________________
308
Insofar as the cast coins were already carefully arranged and they were struck on the bank.
Lord Mahavira and His Times
concerned, the symbols were engraved on the die before
Punchmarked coins were known at the time of their issue as Kārshāpaṇas-a term by which they are referred to in the Tripitaka, the Jataka, and the Ashṭādhyāy of Pāṇini, some of the Dharmasutras1 and Jaina canonical literature.2
Several hoards of punchmarked coins have been found throughout India, some of them containing even pre-Mauryan currency, The larger Bhir Mound3 hoard of puchmarked coins at Taxila found in the second stratum contained two coins of Alexander the great and one of Philip Ariadeus which were in the mint condition, besides 1055 silver punch-marked coins. The stratification of this hoard and the mint condition of the coins of the two Greek rulers show that the hoard was buried not much later than 317 B.C. As some of these punchmarked coins of this hoard were old, blurred and indistinct, it may be assumed that they were used at least about two centuries earlier. The Paila hoard contained about 1245 coins. These coins belong to very early times. They were probably the currency of Pañchāla before the rise of the Mauryan empire. The Golakhpur hoard of 108 coins and the Ramna hoard" of 48 coins have been assigned to the pre-Mauryan age by G.H.C. WALSH. 709 out of 2873 coins of the Patraha hoard and about onethird of the Machhuatoli hoards fall under the category of preMauryan currency. Early punchmarked coins have been found at Rajagriha."
An analysis of the punchmarked coins found in different hoards helps us in postulating some rough tests to determine
1. Gau. Dh. S, XII. 6-8, 19; Vas. Dh. S, V. XIX, 21.
2. Uttara, 20. 42. Also sec CHARANDAS CHATTERJEE's article on some Numismatic data in Pali literature, Buddhistic Studies, pp. 383 ff.
3. WALSH, Memoir No. 59 of the 'ASI.
4. JNSI, II; N. S. No. XLVII of JASB.
5. JBROS, 1919, pp. 16-72.
6. Ibid, 1939.
7. Memoir No. 62 of the ASI, 1940.
8. JBORS, 1939, pp. 91-117. 9. J. Ar-A Review, 1961-62.
