The Antiquities of Orissa v1.c7.340

v1.c7.340

²⁵ I, Kākṣīvat, “unhesitatingly, accepted a hundred *niṣkas*, a hundred vigorous steeds, and a hundred bulls”. Wilson’s *Ṛgveda*, II, 17. Again, “May he (the Rājā) be rich in kine, *gold*, in horses.” According to Manu, a *niṣka* was a weight of gold equal to four *suvarṇas* (VII. 134). In the *Amarakośa*, it is put down at 108 *suvarṇas*. That it was a currency, if not coined mony, admits of no doubt. In the *Periplus*, goods are said to have been exchanged for the native money, *entopion nomisma*, and the Hindu gold coinage is termed *Kaltis*. Yāska, in his *Nirukta* (p. 13), quotes from the Vedas, eighteen different words, which convey the abstract idea of wealth without naming grain, or cattle, or any other specific object.