Janapada Coins of Ancient India

At the beginning of the sixth century BC there was no paramount power in India. It was divided into large number of independent states. According to the Buddhist text, they flourished shortly before the time of Gautama Buddha. The Janapadas issued their own coins which dates between 6th to 4th centuries BC. All the earliest Indian coins known so far are of gold, silver, copper, lead. The coins are made by punchmark technique in which one to five symbols are punched on the obverse side of the coin. The reverse side has some minute bankers mark which certifies the purity and weight of these coins.