Tiger Fanam - Chola Dynasty

The Chola fanams circulated across a trading network that stretched from the Coromandel Coast into Southeast Asia, where South Indian merchant guilds — particularly the Ayyavole — carried them as far as Sumatra and the Malay Peninsula. At half a gram of gold, they were small enough to be swallowed, hidden in cloth, or stacked in quantity, which suited long-distance spice and textile transactions where portability mattered more than denomination precision. Weights varied noticeably across the three-century span of this type, and assaying was routine at point of exchange.