18 Ancient Indian Weights. [No. 1, 
might have been understood; but the deliberate enumeration of ten 
horses and ten lumps of gold,* would seemingly enforce the conclusion 
that those lumps were fixed and determined sections of the metal of 
habitually recognised value, or precisely such divisional portions of 
gold as we see in the parallel cases of the silver and copper of which 
Manu speaks, and whose extant survivors find a place in our medal 
cabinets. 
In addition to this allusion to what I suppose to have been Swvarnas, 
the Vedas, on two occasions, distinctly name the Nishka. The first 
reference to this money-weight is to be found in a hymn by that most 
mercenary Rishi, Kaxsuivat,t devoted to no deity, but to the glori- 
fication of a mundane prince dwelling on the Indus, whose beneficence 
is eulogised, in an extended play upon the number of his gifts, among 
which the Rishi confesses to having “ unhesitatingly accepted 100 
Nishkas, 100 vigorous steeds, and 100 bulls;” evidencing, as in the 
previous instance, a numerical computation by pieces of recognised 
value—much in advance of the primitive test of scales and weights. 
Again, ina subsequent Suikta, Grirsamapa, a Rishi of some celebrity,t 
in addressing the divinity Rupra, says, “‘ He shines with brilliant golden 
ornaments.”* * ‘‘ Worthy thou bearest arrows and a bow; worthy 
thou wearest an adorable omniform necklace.’’§ 
The medieval scholiast substitutes the word hdra, a necklace, for 
the Nishka of the original text,|| an interpretation which is followed 
by the modern translator. It would seem that one of the derivative 
meanings of the word NW ishka, as in the parallel instance of Dindra,] 
* “Rio Veda Sanhita,” 4th Ashtaka, 7th Adhydya; “ Sukta,” xlvii. verse 
23—*I have received ten horses, ten purses, clothes, and ample food, and ten 
lumps of gold, from Divodasa.” 
I should prefer the substitution of “cakes or balls” of gold for the “t lumps” 
of the translator. Mr. W. Elliot mentions that ‘the Canarese gulige (Sanskrit 
gutika) was the ancient name of a class of small spherical coins.” See figs. 3, 
4, 5, pl. vii., vol. iii, ‘“‘ Madras Journal” (1858). Whence, also, the gold A’dal 
Gutkah (Gutka) of the “ Ayin-Akbari,” i. p. 32. 
+ Wilson, “ Rig Veda Sanhita,”’ ii. p. 17. See also i. 312, 316, &e. 
t Wilson, “ Rig Veda Sanhita,” ii. p, 207. 
§ Wilson, “ Rig Veda Sanhita,” 2nd ashtaka, 7th adhyaya. Sikta xxxiii. vol. 
li. p. 291-2. : 
wy s ! te . ! . ! . los ° ! =~ 2 
ae rantt areata earefaa gad feyeq | wefad cae fowae a 
aT SISA Wafer ll Re I 
|| Max Miiller, “ Rig Veda,” ii. p. 579. 
4| Max Miller, “Sanskrit Literature,” p, 247. 

