Sasanian coinage of Sindh
(325-480 CE)
Gold coins of Sasanian Empire ruler Shapur III (r. 383-388), minted in Sindh, modern Pakistan. Obverse: Portrait of Shapur III, Brahmi script character Śrī ("Lord") in front of the King. Degraded Pahlavi legend around. Reverse: Fire altar with attendants.[1][2]

The Sasanian coinage of Sindh refers to a series of Sasanian-style issues, minted from 325 to 480 CE in Sindh, in the southern part of modern Pakistan, with the coin type of successive Sasanian Empire rulers, from Shapur II to Peroz I.[1] Together with the coinage of the Kushano-Sasanians, these coins are often described as "Indo-Sasanian".[3] They form an important part of Sasanian coinage.

Context

Sasanian rulers from the reign of Shapur I claimed control of the Sindh area in their inscriptions. Shapur I installed his son Narseh as "King of the Sakas" in the areas of Eastern Iran as far as Sindh.[4] Two inscriptions during the reign of Shapur II mention his control of the regions of Sindh, Sakastan and Turan.[5] Still, the exact term used by the Sasanian rulers in their inscription is Hndy, similar to Hindustan, which cannot be said for sure to mean "Sindh".[1] Al-Tabari mentioned that Shapur II built cities in Sind and Sijistan.[6][7]

Characteristics of the coinage

Location map of the Sasanian coinage of Sindh, circa 400-425 CE.[8]

In the area of Sindh, from Multan to the mouth of the Indus river, an important series of gold coins was issued on the model the coinage of Sasanian Empire rulers Shapur II down to Peroz I, that is covering approximately the period from 325 to 480 CE.[4][1] These coins have been recovered from the areas of Sindh, Baluchistan and Kutch.[1] The coins are made of gold only, have a weight of around 7.20 grams, making them similar to the traditional "heavy" Sasanian dinars.[1] The number of coins so far discovered suggests a significant volume of coinage, equivalent to about half of the more famous Kushano-Sassanian coinage.[1] However, the time span of 150 years covered by the Sindh coins is much longer than the roughly 50 years time span of the Kushano-Sasanians, suggested about 1/6th of the Kushano-Sasanian output per time unit.[1]

The coins are not the usual Sasanian imperial type, and the legend around the portrait tends to be degraded Middle Persian in the Pahlavi script, but they have the Brahmi script character Śrī ( "Lord") in front of the portrait of the King.[1][9] The coins suggest some sort of Sasanian control of Sind during the 5th century, a recognition of Sasanian overlordship,[1] but the precise extent of the Sasanian presence or influence is unknown.[10][9] The facts that these coins do not use the traditional Sasanian imperial titulature, that they do not use the Sasanian weight standards, and that the standard Sasanian silver monetary standard was not in circulation in the region, all suggest that the Sasanians were actually not ruling directly in Sindh.[1] Still, such vast influence from the Arabic peninsula to the Sindh and the Kushan realm probably provided the Sasanians with a remarkable position in terms of maritime trade, giving them a sort of trade monopoly.[11]

The expansion of the Sasanians in northwestern India, which put an end to the remnants of Kushan rule, may also have been done at the expense of the Western Satraps and the Satavahanas.[12]

Sasanian rulers (325-480 CE)

Sindh coinage of Sasanian Empire rulers from Shapur II down to Peroz I are known, covering approximately the period from 325 to 480 CE.[4] The last coins of the series, those copied on Peroz I (r. 459-484), deviate from the series as they introduce a Brahmi legend, often with the title "Rana Datasatya".[1] Paradoxically, several of the Sasanians kings have more dinar gold coins known from the Sindh mints than from the regular Sasanian mints: this is the case of Shapur III and Bahram V, both of whom only have about five regular Sasanian dinar gold coins known, compared to nine and thirteen respectively for the Sindh mints as of 2016.[1] To explain this, R.C. Senior has suggested that Shapur III, who had a very troubled reign and suffered defeats at the hand of the Kushans, had been unable to issue gold coinage and had to take refuge in Sindh where he was able to strike his beautiful coins, some with the Sri symbol, and some without.[2]

Hunnic issues (from 480 CE)

Later issues of the Peroz design abandon the degraded Palhavi legend altogether as well as the Sri mark, and instead used a Brahmi legend Rana Datasatya.[1][13][14] Some later imitations of these coins after 480 CE may have been made by the Hephthalites, who added a Hunnic tamgha to the design, after they took over the northwestern Indian provinces.[4] The quality of the coins also becomes very much degraded by that time, and the actual gold content becomes quite low.[1]

