City State of Kurapurika (200 BC), Narmada Valley, Bell Metal Unit, Uninscribed type, Obv: Ujjaini symbol, inverted triangle headed standard to left, taurine symbol above, (boat in the river below?) semi-circular pond with fishes, Rev: uniface, 1.8g, 15.59mm, (Unlisted in major catalogs), about extremely fine, Rare.
Purika was a city in the Avanti area which was well known in the ancient times during 200 BC. It was situated on the banks of the river Narmada near the city of Mahismati. Kurapurika was a Purika of the ancient times. According to Fleet Purika is to be located to the south of the island of Mahismati (Mandhata in the Khandwa district) in the Narmada.
As per discovery the coins of another city state of Madhya Pradesh prompted to trace the location of Purika. They issued inscribed and uninscribed coins. The inscribed coins bear the Brahmi legend 'Kurapurika'. The boat symbol is quite often seen on the coins of the Kurapurika and also on the coins of Ujjain. Kurapurika civic coins have also been reported from eastern Malwa but the exact location of Kurapurika remains uncertain and trade activities might have brought these coins to the Eran-Vidisha region.
Prashant. P. Kulkarni has published a very useful survey of the civic issues from the Narmada valley in ICS-NL 37, pp.3-21 ('New discoveries in coins from Narmada valley : geographical and historical implications'). He reports a large number of coins of Kurara, Bhagila, Mahismati and at least one Kurapurika coin to have been found at Nadner, i.e. ancient Nandinagara. Other Kurapurika coins however came from the Mahismati region on the banks of the Narmada and that is where Kulkarni sees the origin of the Kurapurika series, the ancient site of Purika near Omkareshwar.
A decade ago a small hoard was surfaced from the unknown river in a village in Rajasthan and the coins offered here are from the same hoard.
