India as Known to Panini: A Study of the Cultural Material in the Ashtadhyayi c9.s6.14

c9.s6.14

In another *sūtra* Pāṇini refers to pieces of gold equal to a standard weight (*Jātarūpebhyaḥ parimāṇe*, IV. 3. 153). Obviously such pieces were gold coins, as shown by its examples cited in the *Kāśikā*, *viz. hāṭako nishkaḥ, hāṭakaṁ kāarsāpaṇaṁ*, gold pieces or coins called *nishka* and *kārshāpaṇa* struck to a standard weight. Gold *kārshāpaṇas* are not mentioned elsewhere; and *Kāśikā's* reference is either to *suvarṇa* coins of one *karsha* weight, or to the much later gold coins of Kedāra Kushāṇas, also referred to by it as *Kedāra* (V.2.120).