Indo-Sasanian coinage (530 CE to 1202 CE)

There is also a whole category of Indian coins, in the "Indo-Sassanian style", that were derived from the Sasanian design in a rather geometric fashion, among the Gurjaras, Pratiharas, Chaulukya-Paramara and Palas from circa 530 CE to 1202 CE. Typically, the bust of the king on the obverse is highly simplified and geometric, and the design of the fire altar, with or without the two attendants, appears as a geometrical motif on the reverse of this type of coinage.[15][16]

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 Schindel, Nikolaus; Alram, Michael; Daryaee, Touraj; Pendleton, Elizabeth (2016). The Parthian and Early Sasanian Empires: adaptation and expansion. Oxbow Books. pp. 126–129. ISBN 9781785702105.
  2. 1 2 3 Senior, R.C. (2012). "Some unpublished ancient coins" (PDF). Oriental Numismatic Society Newsletter. 170 (Winter): 17.
  3. ↑ Ray, Himanshu Prabha (2019). Negotiating Cultural Identity: Landscapes in Early Medieval South Asian History. Taylor & Francis. pp. 177–178. ISBN 9781000227932.
  4. 1 2 3 4 Senior, R.C. (1991). "The Coinage of Sind from 250 AD up to the Arab Conquest" (PDF). Oriental Numismatic Society Newsletter. 129 (June–July 1991): 3–4.
  5. ↑ Daryaee, Touraj (2014). Sasanian Persia: The Rise and Fall of an Empire. I.B.Tauris. p. 17. ISBN 9780857716668.
  6. ↑ Daryaee, Touraj (2014). Sasanian Persia: The Rise and Fall of an Empire. I.B.Tauris. p. 18. ISBN 9780857716668.
  7. ↑ Rezakhani, Khodadad (2017). ReOrienting the Sasanians: East Iran in Late Antiquity. Edinburgh University Press. p. 83. ISBN 9781474400305.
  8. ↑ Senior, R.C. (1991). "The Coinage of Sind from 250 AD up to the Arab Conquest" (PDF). Oriental Numsmatic Society. 129 (June–July 1991): 3–4.
  9. 1 2 ALRAM, MICHAEL (2014). "From the Sasanians to the Huns New Numismatic Evidence from the Hindu Kush". The Numismatic Chronicle. 174: 267. ISSN 0078-2696. JSTOR 44710198.
  10. ↑ Daryaee, Touraj (2014). Sasanian Persia: The Rise and Fall of an Empire. I.B.Tauris. p. 137. ISBN 9780857716668.
  11. ↑ Banaji, Jairus (2016). Exploring the Economy of Late Antiquity: Selected Essays. Cambridge University Press. p. 130. ISBN 9781107101944.
  12. ↑ Mahajan, Vidya Dhar (2016). Ancient India. S. Chand Publishing. p. 335. ISBN 9789352531325.
  13. ↑ Senior, R.C. (1991). "The Coinage of Sind from 250 AD up to the Arab Conquest" (PDF). Oriental Numismatic Society Newsletter. 129: 3–4.
  14. ↑ Senior, R.C. (1996). "Some new coins from Sind" (PDF). Oriental Numismatic Society Newsletter. 149: 6.
  15. ↑ Ray, Himanshu Prabha (2019). Negotiating Cultural Identity: Landscapes in Early Medieval South Asian History. Taylor & Francis. pp. 162–163. ISBN 9781000227932.
  16. ↑ "The Indo-Sassanian coins, also termed as Gadahiya and circulated from 600 to 1200 A.D., are found in good numbers from Ahmadahad, Banaskantha, Bhavanagar, Junagarh, Kaira, Kutch, Mehsana, of Gujarat." in The Journal of Academy of Indian Numismatics & Sigillography. Academy of Indian Numismatics & Sigillography. 1988. p. 145.
  17. ↑ CNG Coins
  18. ↑ Smith, Vincent Arthur; Edwardes, S. M. (Stephen Meredyth) (1924). The early history of India : from 600 B.C. to the Muhammadan conquest, including the invasion of Alexander the Great. Oxford : Clarendon Press. p. Plate 2.
  19. ↑ Post-Gupta (Chaulukya-Paramara) coin, Classical Numismatic Group.
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