The
Amman Kaasu of Pudukkottai is a coin of small denomination. It is a unique
coin which was issued only by the Pudukkottai State of South India.
Following
are the different varieties in this coinage:
The second
coin is different from others as the right leg of the goddess is placed down in
contrast to others. The last two coins are machine struck.
Goddess
Brihadhambaal (presiding Goddess of The Thondaimaan rulers of Pudukkottai)
seated in posture.
Reverse:
Telugu
legend "vijaya"
Lettering:
విజయ
Translation:
Victory
Comments:
The
machine struck coins were minted at Birmingham and later by the Calcutta mint.
These coins bear no date and no mintmark. So it’s almost impossible to deduce
the year of mintage and the issuer.
Following
is a Die shift error coin of Pudukottai
British India was divided into several administrative categories. There was the Presidency India, which comprised of states ruled by British Governors under the Viceroy.
The other category was the Native Ruled India. This comprised of 552 Samasthaans ruled by native rulers known variously as Maharajas, Maharanas, Rajas, Ranas, Raos, Nawabs, Nizam, and other miscellaneous titles. Some were very large, drawing very large revenues. Some were very small. The States were classified into A.B,C. etc., categories. The categories depended upon the special rights, privileges, articles of protocol, and marks of respect like the gun-salute. Certain most privileged states had the right of issuing their own stamps and coinage. Travancore and Pudukkottai were among those few.
The hereditary Maharaja of Pudukkottai, known as dynastically as the Thondaimaan had the privilege of issuing his own coinage. Since his 2000 square miles kingdom of a couple of million people was land-locked into the larger British territory of Madras Presidency, the Thondaimaan decided to exercise his special privilege as only a token. So he issued only one denomination of coin. This was the famous Amman Kaasu of Pudukkottai.
The currency of the state was the British Indian rupee, but apart from British Indian coins, local coinage called Amman kasu were also used. One Amman kasu was equivalent to one-sixteenth of an anna. The coin bears on one side the motif Vijaya, the Telugu word for "victory", while on the other side of the coin is representation of goddess Brihadamba. Till 1888, the coins were locally minted but since then, they were minted by a firm based in the United Kingdom.
The Amman Kaasu is so-named after the presiding Goddess of Pudukkottai, Brihadhambaal.
Brihadh Ambal or Periya Naachiyaar is the tutelary deity of the dynasty of the Thondaimaans.
The
coin has very small dimensions. It’s less than one centimeter in width.
On one
side, there is the figure of Brihathambal. The other side has Telugu letters which
spell “Vijaya”. It is a remnant from the days when Pudukkottai was under the dominions
of the Nayak Kingdom of Madurai; which in turn was under the mighty Vijayanagara
Empire which were both of Telugu/Kannarese hegemony.
It was
made of highly pure copper. At the time of the Indian Independence, there was
an abundance of these coins. But they were collected and bought by the
copper-smiths and gold-smiths, who melted them down into metallic copper.
Thus
they became extinct, existing only in the private collection of the
Numismatologists.
Source: Internet & Numismatic experts
