Lectures on Ancient Indian Numismatics (Carmichael Lectures, 1921) c7.67.2

c7.67.2

The practice of fastening coins into a necklace can by no means be regarded as a feature of modern India only, but was actually in vogue in ancient times also. Thus the Jaina canonical work entitled the *Kalpa-sūtra*,¹ which describing Śrī, the goddess of beauty, whom Triśālā, mother of Mahāvīra, saw in her dream, speaks of the former as bearing *urattha-dīnāra-mālaya*, i.e., a string of Dīnāras on her breast. Now, Dīnāra, as most of you are aware, is an Indian gold coin adopted from the Roman *denarius* during the Kushana rule in the first century A.D. And here we are told that a *mālā* or necklace was made of these gold coins and adorned the breast of the goddess Śrī. The custom of stringing coins into a necklace is thus not of modern origin, but was prevalent in ancient India also. It is, therefore, perfectly reasonable to say that ‘a necklace’ was called *nishka*, because it was made of coins called *nishkas*. *Nishka* must, therefore, be taken in the sense of ‘a coin’ and not merely of ‘a metallic currency.’ If this natural explanation is not accepted, I ask, how are you going to interpret the word *viśva-rūpa* occurring in the hymn referred to above, how can you explain satisfactorily the god Rudra’s wearing a neklace that was *viśva-rūpa*. A good sense of the term *viśva-rūpa* it is possible to fix upon, only if we admit that *nishka* means a necklace, originally at any rate, consisting of *Nishka* coins.