1 Karshapana - Samprati

Samprati ruled as the last effective Mauryan emperor before the dynasty's rapid collapse, traditionally associated in Jain sources with the propagation of Jainism across the subcontinent — a religious affiliation that sets him apart sharply from his grandfather Ashoka's Buddhism. His reign coincides almost exactly with the years Hannibal was crossing the Alps, a useful chronological anchor for a coinage that feels far older than Rome's contemporaneous issues.

The punch-marked technique used for this karshapana predates the Mauryan dynasty itself, inherited from earlier janapada coinages and never substantially reformed. GH#574 places this squarely within the late imperial series distinguished by the five-punch obverse arrangement specific to the Pataliputra mint authority.