Archaeology and the Mahabharata (Study)
by Gouri Lad | 1978 | 132,756 words
This study examines the Mahabharata from an archaeological perspective. The Maha-Bbharata is an ancient Indian epic written in Sanskrit—it represents a vast literary work with immense cultural and historical significance. This essay aims to use archaeology to verify and contextualize the Mahabharata's material aspects by correlating epic elements w...
Chapter 16 - Coinage in the Mahabharata
The evidence for the presence of some kind of r a currency in the Mahabharata is mostly negative. No definite currency denomination is referred to, with the probable exception of 'niska', which from the context wherever it occurs, can not be understood as a 'coin', in the true sense of the word. Niska in the Mahabharata was prominently a gold ornament for both men and women (1.67.2; VII.19.35). It was a small piece of gold, tied at the neck in a string or a chain (VII.91.25-26), at times several such pieces strung
= 607 into a necklet (VII.138.17). It is only secondarily that a niska is used as a unit of value, a convenient measure of wealth, mainly for distribution and presentation, very often as a token of appreciation for services rendered to the king. On all such occasions niskas were gifted mainly to Brahmins by Ksatriyas. A king would daily give away a handful of niskas to a Brahmin after his morning bath, in return for which the Brahmin uttered the word svasti' several times, as an auspicious blessing (VII.58.17). This 'svastivacana' was also performed before undertaking any new task. Thus when Arjuna set out to acquire weapons from Indra (III.39.16), when Bhisma accepted the responsibility of the Kaurava army as its Commander (V.153.32), and when Satyaki went out to help Arjuna through a difficult battle (VII.87.60), the ceremony of 'svastivacana' along with the gifting of the niskas was religiously performed. Niskas were given to Brahmins on other occasions too, particularly when they were officiating as preists in royal courts (XII.29.117) or during sacrificial sessions (XIV.91.7) or at the celebration for the birth of a prince (1.213.62). 1 pieces The same principle of gifting valuable places of gold in recognition of services, of favour(s) rendered, worked in the case of the other castes too! Thus niskas in thousands were distributed amongst the Ksatriyas who had
= 608 travelled long distances to attend the Asvamedha of Yudhisthira (XIV.91.7). Likewise when Dusyanta sought to win over Sakuntala (1.67.3) or when Kicaka sought Draupadi's favours (IV.21.10), both men offered niskas to the women concerned. Once again, these tiny measures of wealth were meant to pass hands in return for favours Sought. The same was the case when Prince Uttara offered a hundred niskas of the purest gold to Arjuna disguised as Brhannada, only if she would let him flee the battlefield (IV.36.39). However, two or three important points have to be taken into consideration before a judgement on niska can be pronounced. (i) Niska was not the only form in which gold was distributed in the Mahabharata It was given away as 'suvarna', 'rukma', 'hiranya', numbering a hundred, thousand, ten thousand etc. (I.191.18; II.30.51; 47.27; III.97.12). These numbers immediately bring to mind some convenient form of gold, probably nuggets, bars, pieces etc. which could be counted in numbers. Gold figures in the Mahabharata on various important occasions when it was distributed amongst Brahmins (XIV. 10.33, 35; XV.47.17), when it was paid as a tribute from one king to another (II.47.27, 48.11), when it came as part of the dowry of a rich princess (1.213.46) and as one of the highest stakes at a gambling bout (II.54.28).
