The Colas c9.16

c9.16

Numismatics, which forms an interesting and important branch of archaeology in relation to the history of the rest of India, has so far not yielded, except in a few instances, any striking results for the general history of South India. South Indian coinages, however, have ‘as yet not received a scientific treatment in any way to be compared with that which has obtained such valuable historical results from the coins of the North.’²⁵ The finds of Roman coins and the coinage of the Madura Sultanate have been rather closely studied and with good results. During the period of their paramountcy in Southern India, the Cōḷas issued coins of gold, silver and copper. Specimens of the gold issues are extremely rare; silver coins are not so rare, and copper pieces of different sizes are met with every day. These coins, generally speaking, are of two types—one carrying on both sides the Cōḷa symbol of the tiger in the centre, flanked by the symbols of the subject powers, the Cēra bow and the Pāṇḍyan fish, with a legend giving the name of the king; the other, called by Prinsep and Elliot the ‘Ceylon type’, in which the symbols give place to ‘a rude human figure, standing on the obverse and seated on the reverse.’²⁶ As the ‘Ceylon type’ makes its appearance in the reign of Rājarāja I and the type with the symbols is known to persist for a long time after, even up to the reign of Kulōttunga I, the view, common at one time, that coins of the ‘Ceylon type’ are later than those of the other type must be modified. In fact, it may be doubted if we have any coin specimens clearly of an age anterior to Rājarāja I, so that the ‘Ceylon type’ would appear to be really coeval with the other.²⁷ None of the known specimens of Cōḷa coins have yet been identified with any of the coins mentioned in contemporary inscriptions.