Rare Coins of Prithviraj Chauhan's Reign Found in Baghpat | 01 Dec 2021

Why in News

• Recently, 16 rare coins of the time of Raja Anangpal Dev, Raja Madanpal, Raja Chahra Rajdev, including Delhi overlord King Prithviraj Chauhan, have been found in the archaeological site inspection in the ancient mound of village Katha of Baghpat district.

Key Points

• Historian Dr Amit Rai Jain says that this achievement will open a new dimension for the history of Baghpat and western Uttar Pradesh, because the receipt of a series of coins of the rulers of any dynasty, proves the suzerainty of those kings over that area. This discovery is very important for the researchers doing research on the basis of currency.
• The Archaeological Survey of India carried out excavation work in Baghpat district in 2005 on the proposal of Dr. Amit Rai Jain, Director of Shehzad Rai Research Institute. After that, in the year 2018, the work of excavation of Sinauli was done, rare antiquities obtained from there and wooden war chariots made of copper were received for the first time in India. Since then, district Baghpat has remained the center of exciting discovery and research for archaeologists and historians all over the world.
• In this regard, historian Amit Rai Jain says that this ancient mound has been present for thousands of years. Many times during the site inspection, the remains of Kushan period and later civilizations, pottery etc. have been obtained from here. The receipt of 16 coins in the same series proves that there must have been a large human settlement here, where coins were in circulation in commercial transactions.
• Historian Dr Amit Rai Jain, who discovered the coins, told about the metal of the coins that these are coins of Bilan metal, which were made by mixing silver and copper. Since silver was very rare, copper was also added to it in making coins.
• In the coins obtained from here, some coins have been cleaned by chemical method, due to which the names written on them can be clearly mentioned.
• Prithviraj Chauhan (AD 1178–1192) was a Hindu Kshatriya king of the Chauhan dynasty, who ruled Ajmer and Delhi in the latter half of the 12th century in North India.