History of Dharmashastra (Ancient and Mediaeval Religious and Civil Law in India) v4.c62.285
History of Dharmaśāstra (Ancient and Mediaeval Religious and Civil Law in India) v4.c62.285
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¹⁶² A *raktikā* was found by General Cunningham after many experiments to weigh on an average 1.8 grains (vide his 'Coins of Ancient India' pp. 45-46 and also Rapson's 'Coins' pp. 2-3). So that a silver dharaṇa or purāṇa (of 32 raktikās) should weigh about 57.6 grains and a copper paṇa (of 80 raktikās) should weigh 144 grains. It appears that the weights of Indian coins in different parts and at different times varied a good deal. Cunningham ('Coins of Ancient India' p. 5) states that gold was cheap in India, being as one to eight rates of silver. But in medieval times i. e. about 1300 A. D. (vide Śukra IV. 2. 92-93) gold was 16 times the price of the same weight of silver, which again was 80 times of the price of the same weight of copper. Though, as stated in note 161 above, a copper paṇa was usually equal to eighty raktikās, a copper paṇa of 100 raktikās (i. e. of 20 māṣas) was known. Nār. (pariśiṣṭa verse 58) speaks of *māṣa* as the 20th part of the kārṣāpaṇa and the Mit. on Yāj. I. 365 and Vy. Nirṇaya p. 207 quote a verse (attributed to Uśanas by Haradatta and Maskarin on Gaut. XII. 19) that a māṣa is a twentieth part of paṇa (माषो विंशतितमो भागः पणस्य परिकीर्तितः). The Agnipurāṇa (227. 2) appears to have known a paṇa of 120 kṛṣṇalas (कृष्णालानां तथा षष्ट्या कार्षाधं राम कीर्तितम् ). The verses in Nār. (pariśiṣṭa 58-60) are ascribed to Kāt. by the Sm. C. II. p. 99 and it is stated by both that those terms are in vogue in Pañcanada (Punjab).
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When the paṇa of copper was equal to 20 māṣas (and 100 guñjās), the copper coin would have been almost of the weight of the modern copper half anna coin. The table given by Nār. (pari. 58-60) is: 4 kākiṇīs = māṣa, 20 māṣas = kārṣāpaṇa (which is the same as Aṇḍikā), 4 kārṣāpaṇas = dhānaka, 12 dhānakas = suvarṇa (also called dīnāra). The table given by Bṛ. (as quoted in Sm. C. II p. 99 and V. R. p. 667) is the same. Bṛ. as quoted by Aparārka p. 832 and V. R. p. 111 employs the word 'nāṇaka' for coin, which word also occurs in the Mṛcchakaṭika and in Yāj. II. 240-241. The Amarakośa states that niṣka and dīnāra are synonyms and also gives other meanings of niṣka. Śabara on Jai. IV. 3.39 gives the striking example 'no one would spend a kārṣāpaṇa for finding out a kākiṇī that he had lost'. The Arthaśāstra II. 12 p. 84 states that the superintendent of the mint should manufacture copper paṇas, half paṇas, kākiṇīs and half kākiṇīs. The Viṣṇu Dh. S. V. 96 refers to a golden māṣaka. Under the Guptas golden coins are mentioned as dīnāras ; vide ' Gupta Inscriptions ' p. 29 at p. 31 where there is a gift of 25 dīnāras in the Gupta year 93 and pp. 38, 41, 261 ( where it is stated that one *bhikṣu* was to be fed every day throughout the year from the permanent endowment of 12 dīnāras ). From the Baigram plate dated Gupta saṁvat 128 it appears that one dīnāra was equal to 16 rūpakas ( silver coins) in E. I. vol. XXI. p. 80. A Mathurā Ins.
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of the 28th year of Huviṣka speaks of the deposit of 550 purāṇas ( E. I. vol. XXI. p. 55 at 61). Bhāskarācārya (who was born in śake 1036 and wrote his Siddhāntaśiromaṇi in 1072 śake i. e. 1150 A. D. ) gives the following table ( in Līlāvatī I. 2-4 ) : 20 varāṭakas = kākiṇī, 4 kākiṇīs = paṇa, 16 paṇas = dramma, 16 drammas = niṣka ; 2 yavas = guñjā, 3 guñjās = valla ( modern Marathi *vāl* ), 8 vallas = dharaṇa, 2 dharaṇas = gadyāṇaka ; 5 guñjās = māṣa, 16 māṣas = karṣa, 4 karṣas = pala and a karṣa of gold is called Suvarṇa. It will be seen that Nār. and Līlāvatī differ as to काकिणी. Gadyāṇakas of gold are referred to in the Paṭṭadakal pillar Ins. of Kīrtivarman I ( 754 A. D. ), where it is stated that a field of 30 nivartanas was purchased for thirty gadyāṇakas of gold ( E. I. vol. III. pp. 6-7). From a verse of the Caturviṁśatimata quoted by the Mit. on Yāj. III. 258 it appears that gadyāṇaka was also a silver coin. From an inscription of Vikramāditya V near Gadag dated śake 934 it appears that fines for offences were levied in gadyāṇakas ( E. I. vol. XX p. 64). The following works may be consulted for further information on Indian coins viz. Cunningham's ' Coins of Ancient India ' ( 1894 ), Rapson's ' Indian coins ' ( 1897) in the *Grundriss*, C. J. Brown's ' Coins of India ' (in ' the Heritage of India ' series, 1922 ). The Dharmadvaitanirṇaya (pp. 137-139) and the Vaijayantī on Viṣṇu Dh. S. IV.
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9 may be consulted for efforts to reconcile the various statements about Suvarṇa, Niṣka &c. For an informing paper on the most ancient *Denarii*, vide Proceedings of the British Academy vol. XVIII pp. 211-266 where it is established that the earliest *denarius* period begins about 187 B. C. Therefore Jolly's assumption (in Recht und Sitte p. 23 followed by Winternitz in 'History of Indian Literature ' vol. II. p. 216. n. 4 that all Indian works in which the word dīnāra occurs cannot have been composed before 2nd century A. D. is unwarranted. Prof. Keith ( JRAS for 1915 p. 504 ) does not accept Jolly's assumption. The dīnāra was variously defined. According to Viṣṇugupta quoted in Hemādri's Vratakhaṇḍa, a rūpaka is 1/70th of suvarṇa and a dīnāra was equal to 28 rūpakas, while acc. to Nār. and Kāt. सुवर्ण and दीनार were synonyms. The Dharmadvaitanirṇaya says that a kārṣāpaṇa (of silver it seems ) was equal to eight or ten *dhabbukas*. One of the verses of the Jñāneśvarī (composed in 1290 A. D.) that speaks of gold as पंधरें ( 15 times in price of the same weight of silver ) may be cited here 'पैं भांगार जरी पंधरें । तरी राजबळींथी अक्षरें । लाहे (v. l. साहे) तैंचि सरे । जियापरी ।' chap. 17 verse 322 (Bhide's and Madgavkar's editions).