Chandragupta Maurya and His Times c15.156

c15.156

Durga Prasad considers that the figure of ‘Hill-with-crescent-on-top’ was a specific Maurya symbol, apart from the peacock. This symbol, he points out, appears on most silver coins found all over the country, and also on known Mauryan Monuments (as mentioned above). It also appears on the base of the Maurya pillar recently excavated at Kumrahar in Patna. It is seen on the Sohagaura copper-plate of *c.* 320-300 B.C. bearing an inscription which states that at famines, grain was distributed from public granaries, a provision also mentioned by Kauṭilya, as we have seen. Lastly, the symbol appears on a seal on three terracotta plates recently discovered at Bulandibagh at Mauryan level at the site of old Pāṭaliputra, along with three other symbols. Jayaswal agreed with Durga Prasad in taking the seal to be the Maurya imperial seal, the *Narendrāṅka*, by which, according to Kauṭilya, royal properties like weapons [V. 3] or cattle [II. 29] were marked [Jayaswal's Presidential Address to the Oriental Conference at Baroda, 1933].