Item number: A4195

Year: AD 1661-1795

Material: Gold

Size: 7.5 x 7.4 x 0.7 mm

Weight: 0.4 g

Provenance: Fuchin Coin 2025

This gold coin was issued between AD 1661 and 1795 by the Dutch Malabar colony, which utilised Kochi as its primary base. It was minted in imitation of the Fanam gold coins prevalent across Southern India to facilitate trade between the Dutch East India Company and its local partners.

The prototype for the obverse is purportedly a standing figure of a Sardula lion facing right, with the details of the head, torso, and limbs simplified into circular dots. The Sardula is a mythical creature in South Indian lore, likely originating in the Mysore region; its use as a symbol of strength and authority extended from Madhya Pradesh in the north to Kerala in the south. Positioned upon the lion’s back is a crescent moon with its cusps facing upwards. In various regions, this leonine imagery evolved into depictions of different deities or human figures according to local religious requirements.

The prototype for the reverse is said to be a standing tusked boar facing right, with its four legs simplified into four rows of dots. Along the Malabar Coast, the hook-shaped pattern formed by the boar’s back and tusks evolved into an abstract seashell totem. The seashell was a common numismatic motif on the Malabar Coast, epitomised by its use in the Princely State of Travancore. Gold Fanams of the Vira-raya type likely originated during the Hoysala Dynasty in what is now Karnataka. Following the dynasty’s replacement by the Vijayanagara Empire, this specific Fanam style was inherited and disseminated. The name Vira-raya does not refer to a specific individual; “Vira” denotes a warrior, a common title among Indian nobility, while “Raya” corresponds to the North Indian “Raja,” meaning king or ruler. This nomenclature was highly prevalent in the Mysore region and the basins of the Tungabhadra and Kaveri rivers.

During its dissemination, the coinage imagery displayed a trend towards increasing abstraction and underwent various adaptations and distortions influenced by local cultures. In the Tamil Nadu region on the east coast, the arcs formed by the lion’s head and tail on the obverse transformed into sharp, angular shoulders, while the crescent moon was elongated and supplemented with symbols to represent a crowned human head, purportedly that of the goddess Kali. This variation was also adopted in west coast regions such as Calicut, Kochi, and Travancore. Along the Malabar Coast, centred on the city of Kochi, a specific Fanam circulated in which the boar’s tail on the reverse was extended and curved into a J or U shape; additional strokes were added to make the design resemble the VOC monogram of the Dutch East India Company.

Beyond the morphological variations of the Vira-raya gold Fanam arising from its regional circulation, the widespread cultural practice in Southern India of stringing small gold coins together as jewellery led to a proliferation of private and imitative minting throughout various eras. Consequently, tracing the exact provenance of many Vira-raya gold Fanams is exceptionally difficult, and they can generally only be categorised through morphological analysis—a subject of considerable scholarly debate and varying interpretations. Since the advent of the Age of Discovery in the late 15th century, the Netherlands—regarded as the “maritime carriers” of the era—followed the Portuguese into the Indian subcontinent around AD 1596 to compete for the lucrative Asian spice trade. The Dutch established numerous isolated outposts along the Indian coast, maintaining comprehensive control only over the island of Ceylon to the southeast. The Dutch Malabar colony, which minted this Fanam, utilised the southern Indian port of Kochi as its commercial base until the territory was ceded to Great Britain in AD 1795.

物件編號: A4195

年代: 公元 1661-1795 年

材料: 黃金

尺寸: 7.5 x 7.4 x 0.7 mm

重量: 0.4 g

來源: 福君錢幣 2025

這是一枚公元1661至1795年，以科契作為據點的荷屬馬拉巴爾殖民地，模仿盛行於南印度地區的「法納姆」金幣，以提供荷蘭東印度公司跟當地夥伴的貿易。

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。在許多地區，獅像則因各地信仰需求演變為各神像、人像等。

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。在馬拉巴爾海岸，上方野豬背和獠牙連成的鈎狀圖案演變為抽象的海貝圖騰。海貝是流通於馬拉巴爾海岸的常見錢幣紋飾，以特拉凡哥爾土邦作為代表。

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。

自公元15世紀末，歐洲興起大航海時代以來，大約在公元1596年，身為「海上馬車夫」的荷蘭緊跟著葡萄牙腳步，插旗於印度次大陸競爭利潤豐厚的亞洲香料貿易。荷蘭人在印度沿岸建立許多孤立的據點，僅對於印度東南方的錫蘭島有較為全面的控制。鑄造這枚法納姆的荷屬馬拉巴爾殖民地，以印度南方的良港科契為據點進行貿易，直到公元1795年將其轉讓予英國為止。