Kahana, Pana & the Sadhaba Economy

( Is Karshapana a distant precursor of the modern word Cash ??)

• Our ancient Money:
  • 1 kahana = 16 Pana ( ପଣ)
  • 1 Pana = 20 Ganda (ଗଣ୍ଡା)
  • Ganda = 4 Kowries (କ‌ଉଡି)

Ancient Kalinga was a strong Maritime Economy. It had international trade relationship throughout the South East Asia and Indo-china. This necessitated an early graduation from Barter system to a strong Money.

You cannot use barter system to sell Elephants to Ceylon for Pearls and Silver in return and use them to purchase a Giraffe from Africa. A panel in Konark temple depicts a giraffe which was only available in Africa

How old is Kahana-Pana System ?

Archeological evidence and ancient texts suggests that Weight based Silver and Copper coins are used in India 2500 years ago. Panini’s Grammar book Astadhyayi and Chanakya’s Arthashastra refer to these coins as Karshapan. In Pali language, the “S” is replaced by “H” and Karsha becomes Kahana.

( Pali words lack the letter ‘r’ but have double consonants instead. Dharma turns Dhamma. Sutra, Karma, Nirvana becomes Sutta, Kamma, Nibbana.)

Ancient Kalinga was a trading community.

By the way,
Do you remember the name of the Kalinga king who was defeated by Ashoka in the great Kalinga war ?
It seems we don’t have a King ruling in Kalinga prior to Kharavela. Because it was a merchant economy. There were Shreshthis, Mahashresthis who were too ultra rich to be subordinated by a king. They had to sail 6 months a year to distant kingdoms. They would have no time to set up a kingdom of their own.

In fact the first persons from kalinga who had met the Buddha were two grain merchants. In the north India we have Bimbisara and Ajatashatru who are the prominent contemporary followers of Buddha. there is no such King in Odisha which had a huge follower base and so many Sanghas. Our earliest folk tales glorifies Ta’apoi, Sadhaba and Baliraja.

Karshapana (Sanskrit), Kasu-Pana (Tamil), Kahana-Pana ( Odia), Fanam in south

Karshapana in Sanskrit becomes Kasu-Panam, Panakashu in Tamil and Fanam in South India. In ancient days we had Porkasu ( Gold coins), Vellikasu ( silver coin) and Cheppuk Kasu.

Today we use cash in English.
But its forefathers: our Karshapan dates black to more than 2500 years and a strong trading community that has a Global presence.

So it says in Tamil PANAMKASU ULLAVANU ?