WHAT makes numismatics a fasci-nating area of study is that it can

lead you into all sorts of places whereyou would never normally go and on thejourney you can learn about peoplewhose cultures are very different fromyour own. An Indian temple is just sucha place, but if you want to collect andstudy Indian temple tokens you will needto know something about the history ofIndia and the religions of India. So let’sget started!The first civilization on the subconti-nent developed in around 2500 BC inthe valley of the Indus River, which isnow in Pakistan. In about 1500 BC anew people, the Aryans, moved in fromthe north-west and gradually spreadover the whole of northern India form-ing small independent kingdoms. Oneof the kings, Candragupta Maurya,conquered the other kingdoms andcreated an empire in northern India

known as the Mauryan Empire. Thegreatest Mauryan king was Asoka (c. 265to 238 BC). He was a Buddhist and theedicts of his benign rule were engravedon rocks and pillars, and the script usedfor these edicts (the Mauryan script)evolved into the Nagari script whichwas used throughout India for centuriesuntil it in turn evolved into the modernHindi script. But it is the Devanagari(sacred Nagari) script that commonlyappears on Hindu temple tokens. Anotherscript that appears on the tokens isthe Gurmukhi script. It was devised bythe Sikhs in the 15th century for theirsacred literature. In the 2nd century BC the Mauryan

Empire began to break up and in the 4th

century AD a new dynasty, the Guptas,began to rule over northern India. It

was a golden age of Indian culture: artand poetry flourished. But at the end ofthe 5th century the Gupta Empire wasdestroyed by the Huns, a tribal peoplefrom central Asia, and subsequentlysmall kingdoms formed. In the 11th

century Muslim invaders from centralAsia founded the Sultanate of Delhi,which dominated northern India for twocenturies. In the south, however, thenative kingdoms continued to flourish.In 1398 the Mongol ruler, Tamerlane,invaded the Delhi Sultanate splitting itinto a number of kingdoms, and thisfacilitated an invasion by the Moguls,also from central Asia. They were led byBabur, a descendant of Tamerlane. Theyfounded an empire that extended overalmost all of India except the southern-most part. They were Muslims, butBabur’s grandson, Akbar (1556-1605),allowed the people to worship as they

Figure 1 – Reverse of a bronze temple tokenbearing the name of the East India Com-pany. Diameter 30 mms.

Figure 3 – Bronze token showing Krishnaplaying a flute with his consort, Radha. Thebull in the background refers to his being acow-herd. Diameter 51 mms.

Figure 2 – Bronze token showing Shiva sittingon a lion’s skin. In his left upper hand he holdsa small drum in the shape of an hourglass.When he beats the drum he dances and be-comes Nataraja, the lord of the cosmic danceof creation and destruction. Diameter 30 mms.

Brihadeeswara Temple at Thanjavur in Tamil Nadu. (Source: Wikimedia Commons. Photo by L. Venkatesh)

pleased. Aurangzeb (1658-1707), how-ever, was intolerant of other religionsand destroyed many Hindu temples innorthern India. In 1739 the Persianshah defeated the Mogul armies, andthe resultant political chaos paved theway for the expansion of British powerin India. A British trading company, theEast India Company, played a majorrole in this expansion. Religious tokenshad been used in India for centuries,but when British power replaced that ofthe Moguls they were issued in largenumbers with most being manufacturedin Calcutta. Some temple tokens weremade with designs based on the coppercoins issued by the East India Companyin the 18th and 19th centuries. Subse-quently casts of these tokens wereproduced and the original dies used formany years. This explains why tokensmade in the 20th century have the name

of the East India Company on the rev-erse with spurious dates and denomina-tions even though they did not circulateas coins. (Figure 1)Concerning the religions of India, theIndus Valley civilization was concernedwith fertility and had a Mother Goddessand sacred trees and animals. When theAryans came they brought with themgods who were chiefly connected withthe sky and were mostly male, but theearlier beliefs remained influential. TheAryans had a sacred text, the Rig Veda,which was in the Sanskrit language.It consisted of a collection of hymnscomposed between 1500 and 900 BC.There were appendices to the Rig Vedacalled the Brahmanas, and mysticalappendices to the Brahmanas calledUpanishads, which were mostly com-posed about 600 BC although someare of more recent date. As this Vedic

