Ruler : Rudragupta
Era : (100 BC)
Dynasty : Panchala
Denomination : 1/2 Karshapana
Weight :  4.68 grams
Diameter :  18.6 mm
Reference : MAC 4534

Obverse :
In square incuse, ruler name in Brahmi “Rudraguptasa” with three symbols of panchala dynasty

Reverse :
Plough-standard on a pedestal, flanked by two banners on either side..

Comment :
When the Mauryan empire collapsed, many new kingdoms emerged on its ruins. One such kingdom to emerge in northern India was Panchala. This had been one of the 16 great mahajanapadas in the time of the Buddha. Draupadi, one of the central characters of the Hindu epic, the Mahabharata, was reportedly a Panchala princess. This janapada had been absorbed by Magadha as it pursued its program of expansion. But now the kingdom was reconstituted under the Mitra kings, who issued a most interesting and long-lived series of coins. Almost all the Panchala coins carry the name of the issuing king in Brahmi letters; these are some of the earliest indigenous Indian coins to carry legends. They typically carried an image of a deity on the obverse, most often the deity closely associated with the name of the issuing ruler, and an incuse punch on the reverse which had the legend bearing the king’s name along with the three symbols of the Panchala kingdom above.
Unfortunately, the exact dates of this kingdom’s existence, and the order in which the kings ruled, are not known for certain and are the subject of some debate. K.M. Shrimali, in his History of Panchala, dates the main series to about 150 BCE to 125 CE, followed by a gap during the ascendancy of the Kushan Empire, which in turn was followed by the re-establishment of a Panchala dynasty during c. 300-350 CE. We know that the last Panchala king, Achyuta, was defeated by Samudragupta and therefore must have been his contmporary. The dates given below for individual kings are based on the estimates of Shrimali.