Paṇa

Paṇa, “a coin; a wager, wages, price”

Dakshiṇā has other meanings too: see all meanings of Dakshiṇā.

Grammar: masculine noun, from the root paṇ (to deal, to bargain, to stake).

Meaning: (1) the copper coin, and the unit in which fines and fees are counted; (2) a wager in dice and the like, wages, price, wealth. In the kośa (lexicon) of the Agni Purāṇa, Agni Deva gives the word these meanings: a wager in dice and the like, wages, price and wealth (Agni Purāṇa, Chapter 362); and, among the words for coins, paṇa is the copper coin (Agni Purāṇa, Chapter 366).

In the scriptures: the Agni Purāṇa counts the king’s fines and fees in paṇas.

The three sāhasa fines. In the daṇḍa-nīti which Pushkara teaches Paraśurāma, after the measures of copper, silver and gold, the three standard fines are given: 250 paṇas is the prathama-sāhasa (the first fine), 500 paṇas the madhyama-sāhasa (the middle fine), and 1,000 paṇas the uttama-sāhasa (the highest fine) (Agni Purāṇa, Chapter 227).

In the ordeals. In the vyavahāra (legal procedure) which Agni Deva teaches, in an accusation for less than a thousand paṇas the ordeals of the balance (tulā) and of poison (visha) are not used, except in treason against the king (rāja-droha) and the mahāpātakas; for a thousand paṇas the three beginning with the balance may be used, and for less the kośa (the sacred water). If the man who underwent the ordeal is found pure, the other party pays him fifty paṇas; if he is found at fault, he is punished (Agni Purāṇa, Chapter 255).

In disputes over cattle and goods. The herdsman hands the cattle back in the evening as he took them in the morning; a paid herdsman makes good what is lost by his negligence, and if an animal perishes through his fault he pays a fine of thirteen and a half paṇas and its price to the owner. A stolen thing sold to another may be taken back by its owner; one who buys secretly, at an improper time, at a low price, from a low person, is a thief, but a buyer who names the seller is cleared. An owner who cannot prove a lost thing his pays a fifth of it as a fine; one who gets back his stolen or lost thing through others without telling the king pays ninety-six paṇas. Goods held by the customs officers or the local guards may be claimed within a year; after that they belong to the king. When strays are recovered the owner pays the king four paṇas for a single-hoofed animal, five for human property, two each for a buffalo, a camel or a cow, and a quarter paṇa for goats and sheep (Agni Purāṇa, Chapter 257).

In the fines for abuse, assault and false dealing. Agni Deva gives many fines in paṇas: thirteen and a half for taunting those who lack a limb or a sense or are diseased; a hundred for threatening to break another’s arms, neck, eyes or thighs; ten for a ferryman who takes a land toll; five, ten, twenty and thirty-five for striking, cracking, holing or pulling down another’s wall; two, four and eight for hurting small animals, making them bleed or cutting their horns (for castrating or killing them, the madhyama-sāhasa and their value, and double for large animals); fifty for abusing those worthy of honour, transgressing their command, striking a brother’s wife, promising and not giving, breaking into an underground room, or harming neighbours and those of good family; a hundred for abandoning a father, son, sister, brother, husband or wife, ācārya or śishya who is not patita (fallen); twenty-two for stealing an eighth part in measure or weight, the fine varying with the portion; and sixteen for mixing inferior stuff into medicines, oils, salt, perfume, grain or jaggery (Agni Purāṇa, Chapter 258).

In the Bhavishya Purāṇa. The Madhyama Parva gives the coin table: 80 varāṭas (cowries) make 1 paṇa, 16 paṇas make 1 purāṇa, 7 purāṇas make 1 rajatamudrā (silver coin), and 8 rajatamudrās make 1 svarṇamudrā (gold coin), which is given as dakshiṇā in yajña and the like. It then sets wages in paṇas:

  • Brick-making (ishṭikā-karaṇa): 2 paṇas a day.
  • A kuṇḍa of seven hastas: 1 paṇa.
  • A great well: 2 paṇas a day.
  • A koshṭha: ½ paṇa. Painting with colour: 1 paṇa.
  • Planting trees: 1½ paṇas a day.
  • Colouring women’s nails and the like: a paṇa along with a kākiṇī.
  • Transplanting paddy: 1 paṇa a day.
  • Washing cloth without oil or kshāra: 1 paṇa, with some increase for length.

Source: Bhavishya Purāṇa, Madhyama Parva, Bhāga 2, Chapters 3–5

Related terms: Kārshāpaṇa · Daṇḍa · Sāhasa · Vyavahāra · Suvarṇa

Sources

  • Agni Purāṇa, Chapters 227, 255, 257–258, 362, 366
  • Bhavishya Purāṇa, Madhyama Parva, Bhāga 2, Chapters 3–5