Living without silver

This book is concerned with money as an indicator of economic activity. It examines comprehensively, money use over the whole of the area from Afghanistan to Bihar, and from Kashmir to Malwa, during the period AD 750-1250. Its major premise is that the patterns of production, exchange and dispersion of money over time can be used to define the economic systems of early medieval North India.

This interpretative and explanatory work has profound implications for the economic history of the period, particularly with respect to current models of feudalization, decentralization, trade and commerce. By analysing the evidence of surviving coin hoards, the author rejects the common numismatic perception that money during this period was scarce, primitive and debased. His findings suggest a considerably higher degree of reliance on money, its closer co-ordination, and its wider circulation in larger quantities, than is consistent with many current models of the early medieval Indian economy.

A thorough description and analysis of the coin hoards of different dynasties make this a valuable source-book for scholars of monetary history. Numismatists. will find the comprehensive catalogue of the coins of North India of particular interest as it provides full surveys of series such as the Ghaznavid coins of the Punjab for the first time in one reference work, and it is accompanied by 36 plates of coin illustrations.