Karshapana

Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
Kosala karshapanas. Circa 525–465 BCEE. Average diameter 25mm, average weight 2.70 gm. Each piece with a variety of separate punch-marks applied to both sides.
Vidisa
(?). Obv: 5 symbols including a sun Rev: 2 symbols Dimensions: 19.7 x 13.87 mm Weight: 3.5 g.
A silver coin of 1 karshapana of the Maurya empire, period of Bindusara (c. 297–272 BCE), workshop of Pataliputra. Obv: Symbols with a Sun Rev: Symbol Dimensions: 14 x 11 mm Weight: 3.4 g.

Karshapana (

Janapadas and Mahajanapadas, and generally carried minute mark or marks to testify their legitimacy. Silver punch-marked coins ceased to be minted sometime in the second century BCE but exerted a wide influence for next five centuries.[1][2]

Etymology

The punch-marked coins were called "Kārṣāpaṇa" because they weighed one kārsha each.[3]

History

The period of the origin of the punch-marked coins is not yet known, but their origin was indigenous.[citation needed]

Literary References

The word, Kārṣāpaṇa, first appears in the

Buddhist (Dhammapada verse 186):[4]

Na kahapana vassena titti kamesu vijjati appassada dukha kama iti vinnaya pandito.
"Not by a shower of coins can sensual desires be satiated; sensual desires give little pleasure and are fraught with evil consequences (dukkha)."

and Persian texts of that period.[citation needed]

Patanjali's mid 2nd century BCE commentary, Mahabhashya, on vārttikas of Kātyāyana, on Pāṇini's, c. 400 BCE, Aṣṭādhyāyī,[5] likely composed at Salatura, in the Achaemenid satrapy of Gandāra, uses the word, "Kārṣāpaṇa", to mean a coin –

कार्षापणशो ददाति
"He gives by the Kārṣāpaṇa coin" or
कार्षापणम् ददाति
"He gives a Kārṣāpaṇa",

while explaining the use of the suffix – शस् taken up by Pāṇini in Sutra V.iv.43, in this case, कार्षापण + शः to indicate distributivity.[6]

The Shatapatha Brahmana speaks about Kārṣāpaṇas weighing 100 ratis which kind were found buried at Taxila by John Marshall in 1912.

Finds

The Golakpur (Patna) find pertains to the period of Ajatashatru.[7]

The

Taxila, Pakistan, includes Maurya coins and a coin of Diodotus I (255-239 BCE) issued in 248 BCE.[8]

The, c.380 BCE, Chaman Hazuri hoard (Kabul) includes two varieties of punch-marked Indian coins along with numerous Greek coins of 5th and early 4th centuries BCE,[9] thereby indicating that those kind of Kārṣāpaṇas were contemporaneous to the Greek coins and in circulation as legal tender.[10]

Mauryan Period

During the

Vedic weight called kārsha equal to sixteen māshas.[15]

Even during the

Harappan Period
(ca 2300 BCE) silver was extracted from argentiferous galena. Silver Kārṣāpaṇas show lead impurity but no association with gold.

The internal chronology of Kārṣāpaṇa and the marks of distinction between the coins issued by the Janapadas and the Magadhan issues is not known, the Arthashastra of Kautilya speaks about the role of the Lakshanadhyaksha ('the Superintendent of Mint') who knew about the symbols and the Rupadarshaka ('Examiner of Coins'), but has remained silent with regard to the construction, order, meaning and background of the punched symbols on these coins hence their exact identification and dating has not been possible.[16]

The term Kārṣāpaṇa referred to gold, silver and copper coins weighing 80 ratis or 146.5 grains; these coins, the earliest square in shape, followed the ancient Indian system of described in

Manu Smriti.[17] Use of money was known to Vedic people much before 700 BCE. The words, Nishka and Krishnala, denoted money, and Kārṣāpaṇas, as standard coins, were regularly stored in the royal treasuries.[18]

The local silver punch-marked coins, included in the Bhabhuā and Golakpur finds, were issued by the Janapadas and were in circulation during the rule of the Brihadratha dynasty which was succeeded by the

Nanda dynasty issued coins of five symbols – the sun-mark, the six-armed symbol and any three of the 450 symbols. The Maurya coins also have five symbols – the sun-mark, the six-armed symbol, three-arched hill with a crescent at the top, a branch of a tree at the corner of a four-squared railing and a bull with taurine in front. Punch-marked copper coins were first issued during the rule of Chandragupta Maurya or Bindusara
.

References

  1. ^ Parmeshwari Lal Gupta. Coins. National Book Trust. pp. 7–11. Archived from the original on 2015-02-13. Retrieved 2015-02-13.
  2. ^ A.V.Narsimha Murthy (1975). The Coins of Karnataka. Geetha Book House. p. 19.
  3. ^ "The Dhammapada: Verses and Stories". www.tipitaka.net. Archived from the original on 2022-11-26. Retrieved 2022-03-03.
  4. .
  5. .
  6. .
  7. ^ Parmeshwari Lal Gupta. Coins. National Book Trust. pp. 17–20, 239–240. Archived from the original on 2015-02-13. Retrieved 2015-02-13.
  8. ^ Bopearachchi & Cribb, Coins illustrating the History of the Crossroads of Asia 1992, pp. 57–59: "The most important and informative of these hoards is the Chaman Hazouri hoard from Kabul discovered in 1933, which contained royal Achaemenid sigloi from the western part of the Achaemenid Empire, together with a large number of Greek coins dating from the fifth and early fourth century BC, including a local imitation of an Athenian tetradrachm, all apparently taken from circulation in the region."
  9. .
  10. .
  11. .
  12. .
  13. . karshapana.
  14. .
  15. from the original on 2024-01-31. Retrieved 2021-12-11.
  16. from the original on 2024-01-31. Retrieved 2021-12-11.
  17. from the original on 2024-01-31. Retrieved 2021-12-11.

Sources