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COIN NAMES
91
We may also make a distinction between the Th coins, i.e. the ones minted by Rudradāman himself, and the ea&There coins, i.e. others which were minted by his successors on the model of the original TRES. For all pracital purposes they were identical in weight, fabric and value. The general name for all such coins of the Western Kshatrapas must have been ante as revealed by the 31799.
7. Tot - These were the entrant or the original Kārshāpaņa coins of ancient mintage which continued to remain in circulation from circa sixth century B. C. to circa 6th century A.D. These are now known as coins of the punch-marked series and are of many Classes and Varieties. Fortunately once put into circulation, they were never withdrawn by subsequent rulers, even when new coins were cast and minted. During the Saka-Kusbāna period (C. 1st Cent. B.C.--3rd Cent. A.D.) they served as the standard money of the day and public endowments were made and recorded in terms of the Purana' or the ancient Kārshāpaņas of the punch-marked variety. In the Punyaśāla Pillar Inscription of Huvishka at Mathura an endowment of 1100 Purāņa coins was deposited with two guild. which undertook to make certain provisions of public benefart un in .consideration of the interest accruing on the original surn.
The implication of the 41141a passage cited above, seems to be that the term FETT was of very wide application and included all kinds of old and new silver coins, under which each class was distinguished by its special name like पुराण, रुद्रदामक, खत्तपक, etc. At any rate the word पुराण was of unmistakable denotation to the common man in the Saka-Kushāņa period when most of the material for the Bitia was compiled. Manu also mentions the coin under the name of 750 g , i.e. a git coin of silver, which was equal in wt. to 16 raupya-māshakas (Manu, VIII. 135, 136). In passage no. IV above, the reference to the cat , i. e, the square Kärshāpaņa must be to the ancient punch-marked coins, which owing to the presence of a variety of symbols were also described as चित्त (Skt. चित्र).
8. --This word was derived from the Greek term 'stater', which became familiar in India from the time of the Indo-Greeks, and continued to be current during the Rushāņa period, and probably in the Gupta, epoch also. The stater was a gold coin weighing 133.2 grs. In the Central Asian Kharoshthi documents mention is often made of the gard or gaaer coin, i. e. the gold stater, which was current along with silver coins called TH or 76H, the drachm. Shri Ratna Chandra has also drawn attention to an important evidence from the yeref commentary on the अभिधर्म कोष of वसुबन्धु in which a specific reference is found to the सतेर coin with the remark that 2 dinaras were equal to 1 as. This raises several problems, e. g. (1) what was this particular
tar coin which had the exchange value of 2: 1 with the stater coin ? (2) Whether the fat was of silver or gold? The literary references acquaint us with the dināra coin both of silver (fica 177) and gold (gaur etat), but we are not yet in a position to determine the nature of the dināra affiliated to the stater. The probability is that the silver dināra may have been the name applied to the silver Drachm (wt. 67.2 grs.) in India, and then the weight of the stater (133.2 grs.) would stand to the dināra in the ratio of 2:1, as recorded by महावीराचार्य in the गणितसार संग्रह-दानारी सतेरं स्यात् प्राहुलॊहेऽत्र सूरय., i.e. in the case of metallic weights 2 दानारs areequal to 1 सतेर.'
1. Ratna Chandra Agrawala, Numismatic Data in the Kharosthi Documents from Chinese Turkestan, JNSI, XIV, p. 103. The writer refers there, on the authority of Prof. Grinwodel to a stater of silver, but tho point is left undeveloped. We do not yet know of any other firm reference to a silver a coin.
2. Ratna Chandra Agrawala, Greek Stater in Ancient Indian Epigraphs and Literature, INSI, XV, pp. 158-164. 3. Ratan Chandra, ibid, JNSI, XV, p. 154.
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