Some of the coins found in the Brahmakunda riverbed. Telegraph picture

Agartala, Oct. 22: The discovery of 11 coins possibly dating back to the reign of Kushan King Kanishka (127-151 AD) from the Brahmakunda riverbed in Mohanpur sub-division, 40km from here, has cast new light on Tripura’s history.

Workers excavating near Shibbari temple near the Brahmakunda in Mohanpur sub-division of Sadar (North) discovered an earthen pot containing the gold coins on September 27.

Police recovered the coins after getting information and they were subsequently moved to the Tripura State Museum, Ujjayanta Palace.

Shankar Basu, a leading numismatist, who arrived here on October 19 to study the coins, said, “These coins seem to be from the pre-Christian era and bear close resemblance to the coins issued by the Kushan King Kanishka but the determination of their identity and timeline will take time.

However, the inscriptions on the coins are in the ancient Brahmi script with names of issuing kings like Kumar, Srikumar and Subhadra written on them.”

“The finding of some coins does not really indicate the existence of a culture or a civilisation related to it because the coins might have reached here from outside or received in exchange for something. So without an exhaustive study, one cannot conclude that a distinctive civilisation preceded the rule of the Manikya dynasty (1400-1949) or whether any other dynasty ruled the state before them,” Basu said.

He said the Samatat and Harikel kingdoms encompassing large parts of then East Bengal (now Bangladesh) had once flourished in the plains bordering Tripura.

“These kingdoms included Noakhali, parts of Chittagong, Comilla and Sylhet districts of Bangladesh and they border Tripura even now and they were contemporaries of the Gupta dynasty. However, one cannot conclude that the Harikel and Samatat kingdoms ruled over present day Tripura as well. More confirmatory evidence from literary, archaeological, numismatic, epigraphic and inscriptional sources is needed.”

He said he had taken video recording of the 11 coins to study them further and he might visit the state again for his research.

According to Rajmala, the court chronicle, the Manikya rulers had originated from the Lunar Dynasty (Chandravansha) and they attended Yudhisthira’s Rajasuya sacrifice in Mahabharat. But many historians view it as a dynastic glorification in line with other royal houses.

“The authentic and recorded history of Tripura begins with the reign of Dangar Faa or Maha Manikya (1400-1431). The history of Tripura prior to that period is still a grey area and the coins might throw more light on it,” said Jahar Acharjee, numismatist and a scholar on Tripura’s princely history.