Catalog
See full images - free registration
Continue with Google - no registration!
or register with email
Why register? Just to keep bots out of our catalog. Your email stays private - we will never share it or send you anything uninvited. We guarantee you that!
2 Kasu - Rajas of SivaGanga
| Issuer | Sivaganga, Princely state of |
|---|---|
| Year | 1743-1801 |
| Type | Log in to see details |
| Value | 2 Kasu |
| 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 | Log in to see details |
| 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 | Two standing figures depicted in crude, primitive style — identified as Rama and Lakshmana — facing forward in the field. The figures are rendered in low relief with simplified, stylized forms typical of early South Indian princely coinage. A border of large pellets surrounds the design along the coin's irregular periphery. No legend or inscription is present. |
|---|---|
| Obverse script | Log in to see details |
| Obverse lettering | Log in to see details |
| Reverse description | A schematic Shiva Linga (lingam) depicted on a trapezoidal altar or pitha, rendered in crude relief with multiple horizontal striations representing the sacred symbol. The design is enclosed within a dotted circular border formed by large pellets arranged around the periphery of the irregularly shaped flan. The execution is characteristic of the primitive engraving style associated with the copper kasu coinage of the Sivaganga rajas. |
| Reverse script | Log in to see details |
| 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 |
Sivaganga was one of the Setupati chieftaincies carved out of the collapsing Nayak power structure in the mid-eighteenth century, its rulers maintaining a precarious autonomy wedged between Maratha pressure from the north and expanding British influence through the East India Company. The state's copper coinage circulated within a tightly local economy — these small kasu denominations were the working currency of weekly markets and petty trade, not treasury instruments.
The date range spans the tumultuous period including the 1772 Polygar Wars, during which Sivaganga's raja Muthu Vaduganatha Thevar actively resisted Company encroachment before the state was effectively absorbed into the Madras Presidency's revenue system.