Early History of Orissa

SR No.: 006922
Original Sutra Author: N/A
Author: Amarchand Mittal
Publisher: Jain Cultural Research Society
Publication Year: 1957
Total Pages: 506
Language: English
Classification: Book_English
File Size: 9 MB

Page 167

142
AN EARLY HISTORY OF ORISSA
to have added lustre to the age. While much of the traditional account may be mere folk-lore unworthy of credence, we may well believe that the cultivation of Grammar (Vyākarņa) received an impetus in this age. The scholia on Pāṇini, presupposed by the famous Commentry of Patañjali, (Mahābhāshya) shows acqaintance with the Yavana-lipi (Greek language) and it is by no means improbable that some of the predecessors of Patañjali are to be assigned to the age of the Nandas. Kings of the Nanda house are credited, by certain grammarians, with the establishment of a particular kind of measure called “Nandopa-Kramāņi-Mānāni' referred to in the Ashtadhyāyī of Pāṇini.3
The heavier Kārs hāpaņa of 20 māśas (visatimāso kāhāpaņa) was current in Rājagriha during Bimbisāra's reign. It was the local currency of different Janapadas. The Nandas felt called upon to introduce, for the first time, a uniform system of weights and measures, and standard coinage for their empire, extending from Kalinga in the south to Panchāla in the north. This system is known in medical works as Māgad ha-māna as distiuguished from Kalinga-māna, which continued as a separate system.
The coinage of the Nandas showed the following new features : (a) A standard Kārshāpana of 16 māśas in place
of Vimśatika of 20 māśas. (b) Punching of obverse and reverse symbols on two
sides of a coin instead of on the same side as
before. 1. See Nanda & Maurya, p. 25. 2. Qtd. Nanda & Mauryag, p. 25. 3. II, 4, 21. Trans. 8. C. Basu. 4. Qtd. India As Known To Pānini, p. 472. 5. Ibid.