Taxila (Taksasila)
 
An ancient city in northern Pakistan, the site is about 20 miles northwest of the present Pakistani capital of Islamabad. It was known for ages as a commercial center astride several important trade routes, and as a significant contact point for Indian, Iranian, Hellenistic, and even Chinese influences.
 
  • Kingdom of GANDHARA
  • Gandhara (of which Taxila was a capital - Kabul  another) was one of the earliest states to emerge from the Aryan migrations south off the steppes and into Iran and India. It's age is unknown, but was a minimum of 1100 years old when Alexander's armies reached it.
  • Unknown Rulers
  • Druyu...........................................................fl. c. 1600
  • Babhru
  • Arabdha
  • Gandhara
  • Dharma
  • Ghrita
  • Durjaya
  • Prachetas
  • Shuchetas (Shatadrakhman).......................................fl. c. 1350
  • Unknown Rulers
  • Pushracarin (Pukkusati).........................................fl. c. 550
  • Persian client.........................................c. 520 - 326
    • Unknown Rulers
    • Ambhi..................................................? - 326
 
Silver punch marked "bent bar" Satamana. [Broad series] c. 6th cent. BC. West Indus series.

Weight: 11.2g. Size: 5 x 11 x 28 mms.
Silver punch marked "bent bar" Satamana. [Narrow Series] Pre 350 BC. Mint: Taxila.

Weight: 8.2g. Size: 3.5 x 10.0 x 40.5 mms.
Silver Satamana. Flat Bar [Narrow Series] Pre 350 BC. 

Mint: Taxila, circular counter-mark also in middle.

Weight: 8.2g.
Silver Satamana. [Flat Bar, West Indus series (Indus and Kabul river)]. Substantial copper and other metals amalgamation. Found in North Attock.

Silver punchmarked "heavy bent bar" Satamana. [Broad Series] discovered at Campbellpur (modern day Attock City) east of River Indus.

Weight: 11.4g.
 
  • Macedon...................................................326 - c. 315
  • The Mauryan Empire.....................................c. 315 - c. 232
  • Bactria................................................c. 232 - c. 130
  • Kingdom of TAXILA
  • Antiacides......................................................fl. c. 130
  • Unknown Ruler
  • Archibius...................................................? - 61 and...
  • Hermaeus....................................................? - 61
  • The Saka (Scythians).......................................61 - c. 30
  • The Kushan Empire...................................c. 30 BCE - c. 20 CE
    • Indravarman
  • Client of Parthian Empire...............................c. 20 - c. 75
    • Aspavarman.........................................c. 20 - c. 75
  • The Kushan Empire.......................................c. 75 - c. 230
    • Zeyonis (Djihonika)
  • The Kushanshahs........................................c. 230 - c. 300
  • The Gupta Empire.......................................c. 300 - c. 450
  • The Hephthalites.......................................c. 450 - c. 565
  • The Guptid city was visited by Chinese travelers, among whom Fa-Hsien reported a flourishing fortified market town. But the Hunnic invasions devastated the region, and when another Chinese pilgrim, Hsuan Tsang, reached the area c. 640, all he found were scattered ruins and abandoned monasteries. Taxila was never rebuilt.
 
The Mauryan-Sunga empire shrank in the 2nd century BC, leaving the outlying provinces to their own devices. Some of them were swallowed up by invaders like the Greeks. Actually all of them fell to this or that conqueror eventually. But some managed to hold on and run their affairs on their own for a time. Pushkalavati (west of Charsadda), for example, was run by its commercial guilds (modern term: "banks") for a while. These entities struck a series of municipal copper coins that became the model for the square Greek bronzes after those guys conquered the region. Exactly which city issued which coins is a subject of debate. The elephant/lion and elephant/horse coins, for example are assigned to Pushkalavati by Mitchiner and to Taxila by Senior.

The elephant/lion coins form a coherent series, the details of which are at this time are not elucidated. The weight of the basic coins are 14 grams or so, called "1 1/2 karshapana" by Mitchiner. Fractions of various kinds are rare, meaning less than 1 of 100 found.  They are found with both or either animal facing left or right. The animals facing oppositely are far more common than both facing the same way. The directions probably indicate a sequence or "something," but how the system worked is completely unknown, possibly unconsidered.

Pushkalavati (Pashto and Urdu: پُشْكَلآوَتي‎) was the capital of the Gandhara kingdom. Pushkalavati (meaning Lotus City in Sanskrit) and home of the Sanskrit grammarian Pāṇini. Its ruins are located on the outskirts of the modern city of Charsadda, in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province of Pakistan. Charsadda lies about 29 kilometres (18 miles) east from the provincial capital of Peshawar. Pushkalavati ruins are located on the banks of Swat River, near its junction with Kabul River. Pushkalavati was the capital of the ancient Gandhara kingdom before the 6th century BCE, when it became an Achaemenid regional capital, and it remained an important city until the 2nd century CE. The region around ancient Pushkulavati was recorded in the Zoroastrian Zend Avesta as Vaēkərəta (Gandhara), or the seventh most beautiful place out of a list of sixteen districts on earth created by Ahura Mazda. It was known as the "crown jewel" of Bactria, and held sway over nearby ancient Taxila.

MA-4404v. Post-Mauryan Punjab Taxila Local Coinage 185-168 BC.

Value: AE 1-1/2 Karshapana. Mint: Pushkalavati (west of Charsadda).

Weight: 11.97g.
Diameter: 12.50 mm x 20.50 mm.
Alignment: Medal.

Obverse: Elephant walking right. Reverse: Horse running left.

MA-4418v1. Post-Mauryan Punjab Taxila Local Coinage 185-168 BC.

Value: AE 1/2 Karshapana with Multi Symbol Type.

Weight: 4.82g. Diameter: 17.25 mm x 15.25 mm. Alignment: Coin. Mint: Pushkalavati (west of Charsadda). Obverse: rice plant? (left side), hill (right side) and swastica (at the bottom). Reverse: double trident (left side), hill with moon above (right side) and bull head (at the bottom).
 

 
 
 
Pakistan's province of Punjab.
Countries / Territories
 
Chiefa Coins