The Colas c31.21

c31.21

From the time of Kulōttunga III, the term *kāśu* comes to be applied to a copper coin of rather low value and its content must have varied greatly from place to place, or, what seems equally likely, with each issue. While two to three *paḷangāśus* were quite enough to endow a lamp in this period,⁵³ 1100 current *kāśus* were needed for a lamp being maintained during services in a temple, and 9000 for a perpetual lamp.⁵⁴ In another case, 200 new *kāśus* sufficed for a lamp.⁵⁵ An inscription of the twentieth year of Rājēndra III states that the *kaḷañju* of gold was then equal to 411 7|13 *kāśus*.⁵⁶ And a Pāṇḍya inscription of the thirteenth century from the Salem district (Āragaḷūr) states that one hundred *Sōḷiya kāśus* went to the *faṇam*.⁵⁷ Coppers of various sizes usually with the legend Rājarāja on them can still be picked up easily in the bazaars of South Indian cities, and they, no doubt, are the *kāśus* of these later Cōḷa inscriptions. Of the copper issues of the later monarchs, Codrington says⁵⁸ that they are 'of the same design as the coins of Rājarāja I, but the human figure is more degraded and the legend roughly executed, the *Ja* sometimes being reversed. In the degradation of the type various stages are visible, and it is probable that the coins were issued by various later kings following the old model without alteration of name. The better executed and presumably older specimens with a flat blank about ·76 inch in width, and a weight of some 63 grains, may be the new *kāśu* or rather its double.’