ESSAYS ON INDIAN ANTIQUITIES, HISTORIC, NUMISMATIC, AND PALAEOGRAPHIC

Indian numismatics has a key place within world numismatics. It started about two centuries ago when many Indophiles started studying Indian coins which were almost three millennia old by that time. There was very little literature begin the study with, and a number pioneers had to work hard to make sense out of the tens of thousands of unidentified coins. James Prinsep was one of the pioneers. While totally inadequate and outdated, the book continues to have great value to Indian numismatists because of the historical background and material contained in it. A key figure in the history of Benares (Varanasi), James Prinsep was instrumental in expanding Western knowledge of Indian civilisation. After briefly studying under Pugin, he became an assay master in Calcutta in 1819, and soon moved to Benares. His talents were many, and within a few years he had completed a detailed map of the city, designed a new mint, engineered a system to improve sanitation and begun studying the inscriptions and coins that helped him to decipher two ancient scripts and to establish the dates of Indian dynasties. Collected in 1858 and edited by the numismatist Edward Thomas (1813?86), these essays are generously illustrated, often in Prinsep’s hand, and display the enormous breadth of his knowledge. Volume 1 includes a short biography by his brother, along with articles on coins, relics and archaeological discoveries. Volume 2 includes essays on coins and philology, along with explanations of Indian chronology. This book is nicely Illustrative of Indian historical chronology, modern coinages, weights and measures etc.