India as Known to Panini: A Study of the Cultural Material in the Ashtadhyayi c9.s6.t1.14

c9.s6.t1.14

Pāṇini does not mention the *kākaṇī* and *ardha-kākaṇī*, but Kātyāyana knows them as current coins (*vārttika* on V. 1. 33).² Both *kākaṇī* and *ardha-kākaṇī* are mentioned in the *Arthaśāstra* (II. 12) as copper pieces, *kākaṇika* being the charge per day for stamping weights and measures (II. 19). The *Jātakas* know of the *kākaṇī* coin, *e.g.* the *Chullaseṭṭhi Jātaka* states one *kākaṇī* as the price of a dead mouse (I. 120), and the *Sālittaka Jātaka* refers to village boys giving a *kākaṇī* coin to a cripple saying 'Make an elephant,' 'Make a horse' (*Jāt.*, I. 419). It is possible that the *kākaṇī* came into use after Pāṇini's time, otherwise such a singular grammatical formation would not have escaped his notice.