Karshapana Punchmarked

Eran and Vidisha were among the most commercially active towns of central India during the late Mauryan and post-Mauryan period, sitting along trade routes connecting the Gangetic plain to the western ports. Punchmarked coppers from this region circulated alongside silver karshapanas of imperial issue but served a distinctly local exchange function — smaller transactions, market tolls, and the kind of daily commerce that imperial silver rarely touched.

The symbols punched onto regional coppers like this one have resisted full decipherment; some are likely guild or merchant marks rather than royal authority stamps.