It is a bit challenging task to write a blog post on these coins with legend “rama rama” / “rama
raja”
There is
a lot of speculation over the attribution made on these coins.
Mitchiner
attributed these coins to Vijayanagara Ramaraya whereas K.Ganesh attributed
them to Marathas of Gingee.
These
coins are reported from Tirucoilur, Karur and Thanjavur regions of Tamil nadu.
There are
two types of legend seen on these coins and this cannot be disputed.
a. rama rama in
Nagari (राम राम)
b. rama raja in
Nagari. (राम राज)
Marathas of Gingee:
The
main reason to attribute to marathas is Rajaram, the gingee Maratha ruler. Coins
with legend ramaraja may also be read as rajaram pointing at him and the
marathas may have continued this issue in Thanjavur also.
Vijayanagara
Ramaraya:
1. Typologically these
coins resemble more like a Vijayanagara series. Example the design with dagger
and legend surrounding it, resemble more like Vijayanagara.
2. There are wide
range/varieties of coinage in this series. As a general observation we may conclude that
if a powerful king ruled for a long time, then there will be a wide range &
abundance in coinage which is likely to be in circulation.
3. Most probably these
coins do not belong to one ruler; several rulers may have issued this series as
can be seen from the availability of the coins.
Till now
there were coins reported only in Nagari legend in this series. But here is an
unlisted coin with Tamil legend.
The
obverse shows seated Ganapathi & the reverse has “rama rasa” with a dagger in the middle.
The Tamil
letters ‘ra’, ‘sa’ are clearly visible. The second character in the first
line to the right of the dagger is most probably Grantha ‘ma’, so the legend on
the obverse could be "rama rasa".
Currently we do not have sufficient information to make a precise attribution.
All
views expressed above are based on my understanding gained from numismatic
experts. Views/comments can be send in the below comments box.
