1865.] Ancient Indian Weights. 23 
incidentally portrayed. So that the Vedas proper, as might be antici- 
pated, furnish but few references to money, and Manu confines his 
notices to the formal letter of the law, though that brings within its 
circle even the definition of the lowest rate of wages, which is fixed at 
one pana a day, with an allowance of grain, &. (vii. 126). The 
Buddhist legends, on the contrary, abound in illustrations of every-day 
life, including ordinary commercial dealings, frequent mention of 
charitable donations and distributions; and in one instance they have 
preserved a record of the quaint item, that the Anonyma of her day, 
in the ancient city of Mathura, estimated her favours at 500 puranas 
(about £16). Burnouf, who cites this anecdote, has further collected 
in his “ Introduction 4 1’Histoire de Buddhisme,” numerous passages 
mentioning swvarnas, purdnas, kakini (vatis), and kdrshdpanas,* and 
among other things he reproduces a tale which exemplifies the curious 
custom of the women of the period indulging in the habit of ornament- 
ing the skirts of their garments with karshipanas. The notice of 
Dindrst has already been referred to, but the most important passage 
under the numismatic aspect, in the Buddhist literature, is to be found 
in the text of the “‘ Mahéwanso,”’ where it is stated that the Brahman 
Chanakya, the adviser of Chandra Gupta, ‘“ with the view of raising 
resources, converted (by recoining) each kaha pana into eight, and 
amassed eighty kotis of kahdpanas.’’} 
If the Buddhist legends are to be taken as in any way correct ex- 
ponents of the state of civilisation existing at the period to which they 
professedly refer, it is clear that the act of recoining, and by conversion 
and depreciation making each kdrshdpana into eight, would imply 
unconditionally, not only that the art of coining had reached its most 
advanced stage, but that the ideas and customs of the country had been 
already trained by long usage, to identify the regal stamp with the 
supposed assurance of fixed intrinsic value—a fallacy that was very early 
* Pp. 91, 102, 103, 145-7, 236, 238, 243, 245, 258, note 329, note 597. 
+ Ibid, 423. 
{ Turnour’s “ Mahawanso,” Ceylon, 1837, p. xl.: and M. Miiller, “ Sanskrit 
Lit.” 289. The Ceylon writers wrote according to their own lights, as unlike 
the people of India Proper, who seem to have reserved the term Karshapana 
for the copper coinage. The inhabitants of Ceylon and the Western coasts 
appear to have coined both gold and silver into Karshdpanas, Mdshas, and 
other established weights ; though the generic term Karshdpana in books and 
inscriptions usually indicates copper coin in the absence of any specification to 
the contrary. 
