Many words that we use in our normal conversation we use without thinking what they really mean. I remember once asking my grandmother for money and she promptly replied: “I do not have even a ‘phooti cowrie”, meaning absolutely nothing.

We all knew what she meant but then my dear friend Saifullah Khalid the other day sent me a photograph of the old coins of Lahore, and there it was, the world’s very oldest coin, a ‘phooti cowrie’. Naturally, I consulted a number of books and learnt that a ‘kowri’, or a split shell, was taken from the Chowri snails and was first used in our land during the Indus Valley Civilisation almost 5,000 years ago. The name ‘phooti’ was because it is split on one side. So the Chowri shell was what a ‘phooti cowrie’ was. As the production of such shells was limited by nature, so its scarcity meant that it had value.

Three ‘phooti cowrie’ shells equalled a whole Chowri, which was a small sea shell. But both these had to have some final value. That was the ‘rupa’, later called ‘rupaya’. The very first mention of the Rupee can be found in the ‘Astadhyayi’ by Panini, the Swabi-born linguist in the middle of the 4th century BC. The value of a rupaya was 5,275 ‘phooti cowries’. In between were ten different coins, they being ‘chowri’, ‘damri’, ‘pie’, ‘dhalla’, ‘paisa’, ‘taka’, ‘anna’, ‘dowani’, ‘chowani’, ‘athani’ and finally a ‘rupaya’.

In case you think that all this is ancient stuff, just visit the Lahore Museum and you will be amazed to see all of them framed and explained. For that matter ask any old walled city person and he will know of all these ten coins, at least the names. But the value of the first ‘rupaya’ was pegged to a ‘tola’ of gold, which almost 2,000 years ago was at an even value. With time as gold acquired greater value this value diminished. Amazingly in the sub-continent silver was more valued than gold, and that is because gold was in greater supply. Once ample silver flowed in from Iran after the Greek invasion, gold overtook silver in value. But that never changed for the ‘rupaya’. Even today all money is in one way or another backed by its gold value. Needless to remind that when this column was written it was 70,000 rupees to a ‘tola’ of gold.

In my research I discovered that there is an active business, mostly online or at auctions, of old coins of the Punjab. I was shocked to learn that a 1,500 year old ‘dowani’ was sold in Frankfurt for a massive US$1.2 million, but this was possible after experts had certified it thanks to carbon dating. An online dealer was selling a 1923 ‘chowani’ for an impressive US$10,000.

The oldest minted coins of the Punjab in circulation in Lahore bazaars were 2,400 years ago and were made of brass with Hindu deities on them, just as during the Buddhist period they had the Buddha on them.

It is clear that every ruler wished to leave his or her mark on history, just as the British did. During the Sikh period the coin was marked with the name of Ranjit Singh’s favourite concubine Moran, and was then and still is referred to as ‘Moran da Sikka’. Coins with her mark today fetch a handsome amount, for it is a collector’s item.

The very first minted coins were during the Mauryan Period that is about 300 BC. When Alexander came to our lands he was shocked by the amount of gold available. But then the very first stamped coins were already in circulation. Amazingly during the Harappa excavations a lot of coins were found, which by the time the Turkic and Mughal invaders came acquired a standardised form, which the British then gave a formal system which we today follow. But what is amazing is the use of ancient words in our current lexicon, just like my grandmother used the word ‘phooti cowrie’. To be honest even today this is commonly used.

We know that during the period when Alexander met the Bhera ‘puru’ – known as Porus – coins with Greek stamps soon afterwards started to be in circulation. The ruler of Sialkot was a Greek general Menander the First. That is when Sialkot was called Sakala. When Alexander avoided Lahore and reached Sialkot he razed it to the ground. Moving on, he faced across the Sutlej the combined armies of six major sub-continental Purus, prominent among them was the army of Lahore. He fled from battle as his army revolted, his army general was Menander who founded Sialkot as the capital of the first Indo-Greek Empire. Coins with his stamps were in circulation in the bazaars of the Punjab for over 500 years.

In the bazaars of Lahore as well as the Punjab after Menander the gold coins stamped with the portrait of the next Greek ruler, Philoxenus Anicetus, became common. The first silver coins were with the Greek Niacis, which history tells us was a short-statured person. What is interesting is that all these Greek military rulers for over 450 years were Buddhists, as was Lahore a Buddhist city with Greek coins in circulation.

Yet today we know nothing about these Greek coins save for them being in the Lahore Museum or the British and other European museums. What is most interesting is that our own coins from the Harappa Period over 4,000 years ago are much better known among the common man. It just shows how within all of us our history and language is almost part of our genes, figuratively speaking.

On a personal level when in school we five brothers every day were given four ‘annas’ – a ‘chowani’ - which meant that each one could enjoy a cold aerated drink bottle and a bag of potato crisps in paper packets each. My eldest brother often saved a copper ‘pie’ which had a hole in it. This piece is not about inflation, but about the history of coins and money and how it is part of our heritage.

It would be interesting to see that our future currency bore marks from our heritage based on our actual ancient numismatic history starting from the Harappa and Indus Valley Civilisation. Numismatic symbols of the 12,500 years old Mehrgarh site would make our coins the oldest symbols in the world. Such an exercise would be a small step in correcting the professed stance that we give our history.

Published in Dawn, April 28th, 2019

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