Lectures on Ancient Indian Numismatics (Carmichael Lectures, 1921) c7.62

c7.62

In regard to this passage, the authors of the “Vedic Index”¹ rightly say that “as early as the Rigveda traces are seen of the use of Nishkas as a sort of currency, for a singer celebrates the receipt of a hundred Nishkas and a hundred steeds : he could hardly require the Nishkas merely for purposes of personal adornment.” In justice to Edward Thomas it must be said that it was he who first drew attention to this among other passages to prove the existence of metallic currency in the Rig-Vedic times.² His other passages, however, were by no means reliable, because some were misinterpreted and others were made to prove far more than was logically warranted. It is for this reason that the single passage which I have just quoted but which was first pointed out by him does not seem to have arrested the attention of scholars.