Item number: A3737

Year: AD 1790-1834 presumed

Material: Gold

Size: 7.4 x 7.4 x 0.6 mm

Weight: 0.4 g

Provenance: Fuchin Coin 2025

This specimen is likely a gold fanam of the Viraraya type originating from the Kingdom of Coorg (formerly Kodagu) on the Malabar Coast.

The obverse prototype is conventionally identified as a right-facing standing Sardula lion, whose head, torso and limbs are rendered schematically as pellets. The Sardula—a mythical creature widely attested in South India—may have originated in the Mysore region and appears from present-day Madhya Pradesh in the north to Kerala in the south, where it served as a symbol of strength and sovereign power. An upward-facing crescent rests upon the lion’s back.

The reverse prototype is understood to depict a right-facing wild boar with prominent tusks, the four legs schematically represented by four rows of pellets.

The iconographic and technical features of this specimen correspond closely to gold fanams attributed to the Kingdom of Coorg on the neighbouring Malabar Coast. Its recorded provenance places it between AD 1795 and 1850, a period that overlaps substantially with the history of Coorg as a British protectorate between AD 1790 and 1834.

The Viraraya-type gold fanams probably originated under the Hoysala dynasty in South India (in the region of modern Karnataka) and were subsequently adopted and disseminated following the rise of the Vijayanagara Empire. The term Viraraya cannot be assigned to a specific historical figure: vira, meaning “warrior,” was a widespread honorific used by Indian rulers and nobles; raya, often rendered raja in North India, signified a king or sovereign and was common throughout the Mysore region and the basins of the Tungabhadra and Kaveri rivers. As the type spread, the coin designs became increasingly abstract and were reinterpreted according to local cultural contexts. On the eastern coast, particularly in Tamil Nadu, the two arcs formed by the lion’s head and tail on the obverse were transformed into sharp, angular shoulders, while the crescent was elongated and elaborated into a crowned human head identified locally as the goddess Kali. On the western coast—in Calicut, Cochin and Travancore—other variants emerged. On the Malabar Coast, especially around Cochin, a fanam type circulated whose reverse featured a boar with an extended tail curling into a “J” or “U” shape, with additional strokes added to approximate the monogram “VOC” of the Dutch East India Company.

In addition to such transformations, the South Indian custom of stringing small gold coins as jewellery encouraged the long-standing production of privately minted and imitative fanams. As a result, the precise origins of many Viraraya-type fanams are difficult to ascertain; classification relies primarily on morphology, and scholarly opinion is far from unanimous.

The Kingdom of Coorg, located in the forested highlands of present-day southwestern Karnataka, emerged as one of the Nayaka polities that fragmented from the Vijayanagara realm after its collapse. Rising to prominence amid the turmoil of the Mysore civil conflicts in the early eighteenth century, Coorg maintained complex military and diplomatic relations with Mysore, Hyderabad and the British East India Company. Rooted in strong martial traditions and a clan-based social structure, the Coorg royal house successfully defended its upland domains. In AD 1780, Coorg was annexed by Hyder Ali of Mysore; in AD 1788, with British support, the Coorg dynasty was restored and soon became a protectorate under British India. In AD 1834, the British launched a campaign that deposed the last Coorg ruler and annexed the kingdom, reorganising it as the Coorg Province and thus bringing the independent polity to an end.

物件編號: A3737

年代: 推測為公元 1790-1834 年

材質: 黃金

尺寸: 7.4 x 7.4 x 0.6 mm

重量: 0.4 g

來源: 福君錢幣 2025

這可能是一枚出自庫爾格王國(舊稱果達古Kodagu)，被歸類於維拉拉亞的金法納姆。

金幣的正面原型據稱為一薩杜拉獅(Sardula)的右側立像，獅首與身軀四肢的細節簡略為圓點。薩杜拉獅為南印度流傳的一種神話生物，可能源於邁索爾地區，北至中央邦，南至喀拉拉邦，都曾使用薩杜拉獅作為力量與權力的象徵。獅背上則背負月缺朝上的新月。

背面的原型據稱為一長牙野豬的右側立像，四足簡略為四排圓點。

該枚金幣的形制設計較接近出自鄰近馬拉巴德海岸之庫爾格王國所發現的金法納姆。來源稱該法納姆出自公元1795至1850年，與公元1790至1834年作為英國保護國的庫爾格王國，時期頗為相近。

維拉拉亞形制的金法納姆可能源於南印度的曷薩拉王朝(約位於今卡納塔卡邦)，在被毗奢耶那伽羅帝國取代後，該形制的法納姆也隨之繼承及傳播。維拉拉亞一名難以指向特定的人物，維拉(vira)原意為「勇士」，為印度王公貴族常見稱號。拉亞(raya)，於北印度常譯為羅闍，即「國王」，為統治者之稱號。於邁索爾地區、棟格珀德拉河與高韋里河流域均十分常見。在傳播的過程中，幣圖除了有愈加抽象化的趨勢外，也隨各地文化不同而有所附會及變形。在東海岸的坦米爾那都邦地區，正面幣圖的獅像中，獅首與獅尾構成的兩個圓弧，變形為較尖銳且銳利的肩膀，背負的新月也拉長，添加符號而成為戴冠的人首，據稱為迦梨女神像。在西海岸的卡利卡特、科契、特拉凡科爾等地區也都曾採用。以城市科契為首的馬拉巴德海岸中，便曾流傳一種法納姆，其背面幣圖的野豬像中，野豬尾延長並迴繞呈「J」或「U」形，再增添筆畫，使其與荷蘭東印度公司的縮寫｢VOC｣的字母相近。

除維拉拉亞金法納姆於各地流傳中產生的幣圖形變外，南印度多地均有綴連小金幣作為金飾的文化，使得歷代的私鑄、仿鑄均盛行。因此各種維拉拉亞金法納姆的出處多難以追溯，只能從型態學角度進行粗略分類，學者各執己論，爭議頗多。

庫爾格王國(Kingdom of Coorg)位於今日印度卡納塔卡邦西南部的高地森林地帶，為毗奢耶那伽羅帝國崩解後，分離的諸納亞卡王國(Nayakas)的一支。王國在十八世紀初於混亂的邁索爾內戰中崛起，先後與邁索爾王國、海得拉巴及英國東印度公司形成複雜的外交與軍事關係。庫爾格王室以強烈的軍事傳統與地方氏族制度為基礎，成功維持對高地區的控制。公元1780年，邁索爾君主海德爾·阿里(Hyder Ali)吞併庫爾格王國。公元1788年，在英國的支持下，庫爾格王室復位，後成為英屬印度所統轄的保護國。公元1834年，英國發動戰爭推翻庫爾格最後一任國王，將其領土併入英屬印度，改制為「庫爾格省」(Coorg Province)，王國遂告終結。