Lectures on Ancient Indian Numismatics (Carmichael Lectures, 1921) c8.36

c8.36

So far in regard to the copper Kārshāpaṇa. Let us now see what gold Kārshāpaṇa could have been. A Karsha, you have seen, is equal to 80 Ratis. Do we know of any gold coins which conform to this weight? Those who are acquainted with the metrology of the ancient coins of India will at once tell you that the gold coin called Suvarṇa has this weight, *i.e.*, weighs 80 Ratis. Take Manu, *e.g.*, who, while describing the gold standard, says: *pañcha-Kṛishṇalako Māshas=te Suvarṇas=tu shoḍaśa*,² *i.e.*, five Kṛishṇalakas or Ratis make one Māsha and sixteen Māshas make one Suvarṇa. Does this not make a Suvarṇa equal to 80 Ratis, the weight of the Kārshāpaṇa? Kauṭilya also gives precisely the same information in his Artha-śāstra.³ For he says that five Guñjās make one Suvarṇa-Māsha and sixteen such Māshas make one Suvarṇa or Karsha. It will be seen that according to Kauṭilya also one Suvarṇa equates 80 Guñjās, i.e., 80 Ratis. But what is most important in this connection to note is that according to him another name for Suvarṇa is Karsha. Can any doubt be entertained after this as to Suvarṇa being the gold Kārshāpaṇa? Perhaps a sceptic may not be completely satisfied on this point, and may ask whether there were any subdivisions of Suvarṇa corresponding to those of Kārshāpaṇa. This is a very natural question to ask. If Kārshāpaṇa is looked upon as the standard money and if Suvarṇa is gold Kārshāpaṇa, Suvarṇa surely becomes the standard coin; and Suvarṇa cannot be admitted to be the standard coin unless it can be shown to have had its smaller tokens like those of Kārshāpaṇa. Have we got any evidence to prove this? Now, the same chapter of Kauṭilya’s Artha-śāstra, that tells us that Suvarṇa is Karsha, gives us a list not only of the sub-divisions but also of the multiples of gold weights of which the unit is Suvarṇa. I will quote it here for your comparison. It runs thus: *Ardha-Māshakaḥ, Māshakaḥ, dvau, chatvāraḥ, ashṭau Māshakāḥ, (Suvarṇa ekaḥ), Suvarṇau dvau, chatvāraḥ, ashṭau Suvarṇāḥ, daśa, vimśatiḥ, trimśat, chatvārimśat, śatam=iti*. As the denominations of coins correspond to the metal weights, are we not entitled to infer from this list that Suvarṇa also had its smaller tokens similar to Kārshāpaṇa? No reasonable doubt can now be entertained as to Suvarṇa being intended as the gold Kārshāpaṇa. Unfortunately these Suvarṇas, or the gold Kārshāpaṇa, cannot be identified with any of the gold coins of ancient India that we have been able to examine or obtain.¹ Students of Indian numismatics know full well that very few gold coins have survived of the pre-Kushana period and that none of these were struck by any royal dynasties native to India. Perhaps the excavation of the sites of the Mauryan and pre-Mauryan periods may lead to the discovery of indigenous gold coins, to the existence of which we have abundant references in Vedic and post-Vedic literature as I shewed you in my last lecture.