Ancient coins belonging to the era of Hindu kings Harsha and Kalsha have been unearthed by some labourers during construction work at Watnar near Kokernag in Anantnag district of Jammu and Kashmir.
An earthen urn containing the copper coins weighing 16.3 kgs and dating back to at least 10 centuries were found by the labourers a few days back when they were working on the plinth for construction of a religious school, the Department of Archaeology, Archives and Museums (AAM) said here today.
Describing them as “priceless”, an AAM spokesman told reporters, “the coins are of Hindu period and were in vogue during the reign of Harsha and Kalsha.” The urn was handed over by the labourers to Deputy Commissioner Ananantag who handed them over to the department. The department did not give the actual number of coins in the urn but said research would be conducted to decipher the language inscribed on them as also to find out the exact age. [Ancient coins unearthed in J-K]
Harsha who ruled from 1089-1111 AD started as a noble king, but later as he ran into financial troubles, he started destroying temples for gold. He even had an office for the destruction of gods.
So, this is a different Harsha than the famous Harshavardhana of the Gupta period. I did a double take when I read about the destruction of temples …
Harshavardhana lived about 400 years before this Harsha.