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Sikka: dhaat ka woh tukra jis par bazar ne bharosa kiya

Atemad E-Magazine 20 October 2026 · 7 minute ka mutalia

Jeb mein pada ek rupay ka sikka maamooli si cheez lagta hai. Magar zara sochiye: dukandar ise tolta nahin, parakhta nahin, bas gin kar rakh leta hai. Yeh bharosa ke dhaat ke ek mohar lage tukre ki qeemat pehle se tay hai, insani tareekh ki ek badi ijad hai. Yeh ijad taqreeban satais sau saal pehle aaj ke maghribi Turkey mein hui.

Sikke se pehle kya tha

Sikke se pehle lein dein ka matlab tha ya to cheez ke badle cheez, ya khalis dhaat ko tol kar dena. Austria ke science fund ke tehat hone wali ek tehqeeq ke khulase ke mutabiq is daur mein aam taur par chandi ke kate hue tukre aur anaaj jaisi cheezein adaigi ke liye istemal hoti thin. Har saude par tarazu nikalna padta aur dhaat ki khalisiyat par shak bhi rehta.

Isi tehqeeq ka ek dilchasp nukta yeh hai ke sikka purane tareeqon ka mehaz agla qadam nahin tha balke bilkul nayi cheez tha: dhaat ka ek tukra jis par kisi zimmedar ki mohar ho, taake lene wala ise ginti se qabool kar le.

Lydia aur electrum ke pehle sikke

Ab tak ke qadeem tareen maloom sikke satwin sadi qabl maseeh mein maghribi Anatolia ke ilaqon Lydia (Lydia) aur Ionia mein bane. Yeh sone aur chandi ke qudrati amezey electrum (electrum) ke the. Yeh dhaat ke chhote, be-dhab dalay the jin par thappay se naqsh lagaya jata tha.

World History Encyclopedia ke mutabiq Lydia ka shumar sikka dhalne wali pehli riyastoon mein hota hai, aur shayad yeh kaam badshah Alyattes (Alyattes) ke daur (taqreeban 610 ta 560 qabl maseeh) mein shuru hua. Ibtidai sikkon mein se bohat se tajiron ne bhi banaye. Lydia ke daar-ul-hukumat Sardis (Sardis) mein khudai karne wala tehqeeqi mansooba ek Lydian electrum sikke ki tareekh taqreeban 630 ta 575 qabl maseeh batata hai, jis par Lydian zabaan mein "walwet" likha hai. Yeh sikka aaj Istanbul ke asaar-e-qadeema museum mein hai.

Qadeem Yunani muarrikh Herodotus (Herodotus) ne likha ke jahan tak humein maloom hai, Lydia wale pehle log the jinhon ne sone aur chandi ke sikke dhaal kar istemal kiye. Qadeem musannifeen is baat par muttafiq nahin the aur baaz ne yeh sehra doosron ke sar bandha, magar asaar-e-qadeema ke shawahid bhi isi ilaqe ki taraf ishara karte hain.

Ephesus ka khazana aur tareekh ka sawal

Sab se purane sikkon ka sab se mashhoor zakhira 1904 aur 1905 mein Ephesus (Ephesus) mein devi Artemis ke mandir ki bunyadon ke neeche se mila. Yeh mandir qadeem duniya ke saat ajaibat mein shumar hota tha. American Numismatic Association ke mutabiq yeh ab tak milne wala sikkon ka qadeem tareen zakhira hai.

Is ki tareekh par bahas aaj bhi jari hai. Pehle mahireen ne mandir ki bunyad ki farzi tareekh ki bunyad par sikkon ko taqreeban 650 qabl maseeh ka qarar diya tha. Baad ki tehqeeq ke mutabiq bunyad is se kafi baad rakhi gayi, shayad 600 qabl maseeh ke qareeb. Austria ke asaar-e-qadeema ke idare ki tehqeeq ki bunyad par sikka saazi ka aaghaz satwin sadi qabl maseeh mein samjha jata hai. Yun andazan 650 se 600 qabl maseeh ka zamana hi woh daur hai jab duniya ke pehle sikke gardish mein aaye.

Croesus, khalis sona aur phailao

Electrum mein sone aur chandi ka tanasub ek sikke se doosre tak bohat mukhtalif hota tha. Austrian tehqeeq ke mutabiq ibtidai electrum sikkon ke taqreeban teen sau silsilay milte hain jo lag bhag sau saal chale aur phir aahista aahista khalis sone aur chandi ke sikkon ne un ki jagah le li.

