Pre-Buddhist India: A Political, Administrative, Economic, Social and Geographical Survey of Ancient India Based Mainly on the Jataka Stories c5.t4.174

c5.t4.174

Several *Jātakas*⁴ mention a specific class of coins, viz., the *nikkhas* which were surely golden coins, as expressly stated in some of the *gāthās*;⁵ *nikkhas* were not the only class of gold coins known to the *Jātakas*. We frequently meet with an expression in which the words *hirañña* and *suvaṇṇa* are associated together.⁶ Dr. Bhandarkar rightly infers that *suvaṇṇa* in this, as in other places where it is associated with *hiraṇya*, must stand not for "gold" but a "type of gold coins."⁷ We also read, in the stories, of gold coins of a still smaller denomination, viz., the *Suvaṇṇa-māsakas*.⁸ As we shall see, *māsa* was a unit in the weight system of Indian coinage which differed in weight according as the coin was of gold, silver or copper. A *suvaṇṇa-māsaka* was therefore a gold coin equal to one *māsa* in weight according to the standard of gold coinage.⁹ Thus we see that in the days of the *Jātakas*, no less than three types of gold coins were current. Of the lowest value was the *māsaka*, of a higher denomination was the *Suvaṇṇa*, and of a still higher denomination, the *nikkha*.