The Virtual Museum of Indian Coins


Today's
Featured Coin
Pāratarājas: Koziya
AE double unit (didrachm), c. 230-250 CE
Weight: 3.87 gm., Diam: 20-21 mm., Die axis: n.a.
King standing facing, head turned to right
     Brāhmi legend at left: Koziya
Swastika turning right,
     Kharoshthi legend around (at 12 o'clock):
     Koziyasa Kozanaputrasa Paratarajasa
This seemingly insignificant copper coin has unlocked whole chapters of ancient Indian history! Because it has both a Brāhmi and a Kharoshthi legend, it served as a sort of "Rosetta Stone" to unlock the name of this king: Koziya (previously read as Spajheya) and thereby helped to reorganize our understanding of the coinage of the Pāratarājas. For more on the Pāratarājas, see the Pāratarājas page and my paper forthcoming in the Numismatic Chronicle, 2009. The coin is also helping re-write the history of the Western Kshatrapas; for more on this, see the paper The Western Kshatrapa Dāmazāda, also forthcoming in the Numismatic Chronicle, 2009.
powered by FreeFind
© 2002-2009 CoinIndia
All Rights Reserved
Copyright Policy