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1/2 Rupee - Prana Naranaya
| Issuer | Cooch-Behar, Kingdom of |
|---|---|
| Year | 1633-1665 |
| Type | Standard circulation coin |
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| Composition | Log in to see details |
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| Obverse description | Log in to see details |
|---|---|
| Obverse script | Bengali |
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| Reverse description | Hammered silver field bearing a multi-line Bengali inscription arranged within a similar intersecting-line grid as the obverse. The legend reads 'Sri Sri Shiva Charana Kamala Madhukara Sya', a devotional epithet referencing the ruler as a bee at the lotus feet of Shiva. A distinctive horizontal line appears below 'va cha ra', terminating in a vertical stroke, serving as a characteristic element of this issue. The bold, deeply struck characters fill the compartments formed by the grid, consistent with the hand-struck technique employed at the Cooch-Behar mint during the reign of Prana Narayana. |
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| Additional information |
Cooch-Behar occupied an uneasy position throughout the seventeenth century, nominally under Mughal suzerainty while maintaining its own coinage tradition — a small but pointed assertion of local dynastic authority. Prana Narayan's reign was the longest and most consequential of the Koch dynasty's later period, during which he successfully repelled a Mughal invasion in 1661 with Ahom assistance, a victory that briefly restored genuine political independence to the kingdom.
That military reversal of Mughal pressure almost certainly kept this coinage in production longer than it might otherwise have survived.