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 |
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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.
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