Seminar Papers On the Local Coins of Northern India- C. 300 B. C. To 300 A. D. (An Old and Rare Book)

Indian Numismatics is still full of problems and unsettled issues of many kinds. Even some of the fundamental points are unresolved and need careful attention of the scholars. With a view to bringing the leading numismatists at one place to discuss certain specific problems of numismatics, I organised an all India seminar on the chronology of the punch-marked coins in 1966. My intention was to take up different series of coinage one by one for a thorough discussion in a Seminar and the seminar on the chronology of punch-marked coins was only a start. But certainly was the first seminar of all India nature on numismatics In 1966, I planned another seminar on the Local coins of Northern India and invited papers from the scholars. The response of the scholars was very good and we received as many as thirty two papers for the seminar. In the meantime I had to leave for U. S. A., leaving the work of the seminar to my colleagues. The Seminar was held on 24th December, 1966 in two sittings.

It coincided with the 55th all India Numismatic Conference at Varanasi. Professor K. D. Bajpai of Saugar University was in the chair and he also conducted the proceedings. The Seminar was inaugurated by Sri Rai Krishna Das, Hon. Director, Bharat Kala Bhavan. After my return from U. S. A., I was keen to publish these papers at the earliest opportunity. I wanted to publish them by the time of the 56th All India Numismatic Conference at Lucknow but due to unavoidable reasons it could not be done. For this purpose I requested the participants to revise their papers ti and make it press ready. But unfortunately, with the exception of two, the response was not encouraging. I had therefore no alternative but to do whatever could be done with the papers in the form they were presented to the Seminar in order to expedite publication. I hope the contributors, as well as readers, will excuse us if they find omissions and mistakes or if they are not always provided with the footnotes. I am, however, happy that the papers are now being published on the occasion of the First Indian Archaeological Congress at Varanasi.

I must express my thanks to all the scholars who contributed their valuable papers and participated in the Seminar. It was due to their co-operation that the Seminar could be organised successfully. In the organization of this seminar the efforts and cooperation of my colleagues in the Department also deserve great appreciation. I am especially thankful to Dr. Lallanji Gopal and Dr. Vidya Prakash who looked after the seminar in my absence and to Sri J. P. Singh and Dr. Nisar Ahmad who helped in the editing work and publication of these papers. I also thank Shree Deenabandhu Pandey who helped in the arduous task of proof-reading. The Eureka Printing Works Pvt. Ltd., also deserve our thanks for bringing out the publication in time.

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