Money and Urbanization: Exploring the Entente

Money and urbanity have a deep-rooted entente in the Indian context. The first experience of metal money was urban with the onset of the second phase of urbanization in c. sixth century BCE in North India. Using combined methods, the present chapter argues that money perhaps did not originate due to the problems of barter or the problems arising out of non-coincidence of needs in the process of transaction rather, it was taxation and the difficulty of storage of taxes in kind which led the contemporary society to opt for a metallic currency. Cities and their urban experiences related to money and money economy have been explored through three case studies to visualize how metal money got influenced by the landscape, geography and also socio-economic conditions. Even small towns are seen to showcase their urban experiences on their coins and such portrayals have multiple intensions embedded. In fact, money and its usage helped in upgrading a semi-rural forested tract to display a kind of citi-ness. Devices on the coins often had a socio-cultural implication and sometimes the display of urbanity or urbane culture and connectivity with far off places is also conveyed through the device symbolism.