Lectures on Ancient Indian Numismatics (Carmichael Lectures, 1921) c10.42

c10.42

Of course, the Kārshāpaṇa type too must have its history of evolution, and it does not seem very difficult to surmise the steps in which it came to evolve itself. Kārshāpaṇa, you know, is a coin of various shapes, such as rectangular, circular, elongated and even irregular, and is impressed with devices of various kinds. Nobody, therefore, can doubt Kārshāpaṇa as denoting a distinct coinage. The earliest stage of coinage in India is represented by *hiraṇya-piṇḍas* or unstamped buttons of metal passing for currency. These *hiraṇya-piṇḍas* must have conformed to a definite size and weight. But where was the guarantee of the purity of their metal or of their definite value? A time must, therefore, have come when it was thought necessary to relieve men of the trouble of testing their quality, and, therefore, the natural step of setting a stamp on every coin to guarantee fineness of metal is easy to conceive. Coins pertaining to this stage of monetary development are represented, I think, by solid silver ingots with three circular dots on one side and also silver bent bars with one or two symbols on one face only such as we find described by V. A. Smith in his *Catalogue*. This stamp evidently must have acted as a kind of hallmark. The further development of this coinage to a full-fledged Kārshāpaṇa it is easy to surmise. The devices must have soon come to be multiplied indefinitely and not one face but both the faces of the coin must gradually have come to be stamped with these, the reverse symbol in most cases representing the badge of the controlling authority. Steps must also have been taken for the establishment of a regular shape to prevent any tampering with coin after its manufacture. And this is the reason probably why we see Kārshāpaṇas of so many shapes which appear to me to be so many experiments in form. It is possible further to conceive that the devices were first punched on the obverse in a haphazard fashion, but were afterwards impressed in regular and constant groups, as I have told you so many times, to indicate the provenance of the coin. The further development of the Kārshāpaṇa into a regular and distinct coin type struck from a die I have already dilated upon, and so scarcely requires any repetition here.