Chandragupta Maurya and His Times c15.138

c15.138

It may be noted that the *Vinayapiṭaka* [*Aṭṭhakathā* II *Parājika*] furnishes the information that "at that time (of Bimbisāra or Ajātasattu), at Rājagaha, there was in circulation the *Kārshāpaṇa* of twenty *Māshakas* (*Viṁsatimāsako Kahāpaṇo*), whence the *Pāda* was five *Māshakas*. Buddhaghosha in his *Samantapāsādikā* dubs this coin as *Nīlakāhāpaṇa* and further states that the coin in circulation in the capital of the empire became the current coin in all its provinces (*Sabbajanapadeshu*). It is also stated that the coin was fashioned in accordance with the specifications of the old technical numismatic *Śāstra* (*Purāṇa-Śāstra*) [C. D. Chatterji in *Buddhistic Studies*, pp. 384-386].