1 Karshapana

The karshapana predates the Mauryan Empire itself — these punch-marked pieces circulated across the Indian subcontinent from at least the 6th century BC, with the Mauryans inheriting and standardizing a tradition already centuries old. What distinguishes Mauryan issues from earlier janapada coinages is the addition of a fifth punch, generally attributed to imperial authority, applied over the earlier four banker's marks.

Chandragupta Maurya's administration codified coin weights and testing procedures in the Arthashastra, Kautilya's treatise on statecraft, which specifies acceptable silver purity and the role of state assayers.