Numismatics Questions and Answers

Answer: A

The legend 'Kritantaparashur jayaty ajitarajajetajitah' is on the battle-axe (parashu) type gold coins of Samudragupta. The words describe him as one whose axe is like Death, the victor over unconquered kings, who is himself unconquered.

Ramagupta, Kumaragupta and Skandagupta are other Gupta rulers with their own coin types and legends; the key gives the parashu legend to Samudragupta.

Answer: D

Mahasena, the war god (Skanda-Kumara), is the deity not depicted on the coins of Kanishka I. His coins show the Buddha (in Greek letters as Boddo) and Maitreya (Metrago Boudo) on a few types, besides Greek, Iranian and Indian gods such as Helios, Mithra, Nana and Oesho. The war god Mahasena belongs on the coins of his successor Huvishka, who issued the Skanda, Kumara, Mahasena and Visakha types.

So Buddha and Maitreya are depicted and are not the answer. Amitabha is not securely identified on the coins either, but the key gives Mahasena as the answer, and that is the one recorded here.

Answer: D

The key matches a-iii, b-ii, c-iv, d-i. The Gupta gold coin hoard is from Bayana, Satavahana coins from Jogalthambi (a hoard of Nahapana's coins restruck by Gautamiputra Satakarni), Maues's coins from Kapisa as the key puts it, and the Chalukya coins from Badami.

The other codes give the Gupta gold coins to Badami or the Chalukya coins to Bayana, which cannot be right. Option D, iii ii iv i, is the answer.

Answer: A

The coins in chronological order are punch-marked coins (i), coins of the Arjunayanas (iii), coins of Nahapana (iv) and Varaha type coins (ii). Punch-marked coins are the earliest, from about the 6th century BC. The Arjunayanas issued coins in about the 1st century BC, Nahapana was a Western Kshatrapa of the 1st to 2nd century AD, and the Varaha (boar) type coins belong to the early medieval Pratihara period.

The other options place the Varaha coins or Nahapana's coins before the punch-marked coins, which is wrong.

Answer: D

The Buddha was first shown in human form on the coins of Kaniska I.

The Kushana king Kanishka I issued gold and copper coins with a standing figure of the Buddha, with the Greek legend Boddo, which is the earliest anthropomorphic Buddha on coins.

The coins of Kujula Kadphises, Huvishka and Vasishka do not carry the first Buddha image. Huvishka's coins show many other deities.

Answer: C

The key gives Chakravikrama type coins.

The Chakravikrama coins are gold coins of the Gupta king Chandragupta II, who took the title Vikramaditya and was a devotee of Vishnu. The key matches the scene of Vishnu giving objects to the king with this type, the one that carries the Vishnu theme most directly.

The tiger-slayer, standard and horse sacrifice (Asvamedha) types are coins of Samudragupta or Kumaragupta with other designs, such as the king killing a tiger, the king standing with a standard, or a horse at a sacrificial post.

Answer: B

Punch marked coins were made of copper and silver, so the answer is I and II.

The early punch marked coins, the earliest Indian coinage, were mainly of silver, with a smaller number in copper. The symbols were punched on the metal with separate dies.

Bronze and iron were not the metals of these coins in the key. Options A, C and D include bronze or iron, so they are wrong.

Answer: D

The Ujjaini symbol is found on the punch marked and copper cast coins, so the answer is II and III.

The Ujjaini symbol, a cross with four circles at its ends, was a mark of the city of Ujjain, and it appears on punch marked coins and on the cast copper coins of Ujjain.

Panchala and Naga coins are of other regions and carry their own marks, so options A, B and C are rejected.

Answer: C

Both statements are correct and the reason explains the assertion, so the answer is Both (A) and (R) are correct and (R) is correct explanation.

Roman gold and silver coins have been found in many early historic sites of South India, such as in the Coimbatore region, and they are evidence of the flourishing trade with the Roman world, which the reason states. The trade is the cause of the coin finds.

Options A and B call the assertion or the reason wrong, and option D calls both wrong, which does not agree with the archaeological record.

Answer: A

The assertion is correct and the reason is wrong, so the answer is (A) is correct (R) is wrong.

The number of gold coins and their gold content fell after Kumaragupta I, and the issues of Skandagupta show a debased coinage. The reason, that gold was not available in India in abundance, is wrong in the key, since gold came in through trade and the earlier Gupta issues were rich in it.

Options B and C accept the reason, and option D calls both wrong, which does not match the decline.