Probably by the end of Mauryan age, the sun image came into existence and the worship of the image of sun god started.

According to Sudhakar Chattopadhyaya, with the rise of Vaishnavism, the sun god gradually began to lose much of his importance as Vishnu, originally a solar deity absorbed in himself much of the elements that had been attributed to Surya. However the arrival of the Magas and their introduction of sun worship in the form of Mithra, led to the revival of the sun cult during the 1^st century A.D.,especially in the north-western parts of India.

Indigenous and foreign sun cult

The earliest reference to the Saura sect (as the followers of the sun god were known) is to be found in the accounts of the classical writers who refer to the Indians as worshipping Soroadeios or the Suryadeva. Philostratos states that there was a temple of the sun at Taxila during the time of Alexander’s invasion. Varahamihira instructs that installation and consecration of the images and temples of the Sun should be made by the Magas who are regarded by the Indians as the Brahmanas or the priestly class of the Shaka community. This leads us naturally to the question – had the Shakas or the Scythians to do anything with the system of the solar cult prevalent in the western Punjab in the 4^th century B.C. because it is generally believed that the Shakas came and settled in India in the 1^st century B.C. According to V.C.Srivastava the first batch of the Magas may had entered India in the 5^th century B.C. in the wake of the Achaemenid invasion. According to J.Przyluski a branch of the Shakas probably had entered India and settled in western Punjab as early as the 5^th century B.C. and hence we find the presence of the Magian solar symbol on the coins of the Indo-Greek kings who ruled before the coming of the Shakas in India. Sudhakar Chattopadhyaya opines that the arrival of the Shakas into India during the 1^st century B.C. was a second wave of immigration.

Hence in the pre Christian epoch there were two distinct Saura sects, one Indian having the Vedic deity Surya as its supreme god and the other foreign with its own Sun god, Mithra wearing the characteristically foreign dress. The Mithra form of sun worship was introduced into India by the Magians (priestly class of the Shakas) who came to India and the foreign sect was mainly confined to the western Punjab region. The Shakas had imbibed strong Iranian elements in their culture before they entered into India.

Worship of sun god in image form

The earliest representation of sun god in human form is found on a pottery piece of the Mauryan period from Patna in which the deity is standing with Aruna on a four horse chariot. A Shunga terracotta from Chandraketugarh shows the deity flanked by two females and riding on a toy cart drawn by four horses. Similar images of the sun god are also found at Bodh Gaya, Bhaja, and Anantagumpha cave in Khandagiri hill in Odisha. They may be regarded as precursors of the sun images of the first period (from 2^nd - 1^st century B.C. to 2^nd century A.D.) when there is absence of Iranian features in the sun icon.

From about the 1^st or the 2^nd century A.D., the Magian sun priests began to settle down in large numbers in different parts of north India and due to their increasing influence, some distinctly foreign traits came to be associated with the north Indian sun image. Of these were the practices of covering the legs of the images up to the knees with leggings or top-boots and encircling the waist of the images with the ‘Avyanga’, an adoption of the Iranian sacred thread ‘Aiwyaongana’. Many images from the Gandhara and Mathura regions of the Kushana and the post Kushana period demonstrate these features, which was a blending of the Hellenistic, Indian and Iranian traditions.

However south Indian images excluded the above foreign features. Here the legs and feet of Surya images are always left bare and not covered with leggings. Instead of the long coat of northern India, we find an udarbandha in them. The Anshumadbedaagama emphasizes the fact that the garments of the sun god should be red in colour and he should stand on a lotus pedestal (Padmapitha) and encircled with halo (Prabhamandala).

Adityas and Navagrahas

The Adityas and Navagrahas are worshipped as component parts of the solar religion.

Adityas, the solar divinities

In the Rigveda, Surya, Savitr, Pusan, Vishnu, Mitra, Varuna and other gods are jointly invoked under the name of Adityas and called the sons of Aditi. Their number which was around six and seven was increased to twelve during the time of epics and Puranas by including other gods like Dhatr, Bhaga, Aryaman, Rudra, Vivasvat and Tvastr. Regarding the origin of Adityas it has been narrated that the gods called Tusitas of the Chakshusha Manvantara came to be known as Adityas in the Vaivasvata Manvantara. These twelve divinities were identified with the months of the solar year and were invoked for happiness, riches, food and descendants.

