Lectures on Ancient Indian Numismatics (Carmichael Lectures, 1921) c8.6

c8.6

Various and numerous are the details of every day life portrayed in the Jātakas where we find the Kārshāpaṇa and its small money playing an important part. Thus a professional assessor is paid eight Kārshāpaṇas as his fee,³ and a nice plump dog is bought for one Kārshāpaṇa.⁴ A decent ass is had for eight Kārshāpaṇas, and a fawn for one or two Kārshāpaṇas only.¹ A bundle of grass, again, fetches one Māshaka,² and for the same small coin can be had a jar of liquor.³ A Māshaka or Ardha-Māshaka, again, is the daily wage of a coolie.⁴ And a dead mouse is purchased for a single Kākaṇikā,⁵ almost the lowest money piece of the day, to serve as food to a cat in a tavern, and so on and so on. In fact, whosoever reads these Jātakas carefully cannot fail to be impressed by the fact that silver Kārshāpaṇa and its smaller tokens were intimately connected not only with the commercial life but also the daily intercourse of the period to which these tales belong. Quite in keeping with this is the fact that in the early Buddhist works when any big sums of money are specified, no name of coin is adduced, that of Kārshāpaṇa being understood as is quite clear by its occasional mention.⁶ Kārshāpaṇa was, therefore, looked upon as the standard coin, and the coined money stored in royal treasuries is thus described as Kārshāpaṇa.