Archaic Coinage of the Godavari Valley and The Deccan

'This handsome volume is both a Catalogue and a Commentary on the ancient Indian Punchmarked coinage of the Deccan region. Kulkarni has adopted an up-to-date approach to classification and interpretation focusing on close inspection of all aspects of the coins themselves – hoards, weight systems, methods of manufacture, and re-struck coins. His research into die studies has brought out hitherto undiscovered information about chronology and more'.

Terry Hardaker, Oxford

The 'Indian Coinage Tradition', as Joe Cribb calls it, is one of the World's oldest, alongside the Chinese and European / Eastern Mediterranean monetary traditions. There is an agreement amongst scholars that the particular category of silver 'punch-marked coins' formed its early component. Three aspects stand out in particular with regard to this coinage – its manufacturing technique, its spread over the Indian Subcontinent and most importantly, its visual nature, which is exclusively semiotic (composed of symbols). 

In this volume, Dr. Prashant Kulkarni presents us with a rare gift, the detailed and fascinating story of a hitherto-poorly understood series of local punch-marked silver coins, those of the Godavari Valley and neighbouring regions.