The Tale Of A Tiny Coin

Rediscovering a coin .

I have had this coin for five decades now. Given by grandfather , along with a few British India coins, to add to my childhood hoard of collectibles .  

 

On one side : the image of the devi , Lakshmi ( or so I thought )  . 

On the other side :  the name " Vijaya" , in kannada script ( or so I thought ).

No markings of denomination or date . 

Clearly not  real money , just a souvenir  to commemorate some special puja  in the Mysore palace (or so I thought ) .

       ( The Goddess and the script ) 

The  coin , less than 1 cm in diameter , lies in perpetual hibernation , forgotten,  in the bottom drawer, emerging only  during spring cleaning sprees .  

Recently , the Vijaya Coin suddenly popped up - as an exhibit under glass .  In Pudukottai museum that  i was visiting  .  

" Pudukottai Amman Cash - 1800 AD  " ! 

Misshapen and struck earlier, but unmistakably , the same as mine . Same Goddess . Same Vijaya . No date. No denomination ...   Wonder ! 

The slim book of Pudukottai trivia I bought in the museum revealed a wealth of information about my precious little coin ! 

The goddess is not Lakshmi , but Brahadamba, the guardian diety of the Thondaiman Kings  whose names were all suffixed with the moniker  "BrahadambaDas"  

The script , it turned out , was telugu , native language of the Thondaimans , not kannada ( both scripts are very  similar )

And it was not a souvenir , but real money ! 

Originated in 1738 as an offering to the diety , to be  distributed  to the public as a blessing during Dasara ( One 'padi' measure of rice and 4 coins each ) . Made of pure copper .

The public began using the coin as small change only from 1900. The value fixed for it was : 5 AmmanCash for Quarter Anna , which was also equal to 3 paisa ( or Salli kasu ) .16 Annas  made one Rupee . 

Earlier hand struck locally , the coins were mechine minted in Birmingham from 1869 to 1934 , after which minting ceased . But the coins were in circulation within the kingdom till 1948 , when the Princely state merged with  Independent India. Thereupon , the huge hoards of demonetised  coins were melted down for copper .

There is a ritual , continuing to this day , of making votive offerings of "Amman Kasu" to the Goddess  Brahadamba , upon fulfillment of a prayer  . The temple sells the votive  coins , but of modern manufacture.

So much history in such a tiny coin ! And it has taken half a lifetime for me to discover the rich lore behind a  trinket collected in childhood !