Indian History: 1600-1947

Madurai is one of the oldest continuously inhabited cities in Tamil Nadu and was the historic seat of the Pandyas. It is mentioned in the Sangam-era epic Silappadikaram (dating back to traditions from 300 BC). Home to the world-famous Meenakshi Amman Temple, the city has a tumultuous history. Here is a short look at how Madurai changed hands from 1000 AD onwards. The Later Pandyas: c. 1250 After a period of Chola dominance, the Pandyas returned to power in Madurai. This era is known as the "Later Pandya" period. If you’ve seen the movie Aayirathil Oruvan , it is set during this fascinating time (though it is a fictional story). The movie is pretty cool and is based on the fact that the last Chola King was supposed to have just disappeared into the forest. In my coin collection, you can see coins issued by the Later Pandyas here . The Madurai Sultanate: 1335–1375 In the early 14th century, the Delhi Sultanate sent forces south to plunder wealthy temple cities. They left behin...

This is a fascinating collection of personal reflections and historical anecdotes! I’ve polished the text to fix the grammar and typos while maintaining your authentic, conversational voice. Corporate Warfare What I found fascinating while reading history were the fights between these companies. I am not referring to the Carnatic Wars, where the French and British sided with opposing local factions; I am talking about wars and attacks where one European company directly attacked another with no local princes involved. The first attack occurred when the French occupied Fort St. George sometime in the 1740s. This was actually pivotal because it was when the European powers realized their own strength. The Nawab of Arcot tried to come to the English’s rescue, but a small band of Frenchmen defeated the Nawab's army. This was the first instance of superior European weaponry establishing dominance over a far larger local army. During my last visit to Madras, I stayed at the Leela Palace...

It was almost a year after I started collecting coins that I asked myself a basic question: Since there were hundreds of different currencies circulating in India in the 1800s, how would a person from Travancore buy materials in the Madras Presidency? How did all these currencies work together as a single system? This article is based on prompting Gemini, supplemented by some personal reading. Please treat these as facts at your own risk! To understand how things evolved, it is best to look at the history chronologically. 1640: Adopting the Vijayanagara Pagoda System In 1640, the East India Company (EIC) obtained minting rights in Fort St. George (Madras) from the local Nayak of Chandragiri, a vestigial offshoot of the Vijayanagara Empire. The prevailing currency in South India was the gold Pagoda system, which the EIC simply adopted. They began issuing gold Pagodas containing 3.4 grams of gold, equivalent to 36 silver Fanams (European pronunciation of panam).  One Fanam containe...

 While working through the lot of coins, I found a coin that had a deer facing backwards. After a bunch of online research and the help of Gemini, I discovered that the deer looking back was a common motif with the "Thirai cash" issued by Venad/Chera dynasty. These were issued in 1600 and it is the Venad lineage that grew to become Travancore.  You can see the deer turning back mentioned in this research paper . You can also see examples of this coin here  (Image 1). In the standard examples, one side has a deer turning back. The other side has a battle axe.                                                                        Here is the shocking part! My coin is a double obverse . Both sides of my coin have the deer. This is generally very rare and considere...

 I bought a lot of 50 coins on ebay that was advertised as coins from Madurai, Tanjore Nayaks. Its been a fascinating journey identifying the exact coins. I am only 5 coins into the lot and I have already found an amazing coin.  Haider Ali occupied the Mysore throne in a coup overthrowing the Wodeyar king. He is more famous as the father of Tipu Sultan and most Tamil folks would know off him through the popular phrase "Haider Ali Kalam". He issued a series of coins that had 222 in Arabic. I was curious why he used 222. What was the connection. It is a cryptographic representation of Haider  using one Abjad system.  Basically,  Ha = 8 Ya = 10 Dal = 4 Ra = 200 Total is 222. I dont understand how the mapping but I found this fascinating!