religion evolved into Hinduism many ofthe gods lost their greatness whileothers rose in popularity, notably Vishnuand Shiva. Shiva (Figure 2) mightoriginally have been a god of the IndusValley civilization who was identifiedwith the Vedic storm god, Rudra. The Hinduism of today is largely theresult of influence from the non-Aryansouth of India. In the medieval period,which included the Gupta “golden age”,preachers and minstrels wandered allover India propagating a devotionalreligion based on popular culture. Whilethe Vedic literature became the pre-serve of the priests, the secular stories,which included the two great epics, theMahabharata and the Ramayana, wereavailable to everybody, and with relig-ious interpolations over the centuriesthey became the literary basis of mod-ern Hinduism. Vishnu was assimilatedwith one of the heroes of the Mahab-harata called Krishna. This flute-play-ing pastoral character (Figures 3 and 4)was recognized as an incarnation ofVishnu. Similarly, Rama, the prince ofAyodhya and the hero of the Ramayana(Figures 5 and 6) was considered to beanother incarnation of Vishnu. Rama isusually shown holding a large bow. Thismagical bow was given to him when hevisited the kingdom of Viheda, wherethe king, Janaka, said that he would givehis beautiful daughter, Sita, to whom-ever could bend the bow. Rama bent itand later used it to kill Ravana, theking of the demons. Hanuman (Figure7) is a monkey god who is the servant ofRama. He is important in the villages ofIndia where he is worshipped as a bene-volent guardian spirit. (Figure 8) Gane-sha has an elephant’s head and a fat belly.(Figures 9 and 10) He is a son of Shivaand probably derives from a primitivenon-Aryan elephant god. He is the godof success and is worshipped at thebeginning of all undertakings to removeany obstacles. He rides on a mouseperhaps representing the timidity that

Figure 4 – Picture of Krishna and Radha as in Figure 3. (Image courtesy of The Absolute Indian Store)

Figure 5 – Bronze token of Rama standing withhis wife, Sita. His brother, Lakshmana, standson his right and the monkey god, Hanuman,kneels at his feet. Diameter 51 mms.

a person might have at the beginning ofa new venture. Vishnu is considered to be whollybenevolent, and his wife, Lakshmi(Fortune) is the goddess of good luck.She is also called Shri. (Figures 11 and12) But Shiva has a ferocious side.Surprisingly this is associated with thefemale aspect of his character. Whilehe is transcendent and inactive, hisfemale aspect is immanent and activein the world. This element in his char-acter comes in the form of various MotherGoddesses: Durga, who is warlike andhas many arms, is popular in Bengal,while Kali, who is black and ugly, ispopular in the south. Kali is particularlyfierce. She is a destroyer of demons anda powerful creative force. (Figures 13and 14)Most Hindus are either Vishnavites(devotees of Vishnu) or Shaivites (devo-tees of Shiva). In Professor Basham’s

book, The Wonder that was India, heexplains that they consider eitherVishnu or Shiva to be the high god, orthe only god, while the other gods aremerely secondary expressions of thedivine, like the saints and angels inChristianity. He considers that “the moredevout Hindus, even when illiterate andignorant, have always been fundamen-tally monotheist.” But Hinduism as awhole is a very tolerant religion, andsince Gupta times there have been at-tempts to harmonize Vaishnavism andShaivism. A trinitarian doctrine wasdevised whereby Brahma is the creator,Vishnu the preserver, and Shiva thedestroyer, but Professor Basham saysthat this Hindu Trinity never really“caught on”. According to V.P. Kanitkarand Owen Cole, the authors of Hin-duism – An Introduction, “Hindus wor-ship One God, Brahman,which is a spiritwith no form or attributes. To make

Figure 6 – Picture of Rama as in Figure 5 but on silver foil. It is 5 by 7 inches.(Image courtesy of The Absolute Indian Store)

