Coins disseminate more information than any other source of history: SK Bose

A Correspondent

DHUBRI: A renowned numismatic, Sankar Kumar Bose enthralled audience with his lucid lecture on the numismatic history of the north-eastern States of the country at the Dhubri District Museum auditorium on Tuesday. The annual talk session and exhibition of numismatics collection was held under the auspices of Dhubri district Museum.

Bose, in his hour-long deliberation, said that coins of any age and period disseminate more information than any other source of history, so care should be taken by the locals to preserve and study them. “We can reconstruct history and go deeper researching on coins. A single coin reveals the king’s wealth, power, area of domination and circulation, availability of metals used to make the coins, art, culture, prevailing social system and other aspects which, if properly studied, can give information which otherwise is not possible to get,” Bose added.

He said King Naranarayan was the most powerful and benevolent ruler of the Koch dynasty of Cooch Behar, who had minted 150 varied coins which were discovered and preserved in various museums of the country and also at the London Museum. Coins during the Koch dynasty rule were called Narayani mudra (coin) and as the writing on them suggests, the kings were worshippers of the Shakti cult.

Bose, while pointing out the varied languages inscribed on coins, said Bengali and Maithili scripts were used on the coins, which suggests that the Koch kingdom extended up to some parts of Bihar, too. Bose also spoke of the Narayani coins found in Dhubri district.

He also spoke at a length on the coins of the north-east region. Among all the coins so far discovered, coins of Ahom period were unique and unparallel compared to coins of other States of the Northeast and country as well. In the programme, an exhibition of numismatics collection by private collectors of Dhubri was held. The participating collectors were Debajit Das, Pinaki Chakraborty, Arunendu Acharjee and Nizamul Islam. They exhibited their hoards of coins ranging from the historical era to modern period. “It is an enriching experience and we need more of such an approach that shows the exemplary example of community engagement and this should be continued,” said Girindra Nath Goswami, who chaired the session. Dhubri District Museum Officer, Mrinmoy Das assured the audience about organizing such programmes with a view to generate interest among the new generation.

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