The Navagrahas

The tradition of worshipping Surya in association with Navagrahas was a later development as rules for the performance of the grahayaga are laid down in the Puranas. Probably this development may have taken place when by around 12^th century A.D., Surya lost his importance as a deity and was reduced to the position of a planet (Graha). Navagrahas were worshipped to avoid inauspicious happenings in religious performances and grahayaga performed for peace, prosperity and a long life. The figures of Navagrahas namely- Surya, Soma (Moon), Mangala (Mars), Budha (Mercury), Brhaspati (Jupiter), Shukra (Venus), Shani (Saturn), Rahu and Ketu are usually found in a panel on a door frame of the shrine, on the entrance doorway and sometimes on the torana of a Surya temple. Slabs carved with Navagrahas were also used for regular Navagraha worship. In south India we can find Navagrahas with images of the sun and other planets engraved on stone slabs installed within the enclosed verandah round the central shrine of a temple. The sun stands in the centre and the others are fixed round him. The only temple thus far known to be dedicated to the sun and its attendant planets exclusively is the one at Suriyanar Koyil in the Tanjore district in Tamilnadu.

Fusion of Vedic and Iranian traditions

Over a period of time the national (Vedic) and Iranian tradition of sun worship were merged together. This is best illustrated by the story of Samba as represented in the later Puranas. The Varaha Purana, the Bhavishya Purana and the Samba Purana tells us that Samba (Sri Krishna’s son) who after being afflicted with leprosy, recovered through the grace of the sun worshipped in the Shakadvipa (eastern Iran). It further states that Samba, constructed a big temple on the banks of river Chandrabhaga at Mulasthana (Multan). As the Indian priests refused to officiate there consequently Samba imported the Magas from the Shakadvipa and they did the necessary worship. This fusion of the two solar sects is marked in the famous Aditya hrudayam hymn occurring in the Bhavishya Purana which is studied with respect by all sun worshippers of the present day.

(The sun temple at Multan was visited by Hiuen Tsang in the 7^th century A.D. and during that time it was a great centre of Sun worship. He writes that the image of the Sun god was cast in yellow gold and ornamented with rare gems. When the Arabs conquered Multan, they broke the idol into pieces and killed its priests. Hence when Alberuni visited the temple, he found the image of the Sun god made of wood and covered with leather ).

Sauras, the followers of the sun cult

The Mahabharata for the first time refers to the sect of sun worshippers who are called as Sauras. Anandagiri in his work Shankaravijaya, says that Sri Shankarcharya came into contact with the followers of the Saura sect at a place Subrahmanya in south India. They wore a circular spot of red sandal on their forehead and bore red flowers. They considered the sun as the Supreme Soul and the author of the world. There were six divisions among the Sauras. The first group worshipped the rising sun, the second, the mid-day sun, the third, the setting sun. The fourth venerated all these aspects of the sun while the fifth used to vow that they would not eat anything until they see the orb of the sun and offer worship to it. The devotees of the sixth class used to imprint the orb of the sun on their forehead, arms and chest with a heated iron piece and used to meditate on the sun continuously.

The sacred day for the sun worshippers was Sunday and the popular festival of the sun god was Rathayatra, wherein the image of the sun god seated on a chariot was taken in a procession. The Bhavishya Purana mentions about 42 different types of vratas performed by the followers of the sun god.

Growing popularity of the sun worship

The popularity of the sun cult during the rule of the Indo Greeks, Shakas and the Kushanas can be gauged by the large number of coins having the figures of the sun god issued by these rulers. The Mandasore inscription of Kumara Gupta mentions that the silk weavers guild built a sun temple at Dasapura. These silk weavers had migrated from Lata in Gujarat which shows that the Magian sun cult which was prevalent in western India in the Scytho-Kushana age had extended into the Madhya Bharat region by the time of the Guptas. The Shakas who introduced the Iranian sun cult in eastern India had been thoroughly Indianized by the time of the Guptas and their cult found a place in the Hindu religion.

