India as Known to Panini: A Study of the Cultural Material in the Ashtadhyayi c9.s6.t1.29

c9.s6.t1.29

The passages from the above sources of different periods show that the *viṁśatika* was a current coin in certain localities, *e.g.* Magadha and Pañchāla, as the *kārshāpaṇa* of 16 *māshas* was in other localities. The Pāli texts definitely describe it as *vīsati-māsaka kahāpaṇa*, whereas Pāṇini calls it simply a *viṁśatika*, as a specific name (*saṁjñā*) in popular usage. He is thus referring to the *viṁśatika* and the *kārshāpaṇa* as two varieties of coins of different values.