Coins Of India - Indian Princely States

Fascinating!

Thanks): chrsmat71 and jbuck..
Shall be back soon with a few more Travancore coins known as Thirakasu.

In the early 18th century, Travancore state was established by Anizham Tirunal Marthandavarma, (1729-58). Prior to that, the territory was known as Venad, with Padmanabhapuram (then known as Kalkulam) as its capital, now in the state of Tamilnadu.
Right from the early times, coins of Venad were called Kasu. From the late 16th or early 17th century, very small copper or brass issues the smallest weighing around 0.2gram the largest approximately 1.5 gm were in use. They were called "Thiraviya kasu" because brass is called "Thiraviyam" in Tamil ("Dravyam" in Malayalam). Thiraviyakasu abbreviated into Thirakasu and were very widely in circulation to meet small transactions in petty cash. Weight used to vary widely among different varieties of Kasu. All were called by the same name and transacted as units of Kasu. Small gold panam (fanam) was also current. Once Travancore was established, indigenous coinage was restructured. Sixteen kasu made a chukram, a small silver coin. Four chukrams made a panam.
Issue of Thirakasu was not a continuous process. As they were used in markets and for small day-to-day transactions, their circulation was rapid and they wore out very easily. So after a short interval of say two or three years, a new lot of kasu coins was struck with a change of design. Either one side or both sides got new designs, but often one design existed with various designs on the other side suggesting that the design on one side was changed, retaining the other. Next time, either one of them underwent a change. The commonest design found on these Thirakasu is Conch (or Samgh as they were locally known). Thirakasu used to be issued right through the entire reigning periods of Anizham Tirunal Marthandavarma's successors, until Regent Rani Parvathibai (1815-1829) introduced new coins in one and two kasu denominations with their value written on the face of the coin.
A few Thirakasu varieties are attributable to specific rulers based on royal proclamations.




On the obverse, there is a battle axe with blade turned to left. There are three dots to its right. Some unidentified devices are also present. On the reverse, sun and crescent moon are seen on the top. Below this, two fish-like figures are found. This symbol is met with on stone edicts of Venad rulers of late fifteenth century.

A similar kasu, with the blade of the axe to the right. Bronze, 0.4gm, Dia-7.4mm.

Adding another of the same type with an obverse variation. This one has two dots to the right of axe on the obverse. I will add a brief note on classification of similar coins.


The reverse design also is different from the above two.
Classification of this type of coins is based on the number of dots on the obverse. Dots differ in number from One to Six. They are classified as Type-1 to 6 based on the count of the dots. Each additional characters appearing on this obverse will make them O-1.a, O-1.b and so on. An obverse with two dots will become O-2. Similarly the commonest Reverse is R-1. Additions to that will be R-1.a and so on. A Totally different Reverse will become R-2.
This coin has Two Dots and Parasu (the battle axe). So it is O-2.a/R-2.
There are coins of higher weight that could have served higher denominational purposes.

Agreed and glad to see you continuing to build out this truly amazing thread @drns.

It is a bit off topic from the Princely States, but I'd love your input on a much older Indian coin here:
http://goccf.com/t/454470

Please take a look at this coin issued by Rani Gouri Lekshmi Bai as Regent (1810-1815). https://www.coincommunity.com/forum...1_dk-029.jpg

On one side of this kasu, there is "Garuda" and on the other, a lotus. Thanks to the Garuda figure, people used to call it Garudakkaasu.

Another type of Thirakasu is attributed to her. On its obverse, there is a passant horse to the right with a "namam" symbol above. Reverse depicts a decorative umbrella used in Temple festivals, known as "muthukkuda" meaning decorated umbrella in the local dialect. This coin attribution is done by Ms.Beena Sarasan in Traversing Travancore Through the Ages on Coins.
The figure of horse on the face of the coin gave it anther colloquial nickname, "kuthirakkaasu". Kuthira means horse. So that name means "horse-coin".

Here is another type of Kuthirakkasu. Horse on the obverse is retained with a modified "namam" symbol. On the reverse, the festival umbrella is replaced with "Aaluvilakku", again connected with temples. Banyan trees are considered sacred in south India and are grown near temples with some constructions around to sit on. A stone-made lamp with branches (the stylised lamps on the reverse of Rajaraja Chola also represents this) will be placed in front of the tree. Banyan is called "Aal" in Malayalam. Lamp is "vilakku". Thus this lamp is called Aaluvilakku. Since made of granite stone, it has another name "Kalvilakku" meaning stone-lamp.