Karshapana

Karshapana (Sanskrit: कार्षापण, IAST: Kārṣāpaṇa), according to the Ashtadhyayi of Panini, refers to ancient Indian coins current during the 6th century BCE onwards,[citation needed] which were unstamped and stamped (āhata) metallic pieces whose validity depended on the integrity of the person authenticating them.

[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 – 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.

The Golakpur (Patna) find is mainly pre-Maurya, possibly of the Nanda era, and appear to have been re-validated to make them kośa- praveśya (legal tender); the coins bearing larger number of marks are thought to be older in origin.

[14] Originally, they were issued by traders as blank silver bent-bars or pieces; the Magadha silver punch-marked Kārṣāpaṇa of Ajatashatru of Haryanka dynasty was a royal issue bearing five marks and weighing fifty-four grains, the Vedic weight called kārsha equal to sixteen māshas.

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 Haryanka dynasty in 684 BCE; these coins show four punch-marks - the sun-mark, the six-armed symbol, arrows (three) and taurine (three) which were current even during the rule of Bimbisara (c. 492-c.460 BCE).