Indian Epigraphy c16.s8.23

c16.s8.23

Some inscriptions of the time of the Śaka ruler Nahapāna (c. 119-24 A.D.) mention *Kārṣāpaṇa*, thirtyfive of which are stated to have been equal to the *Suvarṇa*. According to early Indian authorities, *Kārṣāpaṇa*, otherwise called *Purāṇa* or *Dharaṇa*, was a silver coin weighing 32 *Ratis* (58.56 grains) while *Suvarṇa* was a gold coin weighing 80 *Ratis* (146.4 grains), although the coins mentioned in the said inscriptions apparently refer respectively to the silver coins issued by Nahapāna and the gold coins of the Kuṣāṇa emperors.³ The weight of the former was that of the Graeco-Persian *hemi-drachma* (43.² grains) and of the latter that of the Roman *aurei* (124 grains).⁴ A coin called *Dināri-māṣaka* is known from the records of the Ikṣvākus of the 3rd and 4th centuries.⁵ The word *dināri* is derived from the name of the Roman silver coins called *Denarius* (124 grains) while *māṣaka* was an Indian coin which was one-sixteenth of the standard silver money. The *Dināri-māṣaka* may have been the coins which were issued by the Ikṣvāku kings and were probably equal to one-sixteenth of the Roman *Denarius* in value at least theoretically.⁶ The gold and silver coins of the Gupta emperors are called *Dināra* or *Suvarṇa* and *Rūpaka* respectively,⁷ the weight of the former being originally that of the Roman aureus and later that of the Indian Suvarṇa, while the latter followed the weight standard of the silver coins of the Śakas of Western India.