Early Indian numismatics; Śaivism; liṅga; Buddhist monatic life; bell; transitional period; between Mauryas and Indo-Greek rule
摘要
A number of coins from the Taxila region recently made public show that an object inside a frame must be a metal bell, and not a śaiva liṅga, as was maintained in the recent past. The coins date to the early second century BC and show a bell in an area where Buddhist establishments were founded already by Asoka.