The great mediæval kingdom of Vijayanagar was founded in 1336 by five
brothers as a bulwark against Muhammadan conquest, and continued to
flourish under three successive dynasties until the battle of Tālikota,
1565; the members of a fourth dynasty ruled as minor chiefs at
Chandragiri until the end of the seventeenth century.
The small, dumpy pagodas of Vijayanagar, with their half and quarter
divisions, set a fashion which has lasted to the present age. Coins,
gold or copper, of more than twelve rulers are known: on these appear
a number of devices, the commonest being the bull, the elephant,
various Hindu deities, and the fabulous “gaṇḍabheruṇḍa,” a double eagle
holding an elephant in each beak and claw. A pagoda on which a god and
goddess appear sitting side by side (Pl. VII, 12) was struck both by
Harihara I (acc. 1336) and Devarāya.[41] The great Kṛishṇarāya, during
whose reign (1509-1529) the Empire was at its height, was evidently a
devotee of Vishṇu. He struck the popular “Durgi pagoda,”[42] on which
that god is portrayed holding the discus and conch (Pl. VII, 11). Other
coins of the dynasty which acquired fame were the “Gandikata pagoda”
of Rāmarāya (d. 1565), which had a figure of Vishṇu standing under a
canopy on the obverse; and the “Veṅkaṭapati pagoda,” struck by one of
the Rājas, named Veṅkaṭa, of the fourth dynasty. On the obverse of
this coin Vishṇu is standing under an arch, and on the reverse is the
Nāgarī legend, _Śrī Veṅkaṭeśvarāya namaḥ_, “Adoration to the blessed
Veṅkaṭeśvara,” Veṅkaṭeśvara being the deity of Veṅkaṭādri, a sacred
hill near Chandragiri. The so-called “three swami pagoda,” introduced
by Tirumalarāya (circ. 1570), displays three figures, the central one
standing, the other two seated. These are said to be either Lakshmana
with Rāma and Sītā, or Veṅkaṭeśvara with his two wives. The legends on
Vijayanagar coins are either in Kanarese or Nāgarī; the latter is