Which one of the following statements about coins struck during 200 BCE to 300 CE in the Indian subcontinent is not correct?
- (a)The Indo-Greeks introduced bilingual and biscript legends on their coins.
- (b)The Kushanas minted large quantities of gold coins as well as copper coins of low denomination.
- (c)The Satavahanas issued coins of silver, copper, lead and potin.
- (d)Absence of Negama coins suggests the declining power and authority of merchant guilds.
Correct — D, Absence of Negama coins suggests the declining power and authority of merchant guilds. The premise is false, so the inference cannot stand. Negama is the guild — nigama — and copper pieces carrying the Brahmi legend negama were struck by merchant corporations in the Taxila and Gandhara region in the second century BCE, some with a guild name in Kharoshthi on the reverse. These issues fall inside the very window the question names. Numismatists read them the other way round from the option: a body that is not a king yet puts its name on coin is a body with standing, so the presence of negama coins is the evidence for guild power.
- (a)The Indo-Greeks introduced bilingual and biscript legends on their coins. — True, and consequential. Indo-Greek coins carry Greek on one face and Prakrit in Kharoshthi on the other, which is how modern scholars got a reading key for Kharoshthi in the first place.
- (b)The Kushanas minted large quantities of gold coins as well as copper coins of low denomination. — True. Regular gold coinage begins with Vima Kadphises and continues through Kanishka and Huvishka, alongside heavy copper for everyday transactions.
- (c)The Satavahanas issued coins of silver, copper, lead and potin. — True, and lead and potin are their signature — a Deccan mix quite unlike the Kushana gold standard.
Between about 200 BCE and 300 CE the subcontinent was minting in more metals, by more issuers, than at any earlier point. Kings issued coin; so did tribal republics such as the Yaudheyas and Malavas, and so did merchant guilds. That spread of issuing authority is itself the historical finding, and it is what coins add to a period whose written sources are thin.
Three of the four statements are plain description and the fourth smuggles in an inference. Whenever an option moves from 'this exists' to 'this proves', check the fact underneath first. Here the fact is wrong — the negama issues are known from exactly this period — so the conclusion drawn from their supposed absence collapses without any need to argue about guild history at all.
- Negama, from nigama, means a merchant guild; copper coins with that Brahmi legend come from the Taxila and Pushkalavati region.
- Indo-Greek coinage was bilingual and biscript, pairing Greek with Prakrit written in Kharoshthi.
- Kushana gold issues begin under Vima Kadphises and continue under Kanishka, alongside low-denomination copper.
- Satavahana coins were struck in lead, potin, copper and silver, and some carry ship motifs from the eastern Deccan ports.
- Ancient guilds fixed wages, work rules and prices and exercised judicial authority over their own members.
- Accepting an inference without checking the fact it rests on.
- Assuming only rulers issued coin in ancient India.
Four statements about a period's coinage with one planted error, or a straight who-issued-what item.
With reference to the guilds (Shreni) of ancient India that played a very important role in the country's economy, which of the following statements is/are correct? 1. Every guild was registered with the central authority of the State and the king was the chief administrative authority on them. 2. The wages, rules of work, standards and prices were fixed by the guild. 3. The guild had judicial powers over its own members. Select the correct answer using the codes given below :
- (a) 1 and 2 only
- (b) 3 only
- (c) 2 and 3 only
- (d) 1, 2 and 3
Answer(c) 2 and 3 only
Prelims asked directly how much authority a guild held — fixing wages and prices, and judging its own members — which is the standing that coin-issuing guilds displayed.
- practice — not a real PYQ
Coins carrying the legend 'negama' were issued in ancient India by
- (a)merchant guilds
- (b)Buddhist monasteries
- (c)the Kushana emperors
- (d)village assemblies
Answer(a) merchant guilds — negama comes from nigama, a corporation of traders, and the coins are known from the Taxila region.
- practice — not a real PYQ
Bilingual coins with Greek on one side and Prakrit in Kharoshthi on the other were introduced in India by the
- (a)Kushanas
- (b)Indo-Greeks
- (c)Shakas
- (d)Satavahanas
Answer(b) Indo-Greeks — the pairing is what later allowed Kharoshthi to be read.