= 609 However, it was not always deemed necessary to distribute this gold in the form of niskas. (ii) Niska was not the only measure of wealth in Epic India. Cows, horses, elephants and other animals, chariots and wagons, fine woolen blankets, prized deerhides and expensive clothes, gold ornaments, jewels and precious stones, and even male and female slaves constituted the wealth of a king. Very often a royal gift consisted of any one of these items or all of them together, along with the niskas or without them. There are many an occasion in the Mahabharata when huge gifts were made, to Brahmins and others, but which do not include a single niska piece (V.92.10; VIII.1.12; IX.34.31, 36.12, 61.31-32; XII.45.7; XIV.91.31; XV.47.10-21). (iii) As a unit of value niskas were never used in any barter deal, no commodity was exchanged against them, nor any buying or selling conducted through their medium. Taking these three factors into consideration a niska can never be properly understood as a gold coin or a gold currency measure. The term 'niska' occurs in very much the same contexts in the Vedic literature, including the Rgveda,
= 610 as a small piece of gold used as an ornament, tied at the neck, but which is already in the process of being transformed into a unit of value. Thus a singer in the Rgveda celebrates the gift of a 100 niskas which he could hardly have used as an ornament (Bhargava 1971:254). As noted earlier such occasions when niskas were gifted away by kings and princes are many in the Mahabharata Thus the concept of a niska as a unit of value is more clearly developed in the Mahabharata than in the Vedic literature. 224, The Vedic literature also mentions certain other terms such as suvarna, hiranya, rukma, krsnala and even satamana and pada which stood for some convenient measure for handling a precious metal, be it gold or silver (Macdonell and Keith 1912: I.185, 516; II 351, 459, 504). As pointed out by Altekar (Altekar 1953:13) gold in the Vedic period was obtained mostly in the form of dust and had to be converted into weights of recognized value known as niska, hiranya etc. for a convenient handling, without involving the use of seales or weights. These, however, were not guaranteed by any state authority and so could not have circulated as coins. The confusion arose because later when a full-fledged currency was developed these very same terms came to be used for the various coin denominations. Barter was the chief mode of economic transaction in the Vedic period with the cow a favorite means of
611 exchange. Niska and other weights of gold were not within the reach of the common man and as such do not figure in barter deals or any buying and selling. The above account will show that the situation in the Mahabharata is not much different from the Vedic period. Niska is frequently refered to. So also suvarna, hiranya and rukma. Satamana is mentioned only once and as a , weight, equal to 8 sanas, another kind of weight (III.134. 14). Krsnala and pada are not refered to at all. Thus the Mahabharata has very close affinity with the Vedic texts in so far as it contains no evidence of a money economy. Press One of the earliest literary reference to a coin denomination is to a silver satamana in the Katyayana Srauta Sutra, which is dated to the 4 th century B.C. (Dhavalikar 1975:333). A little later comes the sound evidence of Panini who mentions niska, suvarna, hiranya and masaka of gold, satamana, sana, karsapana and masa of silver, and vimsatika and trimsatika of copper (Agrawala 1963:259-72). Thus as far as literary evidence goes it is safe to assume that some kind of currency, gold, silver and copper, was in circulation by the 4 th century B.C. Silver and copper, less precious than gold, were better suited for the purpose of a currency that was within the limits of the ordinary man. The discovery at Taksasila (Bhir Mound), the ancient capital of Gandhara, of silver bent-bar coins was
612 , The of great significance for Indian numismatics. These coins dated to the 4 th-5 th century B.C. and conforming to a weight standard of 100 rattis (= 175 gms) came to be immediately identified with the satamana of the srauta Sutra, for satamana as the very name suggests probably weighed a 100 rattis (= 175 gms). The origins of these bent-bar coins certainly lay in the gold satamana of the literature, but the impetus that led to their being struck as silver currency came from Achmenid Persia. province of Gandhara which came under the sway of Cyrus the Great of Persia around 580-530 B.C. was in an ideal position to assimilate these foreign influences. likelihood therefore, the gold satamana of the Vedic period came to be struck as the silver satamana of 100 rattis, on the standards of the Persian double sigloi which also weighed a 100 rattis, by the Indian subjects of the Achmenid Empire. It is indeed noteworthy that these earliest coins to appear on the Indian scene are wholly restricted to the Gandhara region (Dhavalikar 1975:330-338). In all A slightly later development was that of the silver punch-marked coins. These rectangular and oral pieces of silver, punched with the symbols of their issuing authority were very widely used all over Northen India as revealed by excavations conducted in the Northen half of the Indian sub-continent. The first traces of the existence of these punch-marked coins is in the Northen Black
Polished ware (NBP) phase, a period that coincides with n the beginings of history in India and which is more or less precisely dated to about 500-200 B.C. (Dhavalikar 1975:338). Thus by every possible piece of evidence the beginnings of coinage in India can be assigned to the 4 th - 5 th century B.C. and not any earlier. = 613 The absence of a definite currency denomination in the Mahabharata is therefore highly significant, as it takes the Mahabharata back to the Vedic Age.