From 6^th century A.D. onwards we have evidence of many kings in Saurashtra, Gujarat and Rajasthan being devote worshippers of the sun god. So also rulers like the Vardhanas, Chauhans, Paramaras, Gurjara Pratiharas, Kalachuris and Eastern Gangas were followers of the sun cult. The Maliya copper plate inscription (571 – 72 A.D.) informs us that Maharaja Dharapatta of the Maitraka dynasty was a Paramadityabhakta. The rulers of Vardhana dynasty of Thaneshwar like Prabhakaravardhana, Adityavardhana and Rajyavardhana were followers of the sun-cult. The Sonepat copper seal inscription refers to them as Paramadityabhaktas. Poet Mayura Bhatta, a contemporary of king Harshavardhana wrote, Suryashataka praising the sun as the supreme god. The Pratihara kings, Ramabhadra and Vinayakapala are also described in many inscriptions as Paramadityabhakta.

The fact that Surya was one of the deities (others being Shiva, Vishnu, Devi and Ganesha) in the Panchayatana puja instituted by Sri Shankaracharya and also one among the six gods (Shiva, Vishnu, Ganesha, Kumara and Devi) popularized by Sri Shankaracharya for the collective worship by Hindus shows the popularity of the sun cult during the time of Sri Shankaracharya (8^th century A.D.)

Magadha (south Bihar) was one of the favorite place of the descendants of the ancient Magas and the importance of Magadha in the history of solar cult is very much evident from the astounding abundance of sun temples and images scattered profusely all over this region though now in a dilapidated condition. Most of the sun images and temples of this area were built during the Pala-Sena period (730 A.D. - 1197 A.D.) The rulers of these dynasties were worshippers of the sun god and kings like Vishvarupasena and Keshavasena of the Sena dynasty are referred to as Parama Saura. Even to this day worship of sun god is still strong in this region with the festival of Chhath celebrated with fervour and devotion. Thus during the period 700 A.D. to 1300 A.D., the sun cult was one of the most important cults in northern India.

Famous sun temples

About 141 sun temples in India have been listed by Lalta Prasad Pandey. Some of the famous extant sun temples in India are at Martanda in Kashmir erected by Lalitaditya in about the middle of 8^th century A.D., at Modhera in Gujarat dated 11^th century A.D. and at Konark in Odisha dated 13^th century A.D. by the Eastern Ganga ruler Narasimha I.

Apart from seperate temples dedicated to Surya, he was also included in the Hindu Panchayatana system. Panchayatana is the worship of five gods, Vishnu, Shiva, Surya, Ganesha and Devi in one single temple complex with one of the gods having a shrine in the centre and others in the subsidiary quarters. In the Surya Panchayatana, small temples dedicated to Vishnu, Shiva, Ganesha and Devi are erected in the subsidiary quarters, with Surya temple in the centre.

After 13^th century A.D., the worship of Vishnu, Shiva and Shakti became popular, Surya lost his importance as a deity and was reduced to the position of a planet (Graha). The Shaivas particularly the Pashupatas were opposed to the solar cult and checked their progress. While some sun temples were destroyed, others were either deserted or converted into the abode of other gods. However sun worship continues even today both at the mass and class level. While at the mass (folk) level it takes place in the festival called Chhath (celebrated in great fervour especially in parts of eastern Uttar Pradesh, Bihar and Jharkhand, six days after the festival of Deepavali), at the class level it takes place in the form of recitation of Gayatri mantra, daily by members of the Brahmin community.

