Karshapana facts for kids

The Karshapana (pronounced Car-shah-pah-nah) was an ancient coin used in India. These coins were around from about the 6th century BCE (that's over 2,500 years ago!) and were very important for trade.

At first, Karshapana coins weren't made by kings or governments. Instead, they were often created by merchants and bankers. This helped make trading easier because people didn't have to weigh metal every time they wanted to buy or sell something.

These coins were usually made of silver. They had special symbols, called rūpas, stamped on one side. These symbols helped show that the coin was real and valuable. Even though silver punch-marked coins stopped being made around the 2nd century BCE, they influenced other coins for hundreds of years after that.

What's in a Name?

The name "Karshapana" comes from its weight. Each coin weighed one kārsha, which was an ancient Indian unit of weight.

A Look Back in Time

We don't know exactly when Karshapana coins first appeared, but we do know they were created in India.

Where Were They Found?

Archaeologists have found many Karshapana coins in different places:

• Golakpur (Patna): Coins found here are from the time of Ajatashatru, an ancient Indian king.
• Bhir Mound (Taxila, Pakistan): Discoveries here included coins from the Maurya Empire and even a Greek coin from around 248 BCE. This shows that Karshapana coins were used at the same time as Greek money.
• Chaman Hazuri hoard (Kabul): This collection, from about 380 BCE, had two types of Indian punch-marked coins mixed with many Greek coins. This proves that Karshapana coins were accepted as real money alongside Greek currency.

Coins of the Maurya Empire

During the powerful Maurya Empire (which lasted from about 322 to 185 BCE), Karshapana coins were very common. They were also known by other names like Rūpyārūpa, Kahāpana, Prati, or Tangka.

These coins were usually made from a mix of metals:

• 11 parts silver
• 4 parts copper
• 1 part of other metals

Early Indian coins also included:

• Suvarṇa (made of gold)
• Purāṇa or Dhārana (made of silver)
• Kārṣāpaṇa (made of copper)

The Maurya Empire relied heavily on money for its economy. Copper Karshapana coins, called paṇa, were used even before the Greeks came to Punjab. In fact, the Greeks sometimes took these coins back to their own lands!

Originally, traders made these coins as plain silver pieces. But later, kings like Ajatashatru of the Haryanka dynasty started issuing their own royal Karshapana coins. These royal coins had five special marks and weighed about 54 grains.

Even as far back as the Indus Valley Civilization (around 2300 BCE), people knew how to get silver from rocks. Silver Karshapana coins often show small amounts of lead, but no gold.

We don't know the exact order or meaning of all the symbols on these coins. Even ancient texts like the Arthashastra by Chanakya mention people who knew about coins, but they don't explain the symbols in detail. This makes it hard for us to know exactly when and where each coin was made.

Karshapana coins could be made of gold, silver, or copper. They often weighed about 80 ratis (an ancient unit of weight). Many of the earliest Karshapana coins were square-shaped. People in India knew about using money long before 700 BCE. Words like Nishka and Krishnala were used for money, and Karshapana coins were regularly kept in royal treasuries.

Local silver punch-marked coins found in places like Bhabhuā and Golakpur were used during the time of the Brihadratha dynasty, which came before the Haryanka dynasty in 684 BCE. These coins had four punch-marks:

• A sun-mark
• A six-armed symbol
• Three arrows
• Three taurine symbols (a shape like a bull's head)

These four symbols were still used during the rule of Bimbisara (around 492-460 BCE). Later, Ajatashatru (552-520 BCE) issued the first "Imperial" coins. These had six punch-marks, adding a bull and a lion to the earlier symbols.

Kings who ruled after Ajatashatru, including those from the Shishunaga dynasty and the Nanda dynasty, issued coins with five symbols: the sun-mark, the six-armed symbol, and three other symbols chosen from a list of about 450 different designs.

Maurya coins also had five symbols:

• The sun-mark
• The six-armed symbol
• A three-arched hill with a crescent moon on top
• A tree branch inside a square fence
• A bull with a taurine symbol in front

Punch-marked copper coins first appeared during the rule of Chandragupta Maurya or Bindusara.

Images for kids

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  Kosala karshapanas. Circa 525–465 BCE.

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  A silver coin of 1 karshapana of King Pushyamitra Sunga (185–149 BCE) of the Sunga dynasty.

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  A silver coin of 1 karshapana of the Maurya empire, period of Bindusara (c. 297–272 BCE).