The earliest coins of India, stamped with separate symbols and carrying no legend, are known as
- A.Punch-marked coins
- B.Dinara coins
- C.Jital coins
- D.Potin coins
Correct answer
Explanation
The correct answer is A, punch-marked coins. These are the oldest Indian coins, mostly silver pieces cut into irregular shapes and impressed with symbols punched one at a time, such as the sun, a six-armed wheel, hills, trees and animals. They bear no inscription, so they name no issuer, and literature calls them karshapana or pana. Option B is wrong because dinara was the name of the Gupta gold coin, struck more than eight centuries later with legends and royal portraits. Option C is wrong because the jital was the copper coin of the Delhi Sultanate introduced by Iltutmish. Option D is wrong because potin, an alloy of copper, tin, lead and zinc, was used chiefly by the Satavahanas of the Deccan. The phrase to fix is symbols without legends.
Read the full article: Coins and Currency in Indian History: Exam Notes
Practice Questions
View allThe silver tanka and the copper jital were introduced in India by which ruler?
- A.Qutb-ud-din Aibak
- B.Iltutmish
- C.Alauddin Khalji
- D.Firoz Shah Tughlaq
Show answer
Iltutmish gave the Delhi Sultanate its standard coinage by issuing the silver tanka and the copper jital, with purely Arabic legends and the name of the mint, and this pair remained the basis of Sultanate currency.
Read the full explanation →The token currency of brass and copper, made legal tender at the value of silver, was issued by
- A.Balban
- B.Muhammad bin Tughlaq
- C.Sikandar Lodi
- D.Akbar
Show answer
In 1329 or 1330 he issued brass and copper tokens declared to be worth a silver tanka.
Read the full explanation →The silver coin called rupiya, the ancestor of the modern Indian rupee, was first issued by
- A.Sher Shah Suri
- B.Humayun
- C.Akbar
- D.Jahangir
Show answer
As part of his reform of the currency he issued a silver coin of about one hundred and seventy-eight grains called the rupiya, together with a copper dam and a gold mohur, and fixed their rates of exchange.
Read the full explanation →Coins bearing the twelve signs of the zodiac were issued by which Mughal emperor?
- A.Akbar
- B.Jahangir
- C.Shah Jahan
- D.Aurangzeb
Show answer
Jahangir struck a celebrated series of gold and silver coins showing the twelve signs of the zodiac, and another series carrying his own portrait, which is unusual in Islamic coinage; he also issued coins in the name of Nur Jahan.
Read the full explanation →The largest number of gold coins in ancient India was issued by which dynasty?
- A.The Mauryas
- B.The Satavahanas
- C.The Guptas
- D.The Cholas
Show answer
Gupta gold coins, called dinara, survive in greater numbers than those of any other ancient Indian dynasty, and their types form a gallery of royal images: the King and Queen type, the Ashvamedha and Lyrist types of Samudragupta, and the Archer and Chakravikrama types of Chandragupta II.
Read the full explanation →