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1 Karshapana
| Issuer | Mauryan Empire (India (ancient)) |
|---|---|
| Year | 321 BC - 298 BC |
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| Composition | Log in to see details |
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| Diameter | Log in to see details |
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| Shape | Rectangular (irregular) |
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| Obverse description | Log in to see details |
|---|---|
| Obverse script | Log in to see details |
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| Reverse description | A single banker's or issuing-authority counterpunchmark, corresponding to symbol 374 (crescent above three arches), applied to the reverse field of the planchet. The mark is lightly and irregularly struck, consistent with standard Mauryan punch-marked coinage practice, with the remainder of the reverse surface left plain and unadorned. |
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| Edge | Plain |
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| Additional information |
The Mauryan karshapana was not struck in a die — it was punched, with multiple individual punches applied to a pre-weighed blank to authenticate the piece by the issuing authority. The five punches characteristic of imperial Mauryan issues likely accumulated over time as the coin moved through successive administrations, each adding its mark as a form of validation rather than all being applied at mint simultaneously.
Chandragupta Maurya's reign saw the consolidation of the first pan-subcontinental empire, and these coins functioned as the fiscal backbone of that expansion — paying armies, funding the bureaucracy Kautilya described in the Arthashastra.