A Special Chola Type Coin

By Author: Johnson Philip
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What is known as the Raja Raja Chola type of coins are so common that the moment a person tries to acquire old Indian coins, he presented with many of these coins. To a casual observer all of them look like the same coin. The actual number of coins that use the same basic theme but which are different from each other would be in the hundreds.

These coins with the outline of a standing man on the obverse and the outline of a seated or reclining man on the reverse were made popular by Raja Raja Chola the powerful Tamil king
who ruled between AD 985 and 1014. He established the Chola empire by conquering the kingdoms of southern India and even parts of Sri Lanka.

He introduced a new system of coinage, which is so different from other Indian coins that one can spot it from a distance. This style was eventually adopted by many with slight variations, and one of them is the Battle-axe type coin of Venad (Kerala).

The southern portion of India (mostly what constitutes Kerala and Tamil Nadu of today) was all Tamil-land, and approximately one third each was ruled by Chera, Chola, and Pandya kings. For centuries ...
... they kept attacking each other, subduing each other, and also influencing the coins of each others.

The bulk of what was ruled by the Chera kings eventually became Kerala. A portion at the southern tip of Kerala was (and still is) called Venad and it fell prey to Chola kings from time to time after the rule of Raja Raja Chola. This brought the circulation of the classic Raja Chola type coins into Venad. In the 1300s when Venad became free from Chola rule, the local rulers brought in slight changes in the coinage.

The original pattern was maintained for the sake of continuity, but they introduced symbols which are peculiar to Venad or Kerala. On the obverse you can see a rectangular shape under the left arm of the king. The four corners have dots on them, and there is a dot in the center. This is Kerala's symbolical representation of the Chakra, the (wheel) emblem of Vishnu or Lord Padmanabha, the ruling deity of Venad. There is multi-wick lamp under his right hand, which is only partially visible in this coin.

On the reverse of the coin you can see a figure seated on a stool-like contraption. His left hand is raised towards his face. On the left of his hand are three dots and an axe or Parashu. Parashurama is supposed to have thrown his axe to the seas to bring forth dry land that is today called Kerala. Thus the special kind of axe or Parashu is a special symbol for Kerala. The addition of this symbol is an indication of Venad sovereignty that followed the overthrow of Chola overlordship.

You can see portion of a loop just above the parashu. It is the bottom portion of a letter that looks like J and is the letter Ra of Grantha script. Grantha is a decendant of Brahmi, and the present Malayalam script is a decendant of the Grantha alphabet. Thus the presence of a possible Grantha character on this and similar Parashu coins. It probably represents the Rama from Parashu Rama. More research would be needed before we can be sure of this interpretation.

The Parashu or battle-axe coins of Kerala underwent numerous additions and alterations, but the basis framework of a standing man on obverse and seated man at the reverse, both in an octopus or spider-like rendering, continued up to the 1600s or even 1700s in Kerala. The Parashu was almost always there in spite of all these changes.

Today the Parashu-coin is a most sought-after coin of Kerala, but is seen only rarely with coin sellers. What is seen is often in a very degenerate condition. Kerala with almost 180 days or rains and near 100% relative humidity during certain seasons, attacks metals with a vengeance. Except for gold and silver, ancient Kerala coins made of other metals rarely survive in good condition. This is the reason for the rarity and poor condition of ancient Kerala coins.
Dr. Johnson C. Philip, the founder of Shastri Numismatics Academy, is an internationally known physicist, theologican, and communicator