[Pramāṇa](https://indike.org/pramana/) › [Studies](https://indike.org/pramana/ins) › [General history and culture](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.general) › [The Cambridge History of India, Vol. I: Ancient India](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.general.rapson-1922) › v1.c19.s9.344 # The Cambridge History of India, Vol. I: Ancient India v1.c19.s9.344 The Cambridge History of India, Vol. I: Ancient India v1.c19.s9.344 - **Language:** English ### [v1.c19.s9.344](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.general.rapson-1922.v1.c19.s9.344) But for the ordinary mechanism of exchange we find, in that and all early Buddhist literature, the worth of every marketable commodity, from that of a dead mouse and a day at the festival up to all kinds of prices, fees, pensions, fines, loans, stored treasure, and income, stated in figures of a certain coin, or its fractions¹⁶. This is either stated, or implied to be, the \*kahāpaṇa\*. Of the coins called \*purāṇas\* this literature knows nothing. Other current instruments of exchange are the ancient \*nikkha\* (\*nishka\*—a gold coin, originally a gold ornament)¹⁷, the \*suvaṇṇa\*, also of gold, and such bronze or copper tokens as the \*kaṃsa\*, the \*pāda\*, the \*māsaka\* (\*māsha\*), and the \*kākaṇikā\*. Cowry shells (\*sippikāni\*) are once mentioned¹, but only as we should speak of doits or mites, not as anything still having currency. - [Previous: v1.c19.s9.343](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.general.rapson-1922.v1.c19.s9.343) - [Next: v1.c19.s9.345](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.general.rapson-1922.v1.c19.s9.345) - [Up: v1.c19.s9](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.general.rapson-1922.v1.c19.s9) --- Source: [https://indike.org/pramana/ins.general.rapson-1922.v1.c19.s9.344](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.general.rapson-1922.v1.c19.s9.344) · Pramāṇa