The Colas c31.15

c31.15

Besides the gold coins *māḍai* and *kāśu* and others of local provenance and uncertain standard, the inscriptions mention '*Karungāśu*' or '*Īḻakkarungāśu*', the black *kāśu* of Ceylon.³⁴ This coin is also apparently traceable to Ceylon, where the '*nīla kahāpaṇa*', a silver coin of the *gadyāṇa* standard in weight, is known to have been in circulation from very early times.³⁵ Some of the impure silver coins of the Cōḷas now known may be assigned to this series, full-weight or half, as the case may be.³⁶ Copper coins issued by the Cōḷas conforming more to the standard of the *gadyāṇa* than of the *kaḻañju* are figured by Elliot and other writers.