________________
COIN NAMES
years it began to decline; between 210 B. C. and the time of Augustus its wt. was reduced to 60 grs, and after Nero (A. D. 54-68) to 52 grs.' Its value sank steadily. In 210 B. C. 1 aureus was equal to 15 denārii, in the time of Augustus to 25 denarii, till in the beginning of the third century A. D. it was only worth three pence and the name applied to a copper coin. It appears that the name was introduced in the realm of Indian coinage during the reign of the Imperial Kushāņas who applied it to their gold issues. The Indian literary evidence shows that the ar was generally a coin of gold. In the Jaina Kalpasūtra a necklace is said to be strung with gold dināras. The raffa refers to a cr as a synonym of a gauf which was equal to 12 धानकs'. The वासवदत्ता of सुबन्धु (c. 5th century A.D.) mentions दीनार to have been a gold coin, where the sun is compared to a gold दीनार seen in the eastem horizon (प्राचीकाञ्चनदीनारचक्रे इव); the दशकुमारचरित (c. 7th cent. A. D.) refers to 16,000 dināras without specifying the metal. The gold coins of the Guptas are mentioned in a number of inscriptions as dināras, and in one place both the air and the auf coins are mentioned together.
There is, however, a reference in the original Panchatantra, as reconstructed by Edgerton, to the dināra coins of silver, but it may there be a generic term for coins.
The reference in the info will seems to be a gold coin of the Kushāņa period, the form of the name दीणरि in the female gender (थीणामाणि = स्त्रीनामानि) being nearer to the original denārii, where as in the Gupta period the form everywhere is the masculine dinara (cf. षड्दीनारान् अष्ट च रूपकानायीकृत्य).'
13. आदिमूल कार्षापण-The term is explained by the अंगविज्जा itself as denoting the पुराण or ancient punch-marked silver coins, which were still current as the standard money for revenue assessment during the Gupta period, as shown by the Sukraniti.
14-16. उत्तम, मध्यम, जघन्य कार्षापण-It mentions the कार्षापण coin as of high, middle and inferior value. It is difficult to be precise about the denotations. But in the काशिका commentary (जातरूपेभ्यः परिमाणे, IV. 3.153) we have a mention of a gold Karshapana (हाटकं कार्षापणम्) which very likely was the उत्तमकार्षापण of the अंगविज्जा . Taking out as a general term for a coin, the gold p ut of the Kasika would be the same as the out or दीनार. The मध्यम कार्षापण would refer to coins of silver and the जघन्य कार्षापण to those of copper, viz, the नाणक pieces.
17. बाल कहावण-The अंगविज्जा explains it as the new coins, distinguished as such from the old (पुराण) Kārshāpanas. These must have been the cast coins, and not punch-marked. As a matter of fact, the GT4hs, the 55514hs would all come under this general class of 'recent' coins.
1. E. Warre Cornish, Concise Dictionary of Greek & Roman Antiquities, p. 768.
2. Kalpastitra, Eng. Translation by H. Jacobi. S. B. E., XXII. p. 233; in the vitafque, ruta (a necklace of dinara coins) is an ornament produced by the माणिकांग कल्पवृक्ष.
3. कार्षापणो दक्षिणस्यां दिशि रूढः प्रवर्तते । पणैर्विद्धः पूर्वस्यां षोडशैव पण: स तु ॥ ११६ ।।
पञ्चनद्याः प्रदेशे तु या संज्ञा व्यावहारिकी । कार्षापणप्रमाणं तु निबद्धमिह वै तया ॥ ११७ ॥ arafuntsarah gera wita HD 4 4 1 GIGYT auf Pir ( 76) fara: a: !! C II
(Freefa 86 370; wasic, Vol. 1. p. 330) For afront the v. I. is 34+5+1, which was probably the correct reading.
4. The varr edn., Calcutta, 1933, p. 121 5. forget the for AR10174, Nirnaya Sagar edn., II. p. 97. 6. Flect C. II., III, Nos. 5, 7, 8, 9, 62, 64. 7. Ibid., No. 64, cf. Allan, Coins of the Gupta Dynastics, p. cxxxiv.
8. अथ तत्र धर्मबुद्धिर्नाम यः सार्थवाहसुतस्तेन कस्यचित् साधोः पूर्वस्थापितं कलशिकागतं स्वभाग्यप्रचोदितं रौप्यदीनारसहस्रं प्राप्तम् । (धर्मबुद्धिgegfel, 19ada, Poona edn., p. 42).
9. Baigram Copperplate Inscription of the Gupta year 128 (-448 A.D.), Ep. Ind. XXI, p. 81 f., D. C. Sarkar, Select Inscriptions,
p. 344.
10.
feat write
RT
I
14-1: 7 74:
:
.
...
ya-life, I. 181-182 ff.
Jain Education International
For Private & Personal Use Only
www.jainelibrary.org