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| Veera Kerala Varma Silver Coin, Obverse |
The Background: Kerala at the south-western tip of India has had a flourishing trade in elephants, ivory, spices, and perfumes at least for the last 4000 years. Most of this trade was with foreign merchants who visited Kerala in ships. Thus this was a very lucrative trade for them.
While barter system has always existed in Kerala, trade with foreign merchants was done mostly using non Indian metallic currency. Silver and gold pieces and foreign coins made of these two metals played the major part in it. Since precious metals had a certain well established intrinsic value in every era, international trade based upon the absolute value of the metal was easy. Thus Kerala had no currency exchange problem with the foreign traders even before the era of indigenous Indian coins started around 1000 BC. Gold and silver were the standard currency.
It is estimated that a good amount of the precious metal that came to Kerala in this manner has eventually been melted and reassimilated because of all the Indian states, the state of Kerala has a craze for gold and silver ornaments. Even in this twentieth century one can see women in Kerala wearing a total of 80 to 160 grams of gold in normal life and 160 to 320 grams during festivals (these numbers are based upon a multiple of 8, used commonly in weighing gold ornaments in Kerala). Thus a good amount of history in the form of gold and silver coins has already vanished.
The coins produced locally have another history, because of which they are also not very forthcoming. First, the local business was based upon the barter system and also gold and silver. Obviously neither of them have left much trace. What is more, the climate of Kerala region destroys coins soon. There is rain 170 days an year. Relative Humidity can reach 95% and above. Thus coins and metal implements corrode and destroy quickly, and because of this hoards buried for hundreds of years would become totally useless. Even today Kerala tops in the corrosion and even eventual disappearance of metallic implements left in the ground. Of what might be left from all this, very few have been discovered because Kerala has not been investigated much by the Archaeological Survey of India. As a consequence, Kerala has come to the numismatic map of India only very recently.
The Earliest Coins: The earliest coins, found only on rare occasions in Kerala, are the Sangam coins. Kerala was under Tamil dominion almost up to 800 AD, and even after that there were periods of Tamil dominion from place to place in this region. That is why Sangam coins happen to be the earliest attested coins in Kerala of Indian origin. Around 1000 AD many local rulers started to usurp their independence and authority. While this did not result in uniform independence throughout the region today known as Kerala, it did bring greater power to many local rulers. They in turn expressed their authority by issuing coins somewhat independent of Tamil rulers.
Coins of Venad: The southern part of what is today called Kerala was one of the first to issue coins that can be called independent Kerala coins. Of what have survived, silver coins dominate because silver being a resistant material has survived the vagaries of the climate better. Of these silver coins, the coins with (surprisingly) Nagari legend are the more common ones. Also they happen to be aesthetically very attractive. Several silver coins of the king Jayasimhadev who ruled in the beginning of the tenth century AD.
Some silver coins of Vira Kerala Varma (1127-1155 AD), Udayamarthanda Varma (1175-1195 AD) have also been discovered, but they are not voluminous yet. Gold coins also came into use from 12th century, but their find has been rarer than that of silver. What is more, many coins in private family treasured are feared to have been melted for sales or for making ornaments. Kerala region is known for its thirst of gold ornaments. Many Chola and Pandya coins also have been found from periods dating after the tenth century AD, and it shows that total independence had not come yet to the Kerala region. A larger number of Kerala region coins needs to be discovered and studied before a comprehensive picture emerges.
A move towards a Kerala identity can be seen after the twelveth century, with numerous small but autonomous kingdoms throughout the region today known as Kerala. From this age onwards there was a proliferation of coins, mostly copper, because each of the independent kingdoms tried to assert its authority and autonomy. Most of these Kerala coins have absolutely no inscription, but can be identified easily by the typical symbols that are connected with the religious or political developments in Kerala.
Modern Kerala Coins: Though the British captured parts of Kerala, they never directly ruled the whole of it. Portions of it only came under their influence and taxing, but the local rulers kept issuing their own coins. Interestingly, unlike many other places where the presence of the British Raj was acknowledged, these coins of Kerala often do not show even a trace of British influence. What is more, this kind of pure native coins were minted till a time very close to India's independence and many of the coins were in circulation several years after they stopped minting them.
British and Foreign Influence: British and foreign influence can be seen on some native coins, but such influence is not common. This is something special for the region of Kerala. Pure British coins were also used in Kerala, but then they are one and the same with the British coins that were current all over the country.
Symbols: Kerala coins are rich in symbolology and the majority of them are religious in nature. There are a few that are connected more with the Kerala society as such, but even those have spiritual meanings associated with them. The symbols are so peculiar and they occur with such high frequency on Kerala coins that identify them as native coins of Kerala is made easy. More so when more than one symbol occurs on the same coin, which is fairly common.
Size: Some of the Kerala coins were so tiny that it was not practical to count them by hand. They invented special wooden "counters" for this purpose in which there were holes that would accommodate a certain number of coins -- neither more nor less. Coins were poured into them, and then the counters were shaken to fill the slots. The excess coins were removed and then the counter was emptied into a box or vessels with the knowledge of exactly how many coins are there. Many of these wooden counters have survived and are available in Kerala museums for viewing.
In summary, while the history of Kerala is rich in the range of coins, most of the gold a vast amount of ancient gold and silver coins have been lost because of melting for making ornaments. This was the fate of both coins native to Kerala as well as the coins that came to Kerala sea-ports from other countries. Of the coins of inferior metals that survived this fell victims of the humid climate which is known to consume metallic implements exposed to elements of nature very fast, more so with coins that are stored underground in earthen vessels. In spite of this an amazing variety of coins have survived and are being discovered slowly.
For More Information:
- Indian Coins: An Introduction
- Encyclopedia of Indian Coins (The encycopedia offers numerous free ebooks on Indian coins. This articles on Kerala Coins is available as an ebook with a large number of full-color pictures of Kerala coins)
Researched Articles By the Same Author:
[Pictures Copyright 2009 : Dr. Johnson C. Philip, Creative Commons, Attribution-noncommercial 3 License]
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