India as Known to Panini: A Study of the Cultural Material in the Ashtadhyayi c9.s6.t1.40

c9.s6.t1.40

The word *rūpa* in Pāṇini’s *sūtra* being in the singular number, points to one symbol stamped with one punch at a time, *i.e.* for each symbol separate punching was required. We know from the standard silver coins of 16 *māshas* that each bears a group of five symbols of great variety, and each figure was stamped with its particular punch. On most of the specimens the two symbols in each group are the sun and a six-armed symbol (*shaḍara*), but no definite order seems to have been observed in punching and there is considerable overlapping of symbols. Some of the names of the *rūpas* or figures on these coins were the same as the names of marks (*lakshaṇas*) used in branding cows, as already pointed out (Ch. IV, Sect. 3).