TWO UNIQUE COINS OF RAJENDRA CHOLA -1
SANKARAN RAMAN
SANKARAN RAMAN
Recently, my brother gifted me a gold coin which he had bought from the Todywalla Auction No: 37, held at Ahmedabad on 15th August 2009.
Coin No-1: Kazungi Madai of Rajendra Chola -1
Features: Metal = gold; Size = 17mm; Weight = 3.84gm.
Oversee: On the extreme left a bow, followed in the middle a tiger facing left, next to it on the right , two fish; they are surrounded by a circular legend, rajendra cholan, in Chola Tamil-Grantha,
Reverse: Almost same as on the obverse, but with minor changes in the location of circular dotted border.
Discussion: It is a well known fact that madai is a denomination of gold coins used in the Chola period.Kazungi madai in Tamil is a term used to denote a coin with the 3.8 gm. But the weight of this coin is 0.04 gm more. The coins of Rajendra Chola - 1 with Tamil-Grantha legend, published so far, were with his known titles, uttama chola, matirantakan, mudikonda cholan. The coins with the legend mudikonda cholan were issued with two kinds of emblems – the first with a tiger and a fish; and the other with a tiger and two fish under a parasol.
While these are known facts, what is unknown is that this coin of Rajendra Chola -1, illustrated and reported for the first here bears the name of the king, rajendra cholan, instead of his titles mentioned above, in Chola Tamil-Grantha script.
The familiar gold and silver coins of Rajendra Chola -1, which are found in good numbers, are the ones with the title gangaikonda chola and rajendra, written in Nagari script. The availability of these type of coins are more when compared to the coins with Tamil-Grantha legend. Moreover, the findspots of these coins with Nagari legend covers a vast geographical area when compared to the coins with Tamil-Grantha legend.
On the basis of the facts stated above, we may speculate and say that the coin taken up for study was, perhaps, one of the earliest issues of Rajendra Chola – 1 and they were issued for circulation in a specific geographical area and it could be a commemorative piece, issued on some specific occasion. But, the question why Nagari script was preferred for other coins issued by this great Chola king will still remain and only future research could unravel it.
Coin No. 2: vellai kasu (?) of Rajendra Chola -1 Obv Rev
Features: Metal= silver; Size – 21. 5mm; Weight- 3.90 gm.
Obverse : Seated figure ( king ?) with a conch in his left hand and a lamp next to it; five dots below the lamp.
Reverse : In the middle of the coin, a seated tiger; to the left of this figure, a bow and lamp; two vertical fish on the right side of the animal; below these figures, the legend, sri raja rajendera.
Discussion: The gold, silver and copper coins of the predecessor of Rajendra -1, i.e., Raja Raja -1, follow a particular pattern in depicting the emblems. We could find on the obverse of these coins, a standing figure (king?) placed between five dots to his left and a lamp to his right; the reverse will have a seated figure (king?) and also a legend, sri rajaraja in Nagari script. A significant point to be mentioned here is the fact that in all the gold coins of Rajendra Chola -1, so fact reported, his name appears as ‘rajendra’ only, and they are invariably in Nagari script.
Recently, Arumuaga Seetharaman reported one more variety of Rajendra Chola - 1 gold coin with a four line legend, rajendra cholan 29 aa engraved in Grantha script. But, in the gold coin under discussion he is referred to as rajendra cholan, a Tamil form of his name, in Tamil – Grantha script.
From this, we are led to infer that Rajendra Chola -1, being the immediate successor of the great Raja Raja Chola - 1, would have adopted the devices noticed on the coins of his illustrious father. It is not unusual for the kings in those days to follow an earlier pattern familiar to the public and then adopt other devices favored by them in subsequent issues in later years of their reign period. If it the case with this coin, it could be an earlier issue of Rajendra Chola - 1.
REFERENCES
Walter Elliot, Coins of Southern India , p. 152
C.H. Biddulph, ‘Coins of the Cholas’, p.40
R.Nagaswamy, TamilCoins, p.36
R.Santhi ‘A New Gold Coin of Rajendra Chola –I’, SSIC , Vol.I,1996 , pp.71-72.
K.A.Nilakanta Sasti, The Colas, plates XXXII.
R.Vanaja, Indian Coinage, p. 31
Arumuaga Seetharaman, Choler Kasukal ( Tamil), pp.20-22.
----------------, Tamizaga Tholiyal Sandrukal, Part IV, pp.16-17
T.Balakrishnan Nayar, 'The Dowlsaishweram Hoard’, Madras Government Museum Bulletin