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Brahman meaningful, Hindus use con-secrated images, or murtis, in worship.These act as aids to worship ratherthan objects of worship.”Temple tokens can be gold, silver orbase metal. It seems that over the cen-

turies they were used in various waysat the multitude of temples and holyplaces in India. They might have beenofferings to the gods, and hoards of goldtokens and coins have been discoveredat some temples. They might have beenkept by the devotees as holy objects orjust as good-luck charms. At manytemples they would have been a sourceof income for the temple. Today tokens

Figure 7 – Bronze token of Hanuman holdinga mace in his right hand and a mountain onhis left hand. Certain herbs that grew on aparticular mountain were needed to healLakshmana, but as Hanuman did not knowwhich were the herbs he brought the wholemountain. Diameter 51 mms.

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Figure 8 – Hanuman temple in Tamil Nadu. (Source: Wikimedia Commons. Photo by John Hill)

Figure 9 – Silver token of Ganesha.Notice the mouse in the lower right field.

Diameter 39 mms.

are often sold in shops and stalls nearthe temples. A lot of the recent tokenshave been manufactured in Mumbai andsold during religious festivals. Silvertokens are often given as gifts at thefestival of Diwali in November. A common token has a durbar sceneon one side and Rama standing withhis brother, Lakshmana, on the other.A durbar is an Indian royal court, andthe scene shows Rama and his wife, Sita,enthroned at Ayodhya after Rama re-gained the kingdom. Lakshmana holdsan umbrella over the royal couple whiletwo of Rama’s brothers are on the right.Hanuman kneels below the throne. (Fig-ures 15 and 16) On the tokens the scenevaries according to the shape of thethrone and the umbrella. In A Guide tothe Temple Tokens of India, written in1970 by Irwin Brotman, 18 types of

Figure 11 – Silver token of Lakshmi. Shestands on a lotus flower and from her rightlower hand dispenses wealth in the formof coins. The design refers to her risingfrom the waters and being showered withcoins by elephants. Diameter 39 mms.

Figure 10 – Ganesha festival at Hyderabad. (Source: Wikimedia Commons. Photo by Vijay Bandari)

Figure 12 – Picture of Lakshmi as in Figure 11.(Image courtesy of The Absolute Indian Store)

Figure 13 – Bronze token of Kali standing onher husband Shiva. After vanquishing gi-ants she danced for joy so furiously that theearth trembled. Shiva asked her to stop butshe did not notice him until he lay downamong the slain. Diameter 51 mms.

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throne and 12 types of umbrella areillustrated. Michael Mitchiner’s book,Indian Tokens: Popular Religious & Sec-ular Art from the ancient period to thepresent day, is more recent (1998), muchlarger and more authoritative. Besides Hinduism there are, of course,several other religions in India, and rel-

evant tokens are available. There are evenMuslim tokens but because human im-ages are forbidden in Islam the tokensusually show a mosque on one side andArabic inscriptions on the other. (Figure17) Sikh tokens usually bear the imageof the founder, Guru Nanak. (Figure 18)Although the subject of Indian religioustokens is large and complex, it providesa portal into a fascinating world of faithand spirituality.Note: All the tokens illustrated in this articleare from the author’s collection.

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Figure 14 – Picture of Kali standing on her husband, Shiva, as in Figure 13(Image courtesy of The Absolute Indian Store)

Figure 15 – Silver token showing Rama andSita enthroned. Diameter 29 mms.

Figure 17 – Silver token showing a mosquewith the Arabic words “Madinat Sharif” (NobleCity) below. The city might be Medina whereMuhammad is buried. Diameter 28 mms.

Figure 16 – Durbar scene as on the token inFigure 15. (Image courtesy of The AbsoluteIndian Store)

Figure 18 – Sikh token showing the founder,Guru Nanak, sitting on a mat under a tree.A disciple plays a lute while another holdsa fly-whisk or fan. In the foreground are hissandals and a water pot (attributes of hisasceticism). Diameter 30 mms.

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