World History Encyclopedia ke mutabiq Lydia ke sikkon par sher aur bail ka naqsh hota tha, aur Yunani Lydia ke badshah Croesus (Croesus) ki daulat ke qissay sunate the. 546 qabl maseeh mein Fars ke badshah Cyrus (Cyrus) ne Croesus ko shikast di, aur yun sikke ka tasawwur Fars pohanchा. Phir Yunani shehron, Phoenicians aur Carthage walon ne apne sikke dhaale. Rome ne 326 qabl maseeh se sikke banana shuru kiye. China mein sikkon ki yaksan shakl Qin khandan (221 ta 207 qabl maseeh) ke daur mein tay hui.

Hamare khitte mein sikka

Barre-saghir mein ibtidai sikke chandi ke "thappay daar" sikke the, jinhein karshapan kaha jata tha. Oriental Numismatic Society ke liye Terry Hardaker ke jaiza ke mutabiq Ganga ke maidan ki riyastoon ne ek taweel sikka riwayat qaim ki. Aaj ke Pakistan ke shimali ilaqe, yaani qadeem Gandhara, mein chandi ke khameeda salakh numa sikke milte hain jo Achaemenid saltanat se rabton ke zamane ke hain. Un ki sahih tareekh par mahireen muttafiq nahin: Hardaker unhein chhathi sadi ke aakhir se panchwin sadi qabl maseeh tak ka mante hain, jabke baaz mahireen chauthi sadi qabl maseeh ka.

Aaj ka sikka

Lydia ke daana numa sikke se aaj ke gol, kinaray daar sikke tak satais sadiyon ka safar hai, magar bunyadi khayal wohi hai: ek mohar jo qeemat ki zamanat deti hai. Aaj hum kaghazi note, bank card aur mobile phone se adaigi karte hain, lekin yeh sab isi bharose ki nayi shaklein hain jo pehli baar Anatolia ke ek bazar mein dhaat ke chhote se tukre ne paida kiya tha.

Makhaz

Herodotus, The History of Herodotus, vol. 1, Book I §94, tr. G. C. Macaulay (1890), Project Gutenberg eBook #2707. https://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/2707/pg2707.txt — the Lydians "the first of men, so far as we know, who struck and used coin of gold or silver".
Wolfgang Fischer-Bossert (PI), "Early Electrum Coinage" (project P30147), Austrian Science Fund FWF, 2017–2020. https://www.fwf.ac.at/en/research-radar/10.55776/P30147 — first coins minted in the 7th century BC in Lydia and Ionia; earlier payment in Hacksilber and grain; coinage something entirely new; about 300 electrum series lasting some 100 years, then replaced by gold and silver.
American Numismatic Association, "In the beginning… when man created coins" (Michael T. Shutterly exhibit). https://money.org/howlandwood2016 — first coins in western Asia Minor in the second half of the 7th century BCE; Artemision deposit excavated 1904–05; first dated c. 650 BCE, foundation now placed near 600 BCE (possibly as late as 561); oldest known coin hoard.
Archaeological Exploration of Sardis, "Electrum Twelfth-Stater with Lydian Inscription 'walwet'", The Lydians and their World (2010), cat. 20. https://sardisexpedition.org/en/artifacts/latw-20 — dated c. 630–575 BC; Istanbul Archaeological Museum inv. 5974.
Mark Cartwright, "Lydia", World History Encyclopedia. https://www.worldhistory.org/Lydia/ — Lydia among the first states to mint coins, perhaps under Alyattes (c. 635–585 BCE); lion and ox designs; Croesus defeated by Cyrus II in 546 BCE.
Jan van der Crabben, "Coinage", World History Encyclopedia, 2011. https://www.worldhistory.org/coinage/ — first coins of electrum; some minted by merchants; coins introduced to Persia after 546 BCE; Phoenicians from mid-5th century; Rome from 326 BCE; Qin standardisation 221–207 BCE; ancient disagreement (Herodotus, Aristotle).
Terry R. Hardaker, "India: Silver Punchmarked and Associated Coinages", Oriental Numismatic Society Information Sheet no. 1. https://orientalnumismaticsociety.org/archive/IS_001.pdf — Gangetic punch-marked coinage; Gandhara bent-bars of the late 6th–5th century possibly following Achaemenid contact.
"Punch-marked coins", Wikipedia (pointer only). https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Punch-marked_coins — alternative mid-4th-century BCE dating for Gandharan silver coinage.
"Alyattes", Encyclopaedia Britannica. https://www.britannica.com/biography/Alyattes — king of Lydia c. 610–560 BCE, the standard dating (fact-check 20 Oct 2026; WHE gives both datings).

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