1 Massa - Nissanka Malla

Obverse description	Standing figure of the king depicted in frontal indigenous style, holding a flower or lotus in the left hand, rendered in low relief with stylized drapery folds visible below. A symbol or device appears above the figure, flanked by what appears to be a crescent or animal motif at the top. A plant or floral spray occupies the left field, while a cluster of pellets is arranged in the right field. The entire design is enclosed within a beaded border, consistent with the indigenous Sri Lankan coinage tradition of the Polonnaruwa period.
Obverse script	Log in to see details
Obverse lettering	Log in to see details
Reverse description	Log in to see details
Reverse script	Sinhalese
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	Nissanka Malla ruled Polonnaruwa during one of the last stable periods of Sinhalese imperial power before the kingdom's collapse in the 13th century. He was a prolific self-promoter, commissioning inscriptions across the island boasting of his piety, his military campaigns into South India, and his claim to Kalinga descent — a lineage he used aggressively to legitimize rule over a population that was not his own. The copper massa was the workhorse denomination of this economy, circulating through a court system sustained largely by irrigation agriculture and the tooth relic temple at Polonnaruwa.