Chandragupta Maurya and His Times c16.s2: Plate II

Chandragupta Maurya and His Times c16.s2

Language: English

Plate II

Silver punch-marked coins or *Kārshāpaṇas* belonging to the weight standard of 32 Rts., although the actual weight is more often a little less. They bear on the obverse a regular group of five symbols of which the first symbol is the Sun which remains constant on all the coins of the series. The second symbol is often designated by the Numismatists as a *Shaḍara Chakra*, i.e., a six-armed symbol. It also occurs on all Kārshāpaṇa coins conforming to the wt. standard of 16 *māshas* or 32 Rts. This symbol varies in the form of its spokes, on some, consisting of three ovals and three arrows, and on others, of three taurines and three arrows, with a great variety in between. The coins having the six-armed symbol with an oval as its component part (see Figs. 13, 14, 15, 18) are considered earlier than those on which it is absent. Coins bearing arrows and taurines are considered later and may be assigned to the Maurya Period (No. 20). The coin shown as fig. 17 is specially remarkable, as in it the solar and six-armed symbols are replaced by a group of three human figures. This specimen comes from Charsadda in the Peshawar district.

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Fig. 21.

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Fig. No. 21 shows a punch-marked coin of copper with traces of very thin silver plating over it. These seem to

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represent the debased coinage introduced by the Mauryan administration to replenish their exchequer or meet some unusual drain on their currency.

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It is a *Half-Kārshāpaṇa*, 14·6 Rts. in weight, known as *Ardha* both in the *Ashṭādhyāyī* of Pāṇiṇi and the *Arthaśāstra* of Kauṭilya.

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Fig. 23.

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A tiny silver punchmarked coin named *Māshaka* of which the official weight was 2 Rts. although actual specimens weigh a little less. In point of numbers, the smaller submultiples of the *Kārshāpaṇa* currency are much fewer than the standard *Kārshāpaṇas* of 32 Rts. weight.¹

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¹ The numismatic and other data contained in Pāṇini's *Ashṭādhyāyī* I owe largely to the Dissertation prepared by Dr. V. S. Agrawala, under my supervision and approved for the Degree of Ph.D. of the Lucknow University.

Linked texts (2)

Kauṭilīya Arthaśāstra — Kauṭilya, Sanskrit
Aṣṭādhyāyī — Pāṇini, Sanskrit