Kanthirava fanam and colonial successors

[Rangnath]

I love fanams.  They seem ridiculously small, modern in their abstraction and the design, surprisingly, holds up well when enlarged. There are hundreds of different kinds of fanams! Are there truly two made just alike?  I was lucky to get this particular fanam which combines my love of the Gods and stories.  Check into the story of Narasimha if this is of interest to you. The deity on this coin is much less abstracted than many. The fanam is gold, 6 mm and .2 grams.  When I first held it, I made sure the wind wasn?t blowing.

However, when I first looked at the coin, I hadn?t a clue about its origin, or which God was depicted.  In fact, I thought I was looking at a Goddess, perhaps Parvati, the wife of Shiva. 

I found help from two sources in identifying the coin. One was from Ballagh Barg, someone quite knowledgeable about fanams from ?Coin Talk?.  It was he that cataloged the coin as C 212 in the World Catalog, about 1800 AD, under the rule of the Wodeyars. It is refered to as a Kantirava fanam. I?ll explain that later.

[Rangnath]

Nice coin! 
My second source was  http://prabhu.50g.com/princely/mysore/wodeyar_coinage.html.
Lots of useful information about Southern Indian coins in general, and about this coin in particular.  Here was an example of a Kantirava fanam almost just like mine!

[Rangnath]

The reading is interesting, if you want, try it.
http://prabhu.50g.com/index.html
http://prabhu.50g.com/princely/mysore/wodeyar_coinage.html

There was one, I thought, significant difference between my coin and that from Prabhu.  In his coin, Narasimha had His legs held up by use of a Yoga stick. In mine, there was none.  I began to wonder.  Was mine really the "same" as the one from Prabhu?  How crucial was the absence of a Yoga stick? 

And then, Ballagh Barg sent me an email telling me about a famous statue which, he said, was the source, the inspiration, behind the Kantirava coin.  I was stunned!  How cool is that, I thought.  The 17th century statue exists to day and it looks like this, in all of its glory.

[Rangnath]

And then I noticed, of course, the Yoga Stick.  If the source of the Kantirava fanam had a *#&$(*&^ Yoga stick, why doesn't mine?

I had a definite case of Yoga stick envy.  I was down, depressedl, blue, sad and put out. 

But then, after careful reading about the statue at Hampi, I came upon wonderful news!  The band holding up Narasimha's legs in the statue was ADDED recently in way of restoration.  It was made of CONCRETE, not sandstone.  It is not a Yoga stick after all! 

All hail to my Narasimha.  In my coin, Narasimha is such a Yogi that He doesn't need the help of a Yoga Stick in meditation.  And yes, therefore my Kantirava coin is not only a legitimate example of type, but   my Deity is a better Yogi than Prabhu's!

I'm so happy.
richie

[BC Numismatics]

Richie,the gold Fanams are notoriously difficult to identify,as they were issued by various states bearing very similar designs.I have never seen them,let alone,been offered one.

Aidan.

[Figleaf]

Comment from our expert: this is a Kanthirava fanam. The obverse shows the god Narasimha in Yoghbhanda position. In his hands a chakra (wheel of life) and a sankh (shell). The reverse of early types is said to read SRI/KAMTHI/RAVA.

This type of fanam has been struck in South India over a long period, so that the style and even more so the legend degenerated more and more. The earliest copies are from the reign of Kanthitava Narasa Raja Wodeyar (1638-1659) in Mysore, where they were struck until 1761. They were also struck by the British East India Company, the Dutch and after the death of Tipu Sultan by Diwan by Diwan Purnaiya, the regent of Mysore (1799-1812).

Even though the type is not rare, because it was struck during such a long period by different authorities it is absolutely impossible to ascribe these fanams to any moneyer.

For once I beg to differ on a minor point with our expert. The Dutch colonial fanams en pagodas can be distinguished from the Mysore types as the Dutch colonial coins have the mint mark Kris ("lazy J"). They are of course also much more degenerated than this type. The British colonial types use the mintmark "interlocked C's" on the fanams and "star" on the pagodas. The French fanams are totally different. That leaves as possibilities Mysore, Travancore and Arcot.

Peter

[BC Numismatics]

Peter,what about Travancore & Coorg? They also struck a lot of gold Fanams as well.

Aidan.

[Figleaf]

Oops, for Tranquebar read Travancore and you're quite right about Coorg. Going over this list and taking degeneration into account, I find Mysore the most likely.

Peter

[Rangnath]

Thank you Aidan and Peter.  Mysore is my choice also. 
If only this coin was the size and weight of an Indian Rupee. 
It is an example of a coin that deserves to be seen "enlarged".
richie

[Figleaf]

Quite true. I guess you have to be a god or a fat native of Mediterranean shores to have a mustache and breasts.

Here's a silver Brit-struck fanam where it is still quite possible to see that your goldie is its ancestor. These thick coins don't come out well under a scanner, so I'll also post a thin Dutch fanam here.

Peter

[Rangnath]

Quite true. I guess you have to be a god or a fat native of Mediterranean shores to have a mustache and breasts.

And I was originally going to say that my wife is lucky that the image is so small, or I might run away with her.  Or him. Or it? Mustache?  Breasts?  Well, whatever.

Here's a silver Brit-struck fanam where it is still quite possible to see that your goldie is its ancestor. These thick coins don't come out well under a scanner, so I'll also post a thin Dutch fanam here.

The silver EIC fanam is a marvelous piece! The Dutch piece is more modest.  I wonder if the American expression "going Dutch" (each person paying his or her own way on a "modest" date) is descended from such a fanam comparison? 
richie

[Figleaf]

At least, this one contains some gold (but not as much as the original). At 7 mm it deserves to be enlarged. Its ancestry is clear only if you know what you're looking at. The Cochin fanam is a bit more ... uhhh ... abstract? Actually, that's why I like it.

The reverse of this type shows quite clearly that the mintmark is a Kris, a Malay knife. According to local lore, each Kris contains a spirit. If the Kris is unsheathed in anger, it may not be put back again unless someone has died. Afterwards, the spirit must be appeased again with a ritual cleaning of the knife. Such traditions keep hot-blooded people in check and prevent accidents.

Peter