Catalog
1 Kasu - Kongu Chera
| Issuer | Kongu Chera dynasty (Indian Hindu Dynasties) |
|---|---|
| Year | 1450-1512 |
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| Composition | Log in to see details |
| Weight | 1.6 g |
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| Obverse description | Seated female deity, likely a goddess of the Hindu pantheon, depicted in frontal posture in the field. The figure is rendered in low relief in the characteristic crude hammered style of medieval South Indian copper coinage, with stylised ornamental details suggesting divine regalia. The flan is irregular and the design occupies the majority of the available field. |
|---|---|
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| Reverse description | Central motif of a lamp or deepam depicted upright in the field, flanked on either side by a sword or blade rendered in low relief, a iconographic combination associated with temple and royal symbolism in medieval South Indian coinage. The design is struck in the crude hammered style typical of Kongu Chera copper issues, with an irregular flan and flat fields. Small globular elements are visible in the upper portion of the reverse. |
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| Additional information |
The Kongu Cheras were a minor dynastic power centered in the Kongu Nadu region of present-day Tamil Nadu, distinct from the ancient Chera kingdom of the Sangam period despite the shared name. Their coinage is poorly documented in the secondary literature, and attribution of specific types to particular rulers within the 1450–1512 window remains contested among South Indian numismatists. Copper kasu of this region circulated in local bazaar economies largely outside the reach of the major Vijayanagara administrative apparatus, though Kongu Nadu itself nominally fell within the Vijayanagara sphere of influence through much of this period.