DDK HistoryF.p65 - CSIR

6.7J RUIN OF TAXILA 181
They also show one violent and one peaceful change of dynasty. The
principal issue of each Magadhan king seems to have had the fifth
mark as that of an elephant. Later, in the Mauryan period, we find
coins with the emperor’s personal and fifth marks but the first three
marks of the Mauryan dynasty replaced by three small homo-signs.
No such coins are found in the earlier Taxilan hoard, though powerful
tribes reduced by Alexander had acted as buffer states towards
expanding Magadha. These can be interpreted as tribal coinages issued
under the suzerainty of the emperor. The reverse-marks system disappears
in the Mauryan period, the coins being issued with a single royal marks on
the reverse. The normal absence of any further marks is to be explained
by the rise of the vast new volume of trade in new territory opened to
the south, unrestricted by the chain of northern merchant guilds which
controlled the old, steady commodity exchange all the way from
Magadha to the Levant. The Magadhan kings suspended or cancelled
old trading-class privileges with new state restrictions.
One more feature of the older Taxilan hoard deserves notice, iho steady
absorption rate (fig. 28). About 7/10 of the coins in circulation
remained in the region of the reverse marks system once they had
entered, without escaping or being melted. That is, just under three of
every four coins marked once would be marked again at the time of the
next check This may indicate periodic checking carried out among
the bankers by common agreement, without which it is difficult to
understand the stead}’ loss of weight and rate of decay. -Clearly the balance
of trade was in favour of Taxila, for the Magadhan currency appears
to dominate here whereas Taxilan coins of the bent-bar type (100
raktika weight standard) have not been reported in Magadhan or
southern hoards. That no coins with Kosalaii marks or the 3/4 karsapana
standard are found at Taxila proves (besides inadequate digging) lhat
Kosala had long disappeared from the scene. With the settlement of the
Ganges valley, mainly along the river once the forests had been cleared,
the older trade-route near the Himalayan foot-hills would lose its
importance ; in other words, Kosala was doomed even without military
action, as the comparatively poorer quality of its coinage would confirm.