HOW TO READ THE LEGENDS 

A Guide to Reading Brahmi and Nagari Legends on Ancient Indian Coins

Ancient Indian coins carry legends — inscriptions — in one of several scripts depending on their period and region. Learning to read even a few letters opens up the coin and connects you directly to the person who made it.

Brahmi is the ancestor of almost every modern Indian script. It was written left to right and appears on coins from the Mauryan period through the Gupta Empire and beyond, roughly 300 BCE to 600 CE. On Gupta gold dinars the reverse legend in Brahmi typically reads the king's name and titles. The letters are formed from a horizontal head-stroke with vertical and curved elements below. The key letters to recognise on Gupta coins are Sa (for Samudragupta or Skandagupta), Cha (for Chandragupta), and Ku (for Kumaragupta). Once you can identify these three, you can begin attributing Gupta dinars by ruler.

Kharosthi is written right to left and appears on Indo-Greek and later Kushan coins, mainly in the northwestern region. It pairs with Greek legends on the reverse of bilingual coins — Greek on the obverse, Kharosthi on the reverse. The bilingual coins of Menander and other Indo-Greek kings are the most accessible examples for a new student of Kharosthi.

Nagari (Devanagari) appears on medieval Indian coins from roughly the 8th century CE onwards, including the coins of the Pratiharas, Paramaras, Chahamanas, and later the Vijayanagara and Maratha empires. It is the same script used for modern Hindi, so any reader of Hindi can begin reading Nagari coin legends immediately. The challenge on worn coins is identifying individual akshara through heavy patina.

Arabic script appears on all Islamic sultanate and Mughal coins, written right to left. The legends typically carry the Kalima (the declaration of faith), the ruler's name and titles, the mint name, and the regnal year. The mint name is usually the most accessible element for a new reader: Delhi appears as Dar ul-Khilafa, Jaunpur as Jaunpur, Agra as Akbarabad on later Mughal issues.

A practical starting point: Take a Gupta gold dinar or a photograph of one and locate the reverse Brahmi legend. Find the circular inscription running around the rim. Now look for the letter cha at the beginning — it resembles a figure-four shape. That single letter, on the reverse of a Gupta dinar, connects you directly to the court of Chandragupta II Vikramaditya, 375 to 415 CE. That is what reading a coin means. 🏛️🪙