CEYLON BRANCH ROYAL ASIATIC SOCIETY. 155 



was the value of the old Negapatam pagoda. Yet again it is 

 said the masakan was considered equal to the Kandyan ridi or 

 silver piece, and this is true though the latter is accounted by Dr. 

 Davy worth only about 7d. English. * The real value of those old 

 coinsjhus appears to be now unknown ; and the stories we have 

 of thern in the Mahawanso, chap. 2l and 30, so incredible are the 

 sums there mentioned and their application, only throw the subject 

 into greater obscurity and doubt. Elaro, for instance, the ma- 

 labar usurper, the yoke bar of his carriage having by acci- 

 dent injured 15 stones of a Budhist building, gave 15,000 

 kahapanas for its repair ; and in a subsequent reign, a brick- 

 layer being asked the best form of a chetyan or dagoba, and 

 replying that he would make it of the shape of a bubble on 

 the surface of water, had a suit of clothes given him by the 

 king, a pair of slippers, and 12,000 kahapanas for his learning 

 and ingenuity, and the king also directed that " sixteen lacs 

 of kahapanas " together with clothes, food and the five condi- 

 ments should be placed at every gate for distribution among the 

 workmen employed in erecting the edifice. This however, we 

 may collect, that there was at one time a common current mo- 

 ney which included the kahapanan and masakan, but the time 

 of their actual currency was remote, short and limited ; and 

 being, as I conjecture they were, Budhist coins only, though 

 indeed widely known throughout India as well as here f their 

 character and value became at length matter of mere book 

 learning and tradition. Neither of the coins named have come 

 under my observation; but annexed No. 5 is a representation 

 of a small copper coin bearing on one side what seems intended 



* This is the value of the mace in China. 



f Dhana Nando of India got his name from his excessive love of 

 money, and we are told that in order to amass together a vast 

 sum he converted by recoining each kahapanan into eight. The 

 same coin, the kahapanan, is also mentioned in the Sandesa or 

 epistle from the Sangha rajah of Biraiah. Friend viii. 49. 



