Prof. Tandon: Economist, Numismatist
Associate Professor of Economics Pankaj Tandon was featured today in BU Research not for his economics expertise, but for his passion: ancient Indian coins:
“Pankaj Tandon is a Boston University associate professor of economics by training and, by passion, a scholar of ancient coins—or numismatist. In 2010, Tandon, who specializes in coins of ancient India, which to numismatists includes what are today Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Nepal, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka, set out to crack the puzzle of Prakasaditya. In 1990, an Austrian numismatist named Robert Göbl had speculated without substantive proof that Prakasaditya was a Hun, but most scholars had continued to regard the mystery king as a Gupta. Tandon began by scouring more than 60 images of the coin—additional specimens had been found over the years—but the coins had all been poorly made and not one image revealed the king’s given name…” (Vijee Venkatraman)
Read the full article here to get to know Prof. Tandon and learn more about what coins can tell us about history.