Catalog
1 Kasu
| Issuer | Madurai Nayak Kingdom |
|---|---|
| Year | 1630-1700 |
| Type | Log in to see details |
| Value | Log in to see details |
| Currency | Log in to see details |
| Composition | Log in to see details |
| Weight | Log in to see details |
| Diameter | Log in to see details |
| Thickness | Log in to see details |
| Shape | Log in to see details |
| Technique | Cast |
| Orientation | Log in to see details |
| Engraver(s) | Log in to see details |
| In circulation to | Log in to see details |
| Reference(s) | Log in to see details |
| Obverse description | Log in to see details |
|---|---|
| Obverse script | Log in to see details |
| Obverse lettering | Log in to see details |
| Reverse description | Central field bears a circular border enclosing Telugu script characters reading 'SRI VEE RA', an honorific royal epithet associated with the Madurai Nayak rulers. The inscription is arranged within a beaded or linear circular frame, rendered in low relief on the irregular copper flan. The legends are somewhat crude in execution, consistent with the hand-cast coinage tradition of the period. |
| Reverse script | Telugu |
| Reverse lettering | Log in to see details |
| Edge | Log in to see details |
| Mint | Log in to see details |
| Mintage | Log in to see details |
| Additional information |
The Madurai Nayaks ruled as governors under the Vijayanagara Empire before asserting effective independence following Vijayanagara's collapse after the Battle of Talikota in 1565. By the mid-seventeenth century, Madurai operated its own mint with minimal external oversight. The kasu was the base unit of a currency system that ran parallel to, and often competed with, Portuguese and later Dutch trade currencies circulating along the Coromandel Coast.
Attribution within this series remains genuinely difficult — die workmanship varied considerably between mints at Madurai and Tiruchirapalli, and the seventy-year span assigned to most specimens reflects that uncertainty rather than confirmed production dates.