WESTERN KSHATRAPAS Damajada silver drachm 176 SE (254 AD)

Description

Uncommon with legible date.

Scythian culture was all warlords carving out territories, that’s what they did. Satraps (Kshatrapa) were major vassals, generals, if you will, or governors. A satrap was sent into northwestern India, which includes parts of modern Pakistani Baluchistan and Mumbai, where they ruled for several centuries. Contemporary rivals were first the Satahavanas, later the Guptas, who destroyed them. Colonial ventures were undertaken in Java and Sumatra.

The earliest ancient Indian coins were the “bent bar” punchmarked silvers of the Achaemenid Persians occupying Gandhara in northwest Pakistan. By the 3rd century BC coins were in general use in most of India and Ceylon, and in subsequent centuries struck round coins in gold, silver, and copper came into use throughout the subcontinent and beyond to Southeast Asia and Pacific islands to Java and beyond.