The Colas c31.14

c31.14

The standard *kāśu*, moreover, derived ultimately from Ceylon which had a more ancient and continuous currency tradition than the Cōḷa kingdom which came up in the ninth and tenth centuries. The *īḻak-kāśu*, Ceylon *kāśu*, which was also half-a-*kaḻañju* of the fineness of the *māḍai*³⁰, was current in the island as early as the seventh and eighth centuries; it is also mentioned in Cōḷa inscriptions from about A.D. 937 in the reign of Parāntaka I.³¹ There was close contact between Ceylon and the Madura country for centuries before Parāntaka's conquest of Madura, and the introduction of this coin into Cōḷa currency must have been the result of Parāntaka's invasion of Madura and the island of Ceylon.³² From the actual specimens of coins known, the Ceylon type 'with a rude human figure standing on the obverse, and seated on the reverse' and the traditional Cōḷa type with the seated tiger, fish and bow emblems, both may be seen to have existed side by side almost from the beginning, the Ceylon type being specially suited for circulation in the Pāṇḍyan country where it may have been long known before. However that may be, the main thing was the adoption of the Ceylon standard, and this took place apparently much earlier than the time of Rājarāja.³³