Reference

• V.C.Srivastava – The Puranic Records on the Sun Worship, Purana, vol – XI, No.2, July 1969

• V.C.Srivastava – Sun Worship in Ancient India, Indological Publications, Allahabad, 1972

• Lalta Prasad Pandey – Sun Worship in Ancient India, Motilal Banarsidass, 1971

• R.S.Gupte – Iconography of the Hindus, Buddhists and Jains, D.B.Taraporevala Sons & Co. Pvt Ltd, Bombay, 1972

• H.Krishna Sastri - South Indian Images of Gods and Goddesses, Madras, Government Press, 1916

• Sudhakar Chattopadhyaya – Theistic Sects in Ancient India, Progressive Publishers, Calcutta, 1962

• K.S.Singh – Solar Traditions in Tribal and Folk cultures of India, India International Centre Quarterly, vol – 19, No. 4, 1992

• Amar Jiva Lochan – Ancient Sun temples in Gaya region: with special reference to some rare and unrecorded images of sun god, Proceedings of the Indian History Congress, vol – 42, 1981

• J.N.Banerjea – Pauranic and Tantric religion, University of Calcutta, 1966

• J.N.Farquhar – An Outline of the Religious Literature of India, Oxford University Press, 1920

• Dilip Kumar Biswas – The Origin and Antiquity of the Surya image in India, Proceedings of the Indian History Congress, vol – 16, 1953

Coins and currency in Ancient India

The exchange of commodities on the principle of barter seems to have been in vogue from very early times. The difficulties of barter gave rise to some common measure of value. Though cows were recognized as a unit of value for the purposes of exchanges in Vedic days, there were probably other recognized units of value such as a piece of gold known as Nishka.

Did coins exist during the Vedic age?

Nishka and Hiranyapinda perhaps were two types of metallic money prevalent in the Vedic times. But it is difficult to ascertain their exact nature and significance because they have never been mentioned in the Vedic literature in the context of commercial exchange. Later Vedic Samhitas and the Brahmanas refer to Shatamana, Pada and Suvarna. But none of these coins have been referred to in the commercial context and appear only as a sacrificial fee or gift or reward for religious, social and academic accomplishments. These metal pieces having conventional size, shape, substance, value and weight had a sort of socio-economic significance as they were the gifts from the kings and people gradually began to place confidence in their intrinsic value. It appears that some donees who had received these gold pieces, getting into financial difficulties, sold them to other people and thus put them into circulation. Gradually in the post-Vedic period some of these forms of metallic money like Niksha and Suvarna became the popular medium of exchange. Thus in the Jatakas, Nishka, Masaka and Suvarna are mentioned in the commercial contexts. Panini refers to some coins like Nishka, Suvarna, Masaka, Shatamana, etc. It clearly shows that the people had gradually begun to adopt gold and silver money as medium of exchange for highly priced commodities. Along with them copper pieces also found a place as money for ordinary commercial exchanges.

But S.R.Goyal is critical of those scholars who have tried to prove the existence of a gold currency in India in the early Vedic period (D.R.Bhandarkar) or the later Vedic period (A.S.Altekar). He argues that in this whole period our economy mainly depended on agriculture and local trade and did not need a gold currency. According to him archaeologically the oldest gold coins of India issued by indigenous rulers are those of the imperial Guptas, excluding a few rare Punched Mark Coins. Before the Guptas the Kushanas issued copious gold coinage. Earlier two Indo-Greek rulers Eucratides I and Menander are known to have issued gold coins but there is no evidence to show that they were meant for circulation in their Indian territories. According to Herodotus, the Indian Satrapy paid to the Achaemenids a tribute in gold dust (not in coins) and the king of Taxila paid Alexander ‘coined silver’ and not ‘coined gold’. All these facts indicate the absence of gold currency in India in any period before the age of Kushans.

Earliest Coins of India

The Punched Mark Coins (PMC) are the earliest coins of India and the emergence of these coins is linked up with the origin of coinage of India. These coins were known as Purana, Dharana or Raupyakarshapana in ancient India. These coins which are largely in silver with a few in copper as well were found in various shapes, sizes and weights. The transition from metallic pieces of definite weight to coins took place only shortly before 500 B.C. and literary evidence also does not prove the existence of silver currency in the pre-Panini and pre-Tripitaka period. These coins were in vogue when writing was not current in India or was rarely used. Therefore the PMC are not inscribed; instead they have a predetermined number of symbols punched on them. The different symbols on these coins were stamped by means of separate punches and not by a single die by the issuing authority. It is suggested that the four or five symbols on the PMC represented the name of the state, the ruling king, place of the mint, religion patronized by the state and the mint-master. The PMCs were in use in northern India till the beginning to the Christian era and might have remained in circulation till the time of the Kushanas. In southern India, the circulation of PMCs continued for 300 years more.

