1892.] V. A. Smith —On the Civilization of Ancient India. 
51 
the fifteenth century A. D., or possibly even later. According to a 
friendly communication of Mommsen’s, the borrowing of the word 
hy]vapiov itself (always neuter) from the Latin denarius dates at the 
earliest from the time of Ceesar and Augustus, who first introduced a 
gold coinage current throughout the empire, which was therefore desig¬ 
nated by a Latin word, commonly aureus , though the term denarius 
aureus is also used. 
The transference of the word dinar a to India, and the introduction 
•* 
of it into Indian literature can hardly have taken place so soon, and we 
may well assume another century approximately as necessary for such 
introduction. From this the inference follows that no Indian work in 
which the word dindra occurs can be older than the second century of 
our era.” 
The Gupta inscriptions show that the use of the word dindra for 
certain gold coins was well established by A. D. 400, and suggest that 
the dindra was distinct from the suvarna.* I have elsewhere stated 
my belief, which I am still inclined to hold, that the term dindra in 
Gupta times was restricted to the coins which followed the weight 
standard of the Roman aureus denarius , based on the Attic stater of 
134’4 grains, and that the term suvarna designated the heavier gold 
coins struck to the native standard of 80 ratis, or 146 grains.f 
Gadhwa 
ditto 
Ditto 
ditto 
Ditto 
ditto 
Sanchi 
ditto 
Gadhwa 
ditto 
Lines 7 to 12 (scil. 
* Sanchi inscription of Chandra Gupta II, dated 93 = A. D. 412-13 ; 
ditto , dated 88 = A. D. 407-08 ; 
Kumara Gupta, (No. 8), date lost, 
ditto (No. 9), dated 98 = A. D. 417-18. 
ditto, or Skanda Gupta, dated 131 = A. D. 450-51. 
ditto (No. 64), date lost. 
“ Lines 7 to 12 (scil. of this last inscription) appear to have recorded certain 
grants fixed in dvndras, for the purpose of providing food in a sattra or almshouse, 
and also to provide pairs of upper and lower garments. The second part, 
again, refers to food in an almshouse, recording something in connection with it at a 
cost of nineteen gold coins of the kind called suvarna .” (Fleet, Corpus Inser. hid 
Vol. Ill, pp. 33, 38, 39, 40, 41, 262, 265.) 
f The Coinage of the Early or Imperial Gupta Dynasty of Northern India (.7. 
Boy. As. Soc.for 1889, Vol. XXI, N. S.,p. 43.) 
The jurist Brihaspati is, however, against this supposition. He says :— 
14. A Nishlca is four suvarnas. A Pana of copper is a Karshika (having the 
the weight of one Karsha.) A coin made of a Karsha of copper has to be known as 
a Karshika Pana. 
15. It is also called Andika. Four such are a Dhanaka. Twelve of the latter 
are a Suvarna. This is also called a Dinara (denarius).” ( Brihaspati, X, 14, 15 in 
‘ Minor Law Books, Ndrada and Brihaspati,’ translated by Jolly being Vol. XXXIII 
of the Sacred Books of the East, page 317.) I do not doubt the accuracy of Brihaspati’s 
statement, but it can perhaps be interpreted to mean that both a suvarna and a 
