Chandragupta Maurya and His Times c15.139

c15.139

Patañjali [on. Pāṇini I. 2. 64] refers to the *Kārshāpaṇa* of 16 *Māshas* as being older (*purākalpa*) than the one of 20 *Māshas* with which he was apparently more familiar, Kautilya knows of this older *Kārshāpaṇa* as the standard of his days but refers to another silver coin called *Dharaṇa* of 20 parts. Both varieties of *Kārshāpaṇa* seem to have been in circulation in different local areas in the country. It may be noted that the Buddhist tradition cited above regards the coin of 20 *Māshas* as being older than that of 16 *Māshas*.