India as Known to Panini: A Study of the Cultural Material in the Ashtadhyayi c9.s6.8

c9.s6.8

(iii) *Śata-sahasrāntāchcha nishkāt* (V. 2. 119), i.e. the affix *ṭhañ* comes in the sense of *matup*, after the words *śata* and *sahasra*, when they are prefixed to *nishka*. Thus in Pāṇini's time a possessor of one hundred *nishkas* was called *naishka-śatika*, and of one thousand *nishkas*, *naishka-sahasrika*. These appear to be real titles indicating the degree of opulence (*āḍhya-bhāva*, III. 2. 56) of the person so designated. The *Mbh.* also refers to these two degrees of wealth, consisting of 100 and 1000 *nishkas* (*śatena nishka-gaṇitaṁ sahasreṇa cha saṁmitam*, Anuśāsanaparva, 13. 43). Patañjali uses the terms *nishk-dhana*, and *śata-nishkadhana* (owner of 1 *nishka* or 100 *nishka* pieces, II. 414). The *Kāśikā* adds that it was not usual to add the word *suvarṇa* before *nishka*, evidently because *nishka* was already understood as a gold coin (*Kāśikā*, V. 2. 110, *suvarṇa-nishka-śataṁ asy-āst-īty-anabhidhānān-na bhavati*). The *Śatapatha Brāhmaṇa* states that the *nishka* offered by Uddālaka Āruṇi to his learned rival Svaidāyana was of gold (*Ś. Br.* XI. 4. 1. 8). The *Kuhaka Jātaka* refers to a farmer bringing his hundred *nishkas* of gold to an ascetic (1. 375). According to the *Mbh.* the unit of wealth was reckoned at 108 *nishkas* of gold (*sāshṭaṁ śataṁ suvarṇānāṁ nishkam āhurdhanam tathā*, Droṇaparva, 67. 10). The *Vessantara Jātaka* mentions a thousand *nishkas* as the amount for the redemption of *Vessantara's* son (VI. 546).¹