Was Indian coins influenced by Greeks?

Princep (who later modified his view), Wilson and C.W.King believed that Hindus derived their knowledge of coinage from the Bactrian Greeks. So also John Allan, V.A.Smith and Michael Mitchine put forward the foreign origin of Indian coins. But Indian scholars like Durga Prasad, D.R.Bhandarkar, S.K.Chakraborty, P.L.Gupta, etc., have put forward the indigenious origin of Indian coinage. Alexander Cunningham believed that the silver PMC, mainly the common square Karshapana coins found all over the country, was essentially original as it differed from the Greek and from all other systems, in its unit of weight, as well as its scale of multiples.

Indian coins existed prior to Alexander’s invasion

In his work Life of Alexander, Quintus Curtius tells us that among the presents given by the king of Taxila to Alexander were included 200 talents of Signati argenti. This refers to coined silver money and not silver bullion. Further the larger Bhir Mound hoard of PMC discovered in Taxila in 1924 belonging to the 3^rd or the 4^th century B.C. definitely proves that the silver PMC were in circulation in India at least a couple of centuries earlier to Alexander’s invasion.

According to P.L.Gupta, PMC can be classified into coins of local series and coins of imperial series; the former being older than the latter. The local series represents the coinage of the Janapadas and belonged to the period before the rise of Magadha Empire and originated in 7^th or 8^th century B.C., and the coins of the imperial series originated with the rise of Magadha Empire in the 6^th century B.C. Silver currency was quite well established in society earlier than the time of Buddha, he adds.

Issuers of these coins

While some scholars are of the view that the PMCs were issued by guilds and silversmiths with the permission of the ruling authority other scholars opine that they were issued by a central authority that guaranteed the genuineness of the metal and the correctness of the weight. According to D.C.Sircar not all PMC were issued by the State and some of them were certainly issued by guilds and silversmiths and such coins were in circulation side by side with those issued by the States. It appears that all or most of the sixteen Mahajanapadas and probably a few smaller states also issued their own coins and their mints were situated in their capital cities like Kosala, Kashi, etc.

Metals for fabricating coins imported from abroad

Extensive mines of neither gold, nor silver nor copper existed in ancient India and the country had to import considerable quantities of these metals to meet her numismatic and household needs. The indigenous supply of gold was from the mines in Assam, Hyderabad, Mysore and Malbar and from the river washes in the beds of the Indus, the Ganges and the Brahmaputra. But they were inconsiderable and the country had to rely to a great extent on foreign imports. India proper contained no mines of silver. Some of them existed in Burma and Afghanistan, but the country had to rely upon the imports from western Asia for her usual requirements. Some copper mines existed and were worked in Rajputana and Madras presidency, but they did not supply all the quantity of the metal required by the country. The Periplus of the Erythrean Sea mentions that gold and silver bullion were articles of import in most ports of western India.

Rate of exchange between gold and silver coins

Through the references in the ancient Hindu law books and the Nasik Cave Inscription No.12, it appears that the rate of exchange of gold and silver coins was maintained within two limits, namely 1:30 and 1:48. According to the law books compiled in different dates 16 to 20 copper Panas are equal to one silver Pana and that 16 silver Panas can be exchanged for a gold Nishka. The rate of exchange between the copper Pana and gold Mashaka is given as 48:1. The ratio of gold to silver under the Kushanas was 1:10.

Methods of fabricating the coins

On the basis of literary sources and the available specimens of PMC, we can find three modes of fabricating these coins.

• The most common method was to beat the metal into flat sheets of necessary thickness of the coins and then cut into pieces of desired weight and size.

