Lectures on Ancient Indian Numismatics (Carmichael Lectures, 1921) c8.3

c8.3

Now, the first question that I am called upon to answer, as you have just seen, is whether there were any coins known in this early period which were of metal other than gold. Even in my last lecture, if you remember rightly, I had occasion to make mention of a class of coins called Kārshāpaṇas, which is frequently referred to in the Jātaka literature, and far more frequently than the classes of gold coins, such as Nishka, Suvarṇa and so on. The Jātaka stories, at any rate such of them as contain references to coins, give us the impression that this Kārshāpaṇa was of three varities, according as it was of gold, silver and copper. Gold Kārshāpaṇa, however, appears to be seldom referred to, the common types being either silver or copper. The different divisions of this coin standard are Kārshāpaṇa, Ardha-Kārshāpaṇa, Pāda-Kārshāpaṇa, Chatur-Māshaka, Tri-Māshaka, Dvi-Māshaka, Eka-Māshaka, Ardha-Māshaka and Kākaṇikā. The values and weights of these coins will receive our full attention later on, but I have here specified the different tokens of this system in order to show how big the table for this money is. I shall now show you, in brief of course, how wide was the circulation of this money in the society depicted by the Jātaka tales. Thus the Gāmaṇi-Chaṇḍa Jātaka speaks of a king of Benares who is noted for his wisdom and impartiality. While one day he is in the judgment hall, two cases come up for consideration in which one and the same individual, namely, Gāmaṇi Chaṇḍa, is charged with having failed to return a pair of oxen which are stolen by thieves and with having caused a grievous hurt to a horse’s leg. The king decides that Caṇḍa shall pay the price of each animal to its owner, that of the pair of oxen being twenty-four and of the horse one thousand Kārshāpaṇas.¹ Of course, these must be silver Kārshāpaṇas, as copper or gold Kārshāpaṇas would be too low or too high a price to pay for those animals. Then another Jātaka gives us the story of a landed proprietor who loses his parcel of a thousand Kārshāpaṇas which falls into the river he is crossing. The parcel is, however, swallowed by a big fish which is caught by a fisherman, and is sold for seven Māshakas to the landed proprietor who is transported with joy to recover his money as his wife was dressing the fish.² These too must be silver Kārshāpaṇas as the seven Māshakas mentioned here as the price of the fish can be a copper token of silver money only.