Devices on some Tribal Coins
By Jitendra Nath Banerjee
Summary
The article addresses the symbols found on tribal coins of ancient India and critiques the conjectural explanations offered by earlier scholars. The author notes that many symbols—such as the female figure bathed by elephants on Kosam coins—have been interpreted in different, often speculative ways. He emphasises that symbols cannot be explained by later textual descriptions that are centuries removed from the time of the coins; instead, their meaning should be sought in the rites, practices and beliefs of the people who used the coins. The article proposes a systematic approach: identify symbols by examining similar motifs in contemporary monumental art and connect them to known religious practices. For example, the author argues that a bull within a shrine on punch‑marked or tribal coins likely represents Śiva’s theriomorphic form, whereas a bull before a sacrificial post should be interpreted as an animal ready for sacrifice. He discusses the three‑arched symbol (sometimes called a Caitya or Stupa) that appears on many coins and notes its different interpretations. While Cunningham and others viewed it as a shrine or a hill, Coomaraswamy suggested it symbolised Śiva as a three‑peaked mountain. Dasgupta challenged this view, arguing that context matters: the symbol appears alongside a pile of balls, human figures and curved lines representing mountains and rivers. The article examines Yaudheya and Arjunāyana coins showing a bull standing before a pillar with pendent garlands, previously described as a sacrificial post or lingam. The author suggests that the pillar represents a sacrificial stake (yūpa) rather than a lingam and that the combination of bull, hill symbol and pillar refers to a local shrine with its presiding deity, sacred mountain and river. He also points out that the bull motif appears widely on tribal coins and may represent both sacrificial animals and divine symbols depending on context. By analysing these examples, the article argues that tribal coin symbols have religious significance tied to local cults and rituals. It criticises the tendency to view all symbols as purely Buddhist or Hindu and stresses the need to consider regional variation and ethnographic parallels.
Conclusion
The author concludes that many devices on tribal coins should be interpreted through the religious practices of the tribes that used them rather than through later literary texts. Symbols like the three‑arched hill, the bull and the pillar likely represent local shrines, deities and ritual objects. Their meaning varies depending on context: a bull may symbolise Śiva in one coin but a sacrificial animal in another. A more nuanced, contextual approach can reveal the religious life of ancient tribes and prevent misinterpretations that homogenise their diverse cultures.