1 Kasu - Krishna Devaraya

Krishna Devaraya's reign is widely regarded as the political and cultural apex of the Vijayanagara Empire, a period during which the kingdom controlled much of peninsular India and extracted considerable revenue from the spice trade passing through ports on both coasts. The copper kasu was the workhorse of everyday commerce in this economy — grain markets, temple offerings, small transactions that gold and silver never touched.

Krishna Devaraya died in 1529, and within two decades the empire suffered its catastrophic defeat at Talikota in 1565, after which large-scale minting effectively collapsed. Coins from his reign represent the last generation of confident, centrally administered Vijayanagara copper production.