The Maurya Empire was based upon a money- economy. Long before the rise of the Nandas and Mauryas India had evolved her own monetary system based on indigenous standards.
In the Arthasashtra the silver pana with its sub-divisions is evidently recognised as the standard coin, while the copper mashaka with its division’s ranks as a token currency.
The coins in circulation during the Mauryan period are not known as punch-marked coins which bears the name of any of the Mauryan rulers nor do they carry any date. Most of these coins have only symbols like tree-in railing, sun, moon, mountain, animals, birds, etc., punched or stamped on them. Owing to the absence of a legend on these coins our estimate of their date must rest largely on the significance of their symbols.
The term punch-marked coins generally refers to early Indian coins largely silver, with a few copper coins as well, which are in fact pieces of metal in various shapes, sizes and weights, and which have one or more symbols punched on them. Punch-marked coins exist only in silver and copper, but the latter are rare.
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The symbols on these coins had probably some connection with local commerce such as the guilds, local or provincial administration, and the royal and dynastic symbols. It is interesting to note that from most of the Mauryan sites the NBP ware and punch-marked coins are found together during excavations, implying thereby that these places were inhabited during the Mauryan period. Regarding the monetary conditions of the Maurya Empire in Asoka’s last years, we have a valuable data in the shape of the Taxila hoard of punch-markedcoiris.