• The second method was to take the metal equal in weight to that of an individual coin and to melt it separately and then pour it out on the earth or wooden board to cool and take its own irregular shape.

• The third method was to fabricate coins by dropping the molten metal in required quantity from a spoon in stirred water to take a round shape which was later given a flattened shape with a hammer.

Sometimes in the 3^rd century B.C., a new technique of manufacturing coins was introduced in this country. It was the technique of casting coins from moulds. Instead of punching several symbols by separate dies, a single model was prepared, where all the symbols were put together, and then from that model moulds were made into which molten metal was poured to cast the coins. It made the task of the issuing authority easier and saved a lot of time and labour and gave a uniform look to the coins made from a particular mould.

Mauryas

During the rule of the Mauryas, silver coins called Panas and copper coins called Mashaka were used extensively as a medium of exchange and as legal tender. As Kautilya has not mentioned the name of gold coins, Parmeshwari Lal Gupta opines that during the times of Mauryas gold coins were not in currency and they were not minted. Minting of coins was a prerogative of the ruler and it was the duty of the Superintendent of Mint known as Lakshanadhyaksha to manufacture silver and copper coins of various denominations. The silver coins were of four denominations namely Pana, Ardha Pana, Paada and Ashta bhaga. Panas were used for paying taxes, fines, pay and rewards. Copper coins were also of four denominations namely Mashaka, Ardha Mashaka, Kakani and Ardha Kanani. There was also an official called Rupadarshka whose duty was to examine the genuineness of coins. The state had appointed spies to detect private and unauthorized coining. It is not easy to say if all the imperial coins were issued from one central mint or there were several mints in various provincial headquarters of the empire. Apart from a central mint at Pataliputra, there were at least three others; one in central India (Ujjain), the other in the region of Takshashila and the third somewhere in Kalinga or Andhra.

According to R.S.Sharma, the Mauryas played an important part in spreading the use of PMC beyond the middle gangetic areas. The PMC found in excavations in Orissa, Andhra, the Deccan and western India belong to a date later than 300 B.C. The Mauryas can therefore be reasonably credited with the extension of their use throughout the length and breadth of their empire. They prepared the ground for the rise of the monetary economy in the Deccan where crafts and commerce flourished under the Shathavahanas.

The fall of the Mauryan empire in the 2^nd century B.C. led to the rise of a number of principalities bringing decentralization in politics as well as trade and currency. The north-western region of the Uttarapatha was under the control of Indo-Greek rulers. Probably to create a crisis in the native currency system they stopped the supply of silver from the Bactrian region. This crisis in the availability of silver led to the descendants of Ashoka and post-Mauryan governments to issue copper PMC.

Coins issued by foreigner rulers of India

From 2^nd century B.C. onwards foreign coins in large numbers were issued by Bactrian Greeks, Parthians, Shakas and Kushanas. Silver was abundantly used for coining standard money by all Greek kings of Bactria and India. Copper was the popular metal for minor coins. Gold was used sparingly by Diodotus, Euthydemus I and Eucratides I. Menander’s queen Agathocleia alone struck some coins in gold. The weight of gold coins called Staters was 132 grains and that of silver coins called Drachm was 66 grains. Deities of Greek gods and animals were usually found on these coins. Demetrios was the first Bactrian king to strike square copper coins with a legend in Greek on the obverse and in Kharoshthian on the reverse. His rival Eukratides struck these bilingual square copper pieces in greater abundance and also a few silver coins. His coins have the figure of a seated Zeus, the sky god. Other Bactrian Greek rulers like Menander and Apollodotus also issued coins. The Shaka rulers also issued coins of which that of Azes I and Azilises are found in large numbers. Apart from Greek gods for the first time an Indian goddess Lakshmi was introduced. The Shakas also used Greek on the obverse and Kharoshthian on the reverse.

Coins under the Kushanas

The Kushanas minted coins in gold and copper only. The gold coin of 124 grains was the standard coin of the Kushana empire but it was most probably confined to the territories of the Kushanas and their subordinate rulers. In other parts of India, copper alone or linked with silver served the purpose of currency.

