KAKINI: COIN OF ANCIENT INDIA
1/4 kakini, 200-340: Nava Naga dynasty (Ancient India, Narwar)
The Naga dynasty ruled parts of north-central India during the 3rd and the 4th centuries, after the decline of the Kushan Empire and before the rise of the Gupta Empire.
A stylized image of a humped bull within a circle set with pearls.
Text in Brahmi script (not sufficiently preserved to be read).
- Bronze: 9 mm - 0.6 g
- Reference price: 13$
COIN KAKINI — WHERE & WHEN (coins catalog: by names & emitents)
- NAVA NAGA DYNASTY OF NARWAR, INDIA (200-340): kakini
KAKINI as coin name.
Kakini is a very small bronze coin of Ancient India. It was issued during the reign of the Nava Naga dynasty in the area of the city of Narwar. Therefore, in foreign sources, kakini belong to the section "Nagas of Narwar".
The period of circulation of the kakini is limited precisely to the rule of the Nava Naga dynasty in northern India: 200-340 years. Denominations of 1/4, 1/2 and 1 kakini are known.
Where the name kakini coin comes from is not known for sure. This term is quite often found in Hinduism (talking about the three-eyed goddess with the same name) and the science of "rasashastra" (the study of the qualities and tastes of substances).
However, the following version looks more plausible: kakini — the weight (or value) of 20 cowrie shells, which were widely used in ancient times almost throughout the Old World as money/coins (in Sanskrit "Kākiṇi /काकिणि/" — shell cowrie).
