Arms and Numismatics

[olikara]

Numismatics being my primary hobby, I am very excited when I come across weapons depicted on classical coins.

India has always had a rich numismatic tradition and it is on Indian coins that you can perhaps see the world's largest variety of pictoral representations like animals, birds, trees, and in many cases edged weapons too. The Hindu kingdoms in India were at the forefront of making such beautiful coins as the Mohameddan kingdoms were religiously prohibited from depicting images on their coins and had to make do with mind blowing calligraphy instead.

The most common of edged weapon representations on Indian classical coinage are the Vajra, Trishul and the Ankush.

In Hindu mythology vajra is a powerful weapon having the combined features of sword, mace, and spear. Vajra also means thunderbolt and holds a special place ion Buddhist mystical tradition as well. I have depicted a Vajra in the first attachment.

The Trishul is the Trident and has always been a favorite Indian religious symbol as well as weapon. The 2nd attachment shows a 17th century Maratha coin depicting the Trishul on it's obverse.

And lastly we have the Ankush , which though edged may not be a weapon in the strictest sense. The Ankush is an elephant prod and is in the form of a long rod held in the elephant handler's hand with a pointed hook at one end. The hook is used to prod the delicate portion behind the elephant's ear and thus keep the animal in control. I have read that a longer version of such a weapon was used by the Mongols in battle to unseat riders from their horses. The 3rd attachment has a representation of the Ankush on another Maratha coin. Observe it at the 9 'O' clock position.

Tipu Sultan of Mysore's father Haidar Ali depicted the battle axe on his smaller copper coins.

I also came across another fascinating piece, and this one a coin belonging to the Vijaynagar Empire in South India under the Great Krishnadeva Raya.(1509-1530 A.D.). I have it attached as the last picture.

What is interesting about this piece is the depiction of the edged weapon here. Mitchiner in his coin catalog(1998:767) says that it is a dagger. However I feel that it is a sword as it has all the attributes of the medieval S. Indian Hindu sword which had upward inclined quatrefoil guards with a large composite pommel, often with a wooden cushion. Does anyone else on the forum agree that the picture on the coin looks more like a sword rather than a dagger. I welcome your comments here.

I apologise to the forum as well as the moderators if this topic is a way off the general discussions here. But then I feel one can always learn more about contemporary weapons and their forms from their representations on coinage.