[Pramāṇa](https://indike.org/pramana/) › [Studies](https://indike.org/pramana/ins) › [Polity, law and society](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity) › [Administrative System of the Marathas](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.sen-1923) › c23.s8 # Administrative System of the Marathas c23.s8: 3. The Potdar Administrative System of the Marathas c23.s8 - **Language:** English ### 3. The Potdar ### [c23.s8.1](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.sen-1923.c23.s8.1) The origin of another Maratha village officer, \*viz.\*, the Potdar, can be traced to the Maurya days. The Potdar was a Sonar or goldsmith by caste, and his duty was to assay coins. Kautilya mentions an examiner of coins,²⁹ and lays down that no gold coin should be accepted by the treasury officer unless its purity has been attested to by the examiner of coins (or Rupadarsaka).³⁰ It was his duty to regulate currency both as a medium of exchange and as legal tender admissible into the treasury.³¹ Whether Kautilya's Rupadarsaka was like the Maratha Potdar a goldsmith by caste or profession we do not know, but it may be noticed here that the officer in charge of the Maurya mint was, as in Maratha days, a goldsmith. While in Shivaji's time and under the Peshwa regime the goldsmiths obtained license, on the payment of a premium, for opening and working mints under certain stipulations and reservations, the Maurya kings had mints of their own, and these were worked under the supervision of the State goldsmith. ### [c23.s8.2](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.sen-1923.c23.s8.2) ²⁹ Kautilya, Arthashastra, pp. 65, 79, 98. ### [c23.s8.3](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.sen-1923.c23.s8.3) ³⁰ Arthashastra, p. 64. ### [c23.s8.4](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.sen-1923.c23.s8.4) ³¹ Arthashastra, p. 98. ## Linked texts (1) - [Kauṭilīya Arthaśāstra](https://indike.org/pramana/in.niti.artha.kautilya) — Kauṭilya, Sanskrit --- Source: [https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.sen-1923.c23.s8](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.sen-1923.c23.s8) · Pramāṇa