Скачать или смотреть The Ugra Narasimha Gold Coin of Vijayanagara | Hampi to Mysore

1/2 Varah or 1 fanam coin of the VijayNagara/Mysore Kingdom- India

Year is 1565 the magnificent and powerful VijayNagara empire has shaken to the core at the Talikota battel.

Hampi was left in ruins, what followed next was decades of confusion, chaos and disorder, suddenly the VijayNagar Empire had no Emperor. Bahamani & the Deccan Sultanates took some territory and the remaining area broke into smaller kingdoms.
The Nayakas of Madurai,Tanjore ,Chitradurga among others declared self-rule and so did Mysore and it became the Kingdom of mysore.

This coin is from 1638 , 73 years after the battle of Tali-Kota .You see a lot of Vijay Nagara influence on it- it's a standard gold Varah/pagods/ but of the smallest scle ie 1/2 Varaha. They're also called as fanam
1 Pagoda = 2 Fanams = 30 Jitals = 60 Kasu / Dam = 120 Ara Kani

Thickness is 1 mm
diam 7 mm
weighs 0.38 grams

On face of the coin you see the Iconic monolith stone statue of Narasimha from Hampi,
Depiction: Narasimha in a fierce (Ugra) yogic posture, seated on the coils of the serpent deity Adishesha.

Original Form: It originally included Goddess Lakshmi on his lap, but this was damaged in 1565; her broken hand can still be seen on Narasimha's back.


on the back of the coin you see the name of Sri / Kamthi / rava in sanskrit - because of the Vijay-nagara mostly used Sanskrit for administrative and educational domains.

The statue of Ugra Narasimha was broken 500 years ago, but coins like these kept people’s beliefs alive. It's astonishing how these small metal relics take us on a fascinating journey to the past.