Just in case the original disappears:
TTD brings out book on gold coins
A.D. RANGARAJAN, December 27, 2012
TIRUPATI - The Srivari Hundi at Tirumala has seen offerings of varied nature from currency to sale deeds, grains to clothes and jewellery to share documents during its lifetime, but the gold coins dropped into it from the time immemorial is certainly a matter of great interest.
Gold, silver and copper coins offered to the Lord for full nineteen centuries are carefully preserved by the Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanams (TTD) management. The coins ranging from the Roman era in the 1st century AD to that of the Nizam era of the 20th century were found in the ‘Srivari Hundi’, offered by anonymous persons at various points of time.
The TTD’s treasury wing not only pooled up the rare coins, but also formed a committee of numismatists to segregate them period-wise or dynasty-wise for further study. And the details are brought out in the form of a comprehensive and attractive 397-page book titled ‘Gold Coins in the Srivari Hundi of Lord Sri Venkateswara’. The book will be released formally by the President of India Pranab Mukherjee during the fourth World Telugu Conference here on Thursday.
The authors, A.V. Narasimha Murthy and D. Raja Reddy, dwelt on the coins belonging to the Roman period, the Hoysala dynasty, the Vijayanagara kings, the Mysore Wodeyars, Hyder Ali and Tippu Sultan periods, the Mughal dynasty, the British era and the Nizam period, found in the hundi.
The book contains pictures of 1,213 gold coins (both faces) and a historical description of its dynasty, mint point etc. While the work by yesteryear scholar Sadhu Subrahmanya Sastry on deciphering the rare inscriptions of Tirumala is considered an authority till date, this book on gold coins is expected to follow it closely in terms of broadness of study and relevance of information.
The TTD has set up a stall to display some of the gold coins at the exhibition near the main venue of WTC.
Priced at Rs. 2,000, the TTD authorities believe that the book will certainly make its way into a numismatist’s bookshelf.
The book will be released formally by President Pranab Mukherjee during the fourth World Telugu Conference
Source: [urlhttp://www.thehindu.com/todays-paper/tp-national/tp-andhrapradesh/ttd-brings-out-book-on-gold-coins/article4243509.ece]The Hindu[/url]
Photo caption: TTD officials displaying the book ‘Gold Coins in the Srivari Hundi of Lord Sri Venkateswara’ to be released during the World Telugu Conference in Tirupati, on Wednesday.- Photo: K.V. Poornachandra Kumar
