Lectures on Ancient Indian Numismatics (Carmichael Lectures, 1921) c7.31.1

c7.31.1

I am afraid we cannot stop here but must proceed further to find out whether there are any references to metallic currency in literature of a still earlier date than that of the Jātakas. You must have already guessed that it is the Vedic literature that I am here alluding to. No doubt, even here there is perceptible the tendency of some European scholars to drag down the various compositions of this literature to as late a period as possible. But even then it must be admitted that they have not been able to place them later than the age represented by the Jātakas. If we can, therefore, trace any mention of coined money in the Vedic literature, we can conclusively say that the use of this money was known to India long long prior to 600 or 700 B.C. Let us therefore see whether the works comprising this literature make mention of the metallic currency. Some of you probably know that Kātyāyana’s Śrauta-sūtra contains a reference to a coin called Śatamāna. It is curious that there is no mention of this class of coins anywhere in the Buddhist works, though the name occurs in a Pāṇini’s sūtra¹ and Kātyāyana’s vārtika,² showing clearly that Śatamāna was known till the Maurya period.