Aligarh: The Centre of Advanced Study in the Department of History at Aligarh Muslim University organized a workshop on ‘Indian Numismatics: Identification and Decipherment’ with Amiteshwar Jha, former Director, Indian Institute for Research in Numismatic Studies, as the keynote speaker and Prof Danish Moin from Department of History at Maulana Azad National Urdu University, as the special guest.

In his address, Amiteshwar Jha discussed the barter system, the introduction of coins in ancient India, and Indian coinage traditions. He covered key topics including the study of coins as a tool for understanding history, an overview of early Indian coins, types of coins such as punch-marked coins, imperial punch-marked coins, and their symbols, and the gold and silver uninscribed coins.

He also elaborated on the minting techniques in Early Modern India and the management of coins in the pre-modern Indian period.

Prof Danish Moin explored medieval Indian coinage traditions, focusing on the transition from the early medieval to medieval periods in the third technical session. He discussed features of coins from the Delhi Sultanate and Mughal periods focusing on the typology, calligraphy, and inscriptions on medieval coins.

Prof Shafey Kidwai, Dean, Faculty of Social Sciences, spoke about Sir Syed Ahmad Khan’s contributions to numismatics, particularly his work on Mughal coins, and highlighted the significance of coins in ancient Indian history.

AMU Registrar Mohammad Imran stressed the need for digitization of coins and their accessibility to the public. He assured all possible help to digitize the old coins available in the Department of History.

The Convener of the workshop Prof Parwez Nazir emphasized the interdisciplinary approach to history writing and shared plans for future workshops on similar themes.

Earlier, welcoming the guests, Prof Hassan Imam, Chairperson of the department delineated the importance of numismatics as a scientific field in the writing of history. He also highlighted the purpose of the workshop and informed about the department’s efforts in digitizing coins that are in its possession.

Dr Mohd Nazrul Bari formally introduced the guests and emphasized the importance of archaeological sources for historical writing. He also focused on how coins corroborate the literary and archaeological sources in fixing the political chronologies and geographical boundaries.

Dr Sana Aziz introduced the guests, while Dr Suhaib Qayyoom extended a vote of thanks.