Yes, I acquired the rights to this coin because I loved the image. The two on the left are mine and I will love Her or Him be it Shiva or Parvati, Vishnu or Sarasvati. The two on the right I downloaded from the web. They're close but not the same. The coin on the right is from Mysore; Avatar of Vishu from the 1700's perhaps. The one on the left is from Mysore too? It weighs .2, so my scale said. And its 6 mm across. Can anyone shed light on this Incredible Object of Worship? richie
They are very cool looking coins!! I am guessing the one on the left might be Shiva but maybe bgarg or spiraltreat will shed some light on it.
You have guessed it right that both of them are from Mysore state. Also the image on them is of Lord Narsimha which is an Avatar (incarnation) of Lord Vishnu. This fanam was issued between 1799-1834 by current ruler of Mysore named "Krishna Raja Wodeyar" and is listed as C#212 under Mysore state in Krause catalog. Nice coins! Regards, Ballabh Garg
Thanks Ballabh Garg! According to what I read on Prabhu's web site (http://prabhu.50g.com/index.html ) one characteristic of the Narasimha yogic pose is evidence of a yoga stick. I wanted to get the designation right on my coin and since there was no obvious stick, I was hesident. And of course, on my coin, Narasimha is much more rounded. So rounded in fact that it reminds me of a story about Vishu turning Himself into a gorgious dancer in order to protect Shiva from destruction. Do you know that one? Any idea how these coins were made? One at a time by a craftsman with the skills of a jeweler? Are all gold and silver fanams distinct, one of a kind coins? Richie
hello Richie, finally i've solved this riddle.. the deity is indeed an avatar of Vishnu, 'Narasimha' (half lion and half man). The image is taken from a statue from the ruined city of Vijayanagar(see the attachment) . There are about 33 types of Kantirava fanams distinguished till now.. On a large group, the reverse legend was replaced by its mirror image. In these fanams, the 'KA' of 'Kamthirava' looks like an '8'. The coin on the left belongs to this category( '8' [letter on the right side] is not legible ). The coin on the right also belongs to this type, but it is from a later year. Both the coins are common varieties. I hope, now the doubt is clear..
Spiralstreet, That the image of the coin is based on an existing statue is absolutely incredible! You suggest that the coin on the left is from an earlier year. Can you give a mint date? Thanks, Richie
the mints and exact date of issues are yet to be confirmed for these coins.. all that we know about these coins is that these Kanthirava fanams were issued between 1638 to 1812.. and these two coins mentioned here are issued in between 1658 and 1759..
I can see the yoga stick on both the coins you have posted. On the first image, it's little lower then the expected area. And it may be a result of an inexperienced die-cutter. Narsimha's body appearence is well rounded and is visible on the first coin you have posted. If memory serves, I think the gorgious dancer whick protected Shiva from destruction was another avatar of Vishnu, named Kali. So, I think you are confused between Kali and Narsimha. These are all die struck coins, one at a time. And as they are hand struck, most of them are unique in certain way. Regards, Ballabh Garg
