Chandragupta Maurya and His Times c15.141

c15.141

Pāṇini uses the term *rūpa* [V. 2, 120] and explains the formation *rūpya* as ‘beautiful’ or ‘stamped’ (*āhata*). The latter sense applies to a coin. The *Arthaśāstra* takes the term *rūpa* in the sense of a coin alone and mentions an officer known as *Rūpadarśaka*, ‘the examiner of coins,’ as we have already seen. It is interesting to note that Patañjali in commenting on *Vārttika* on Pāṇini’s sūtra, I, 4, 52, refers to a *Rūpatarka* ‘who examines (*darśayati*) the *kārshāpaṇas*’. It may be also recalled that Kauṭilya uses the terms *Rūpyarūpa* and *Tāmrarūpa* for silver and copper coins.