During the pre-Kushana period it was the silver and copper currency which played an important part in the economic life of India. Hence the reason for the Kushanas to issue gold coins according to Balaram Srivastava was because in the Kushana kingdom’s imports from Rome exceeded the export list of goods. Therefore the traders might have requested the Kushana emperors to issue gold coins for commercial transactions. R.S.Sharma is of the opinion that the Kushanas, who had maintained close contacts with the Roman Empire from where they obtained gold as a result of the trade through the silk route which passed through their territory, converted the Roman gold coins into their own gold coins.

The Kushanas issued a good number of copper coins which evidently presupposes the penetration of the money economy into towns and possibly into rural areas.

Guptas

The Gupta coins constitute the earliest indigenous coinage of India which are regular in size and weight and bear the figure and name of the issuer. Gupta coinage was considerably influenced by the Kushana proto type. The traditional weight of the ancient Indian gold coins (Suvarna) was 80 rattis or about 144 grains. Chandragupta I who started the Gupta coinage did not care to revive this ancient standard but followed the Kushana standard of 120 or 121 grains which in turn was based upon the weight of the Roman gold coins aureus, normally weighing 121 grains. Majority of Samudragupta coins also follow the same standard. But very soon the coins issued by the Guptas became thoroughly national in their art, motif and execution. Chandragupta II issued extensive gold coins apart from copper and silver coins. The silver coins issued by him were a close copy of the Kshatrapa prototype. The silver coins were intended for the newly created western provinces (Malwa, Gujarat and Kathiwar) which earlier under the Kshatrapa rulers were accustomed to silver currency only. Kumaragupta I issued 14 types of gold coins with motifs of Kartikeya, lion slayers and also silver coins free from the Kshatrapa influence. Skandagupta issued his Archer type coin weighing 144 grains, his horseman coin weighed 140 grains. The earlier view that his gold coins are heavily adulterated is now shown to be wrong. It may be noted that the coins of the Gupta tend to increase with each successive reign.

With regards to the abundance of gold coins under the Guptas who issued far more gold coins than their predecessors, R.S.Sharma says that it is likely the Guptas obtained their gold from the eastern part of the Roman Empire through trade and also from China and south-east Asia. It could also be due to the proper working of gold mines in Bihar, says Sachindra Kumar Maity.

In post-Gupta period there is complete absence of gold coins for four centuries and the paucity of coins in general in north India. In the 11^th century it was restarted by the Chedi ruler Gangeyadeva and subsequently continued by the Chandellas, the Gahadwalas and some other dynasties. However, gold coins of that period weighed about 60 grains and were known as Suvarna-Drammas. Half and one-fourth Drammas were also issued. The silver coins were termed variously as Purana, Dharana or Karshapana and weighed 32 rattis or about 57 grains. The copper coins called Panas weighed 144 grains.

Coins of south India

In the south Indian currency systems, gold and copper predominate, while silver currency is practically absent except for the early PMCs from the 2^nd century B.C. to 3^rd century A.D. and occasionally silver mintage in the late medieval period. Coins of gold and silver were perhaps used as a reserve or in major transactions whereas for daily transactions of a minor nature coinage of base metals like lead, potin and copper was in vogue. With regards to the technique of minting coins, the punch system continued throughout the currency history of south India to be replaced by the die striking technique of Vijayanagara in the late 14^th -15^th century A.D. The weight of the coinage was based on a seed called Kalanju weighing 52 grains.

The gold coins were known by different names like Gadyana, Kalanju, Varaha, Pon/Hun and Pratapa. The gold coins were of two types -Pon/Hun, Varaha or Pagoda weighed 50-60 grains and Fanam weighed 5-6 grains. Gadyana weighed a little more than Kalanju and ranged from 61.75 and 63 grains.

The earliest dynasty of the south, the Shatavahans issued coins of lead or a peculiar alloy of copper. The silver coins issued by Gautamiputra Satakarni were the restrucked coins of Nahapana whom he had defeated. Coins of various dynasties which ruled over south India are known only from information gleaned from literary sources. We have not come across coins issued by the Chalukyas of Badami while the coins of the Rashtrakutas are known only from epigraphs which speak of dramma, suvarna, kasu, gadyanaka, etc. The Seunas issued Padmatankas, with an eight petalled lotus in the centre. The Kadambas of Hanagal also issued Padmatankas. The imperial Cholas issued gold, silver and copper coins. While gold and copper were more predominant in the early reigns, copper became the chief metal for currency in the later Chola period. The Chola coins bear their emblem, the tiger. Allmost all Vijayanagara rulers issued coins in gold and copper in large numbers and their coins bear the motif of various deities. The silver coins issued by them are known as Tar which was 1/6^th of Panam. The copper coin was known as Kasu.

Roman coins in circulation

In the early centuries of Christian era we find Roman gold coins in circulation in south India. The reason for this according to Warmington was because the Romans introduced their own coinage of gold and silver to facilitate their foreign trade as there was a dearth of commercial coinage as the Tamilian coins were of base metals. R.Vanaja is of the view that the well organized merchant associations who minted coins with the permission of the State probably imported these Roman coins for their commercial transactions both internal and external as high value currencies. Differing on the above views, Balaram Srivastava says that the Tamilians accepted Roman gold and silver coins from traders only as bullion as the ruling princes of the Chola and Pandya dynasties disapproved the use of Roman coins as currency. As minting at that time was under state control, the government took serious note of all attempts of Roman traders to circulate their coins in Indian markets as detrimental to the national economy. To ward off such attempts they even resorted to the mutilation of Roman coins.

Numerous hoards of Chinese copper coins and Arab dinars were discovered in the Chola region which probably were circulated in the early and late medieval period. Similarly in the Vijayanagara empire currencies of foreign countries were in circulation particularly in places where the foreign merchants had settled.

Reference

• C.J.Brown – Coins of India, 1922

• Sachindra Kumar Maity – Economic Life in Northern India (In the Gupta Period), Motilal Banarsidass, 1970

• R.Vanaja – South Indian Coins, H.M.Nayak, B.R.Gopal Edited: South Indian Studies, T.V.Mahalingam Commemorative Volume, Geetha Book House, Mysore.

• E.J.Rapson – Sources of Indian History : Coins

• Bhagwan Sahai Mudgal – Political Economy in Ancient India, Kishore Publishing House, Kanpur, 1960

• Pran Nath – A Study in the Economic condition of Ancient India, 1929

• Shailendra Mohan Jha – Problems of the study of Punch-Marked Coins, Proceedings of the Indian History Congress, vol-50, 1989

• R.S.Sharma – Coins and Problems of Early Indian Economic History, Proceedings of the Indian History Congress, vol-30, 1968

• Shankar Goyal – Historiography of the Punch Marked Coins, ABORI, vol-81, No.1/4, 2000

• Shankar Goyal – The Origin and antiquity of coinage in India, ABORI, vol-8o, No.1/4, 1999

• Upendra Thakur – Early Indian Mints, Journal of the Economic and Social History of the Orient, vol.16, No.2/3, December 1973

• D.C.Sircar – The issue of Punch Marked Coins, The Journal of the Numismatic Society of India, vol-23 (Golden Jubilee Volume), 1961

• A.S.Altekar – The relative prices of metals and coins in Ancient India, The Journal of the Numismatic Society of India, vol-ii, 1940

• A.S.Altekar- The Coinage of the Gupta Empire, Numismatic Society of India, 1957

• Balram Srivastava – Trade and Commerce in Ancient India (from the earliest times to A.D.300), The Chowkhamba Sanskrit Series office, Varanasi, 1968

• Parmeshwari Lal Gupta – Numismatic data in the Arthasastra of Kautalya, Altekar Felicitation Volume, The Journal of the Numismatic Society of India, vol-22, 1960

• Satya Prakash and Rajendra Singh – Coinage in Ancient India, New Delhi, 1968