1 Karshapana

The Mauryan karshapana circulated during one of the most administratively sophisticated states the ancient world had yet produced. Chandragupta Maurya, who founded the dynasty around 321 BC after displacing the Nanda rulers, operated a currency system described in considerable detail in the Arthashastra — Kautilya's treatise on statecraft, which prescribed precise standards for silver purity, die production, and the penalties for counterfeit. State assay offices called rupa-darshakas were responsible for testing coinage in circulation.

These punch-marked pieces were struck, not cast — each symbol applied with a separate punch, which accounts for occasional misalignment or partial impressions on surviving specimens.