Indus Valley Civilisation – Trade and Commerce

 The Indus Valley Civilization had a very developed system of trade and commerce
with contact with distant civilizations and regions.
 They used precious and semi precious minerals in making pottery, sculptures and
ornaments.
 They used a uniform system of weights made from a stone called chert. The lower
denominations of the system were binary (1, 2, 4, 8, 16, 32, etc. up to 12,800). The
higher denominations however followed the decimal system.
 The Harappans established settlements in areas with resources – Shortugal in
Afghanistan for Lapis Lazuli, Nageshwar and Balakot for shell, and through the docks
of Lothal they bought Carnelian from Bharuch in Gujarat, Steatite from South
Rajasthan and North Gujarat, and copper from the Khetri region of Rajasthan.
 Khetri region was home to the Ganeshwar -Jodhpura culture, who is believed to have
traded copper for Harappan pottery.
 Seals and pottery with Indus valley script has been found in areas as far away as
Mesopotamia and Oman.
 The Mesopotamians referred to Harappa as Melunha and traded with the Harappans
for carnelian, lapis lazuli, copper, gold, and varieties of wood.
 It is believed that the Harappans also traded with the Omanis for their copper as
indicated by the Harappan jars found there. The Harappans referred to this region as
Magan.
 The island of Bahrain was called Dilmun in the ancient days and is believed to have
traded with the Harappans.
 Harappan ivory carvings have also been found in areas as far away as Gonur Deep in
Southern Turkmenistan.

Coinage
 The first coins in India were minted in the 6th Century by the rulers of Mahajanapadas.
Each of the city states had their own coins
 They were referred to by the various rulers as Puranas, Karshapanas or Pana.
 Prior to this one of the most common modes of currency was through cowry shells but
other articles were used as currency as well.
  The Mauryas were the first to have a common royal standard for the coins in their
Kingdom, Kautilya in his Arthashastra refers to coins like the rupyarupa (silver),
suvarnarupa (gold), tamararupa (copper) and sisarupa (lead).
 The Kushana rulers were the first to introduce the practice of minting coins with the
heads of the rulers engraved on it. This practice remained in vogue till the rise of the
Delhi Sultanates in 12th Century.
 The Gupta rulers were however responsible for some of the highest quality standards
in ancient India with the development in technology allowing for well engraved and
uniform gold coins. These coins had Sanskrit engravings on them.

Maurya Empire

Languages – Pali, Prakrit and Sanskrit

Kushanas

Language – Bactrian

Gupta Empire

Languages – Sanskrit and Prakrit

Samudragupta – Referred to as the Indian Napoleon

Books

Panchatantra Stories – By Vishnu Sharma surviving work dated at around 300 BCE

Jataka Tales – Collection of Buddhist literature dated at about 4th century BCE