Æ Unit

The Pandyas were among the longest-ruling dynasties in recorded history, with Tamil literary sources placing them in the Madurai region from at least the 4th century BC. Their copper coinage circulated across a trade network that connected the southern tip of the Indian subcontinent with Roman merchants, Arab traders, and Sri Lankan ports — Pliny the Elder complained about Roman silver draining eastward precisely into economies like theirs.

The five-century span attributed to this type reflects genuine attribution difficulty: Pandya copper units of this period lack regnal inscriptions, making tight dating nearly impossible without hoard context.