India as Known to Panini: A Study of the Cultural Material in the Ashtadhyayi c13.30

c13.30

Another coin-name of much more precise chronological value is the heavy type of *Kārshāpaṇa*, called *Viṁśatika*, which was 20 *māshas* or 40 *rattis* in weight. The silver *Karshāpaṇa* minted by the Mauryan administration, as shown by actual finds, and as mentioned in the *Arthaśāstra* weighed only 16 *māshas*. Pāṇini on the other hand seems to know both classes of silver coins, *viz.* the *Viṁśatika* of heavier weight as its name signifies, and the *Kārshāpaṇa* of standard weight, which although unspecified was most likely of 32 *rattis* as stated in Manu and Kauṭilya. We have therefore to assign a stage to Pāṇini in which *Viṁśatika* and *Kārshāpaṇa* were current coins at one and the same time. This held good in the fifth century B.C. in the time of the Nandas. The heavier *kahāpaṇa* of 20 *māsas* (*vīsatimāso kahāpaṇo*) was current in Rājagṛiha during Bimbisāra's reign. It was the local currency of different *Janapadas*. The Nandas felt called upon to introduce for the first time a uniform system of weights and measures and standard coinage for their empire extending from Kaliṅga to Pañchāla. This system is known in medical works as *Māgadha māna* as distinguished from the *Kāliṅga māna* which continued as a separate system. The coinage of the Nandas showed the following new features: (1) a standard *Kārshāpaṇa* of 16 *māshas* in place of *Viṁśatika* of 20 *māshas*; (2) punching of obverse and reverse symbols on two sides of a coin instead of on the same side as before; (3) increasing the number of obverse symbols to 5 in each group, instead of 4 as on *Viṁśatika* and earlier coins; (4) introducing the Sun and Six-armed (*Shaḍara*) symbols as constant in the five-symbol groups; (5) simplifying the forms, but greatly adding to the variety of the symbols punched. The new *Kārshāpaṇa* of 32 *rattis* of the Nandas may be actually identified in the thin and broad flat pieces with clear symbols punched on them, which are known from actual hoards. The thick and small variety in which peacock- or crescent-on-hill symbols appear belongs to the Maurya period. The distinction of the earlier and later *Kārshāpaṇas* is best seen in the form of their six-armed symbols, those having an oval as a constituent are earlier than those with an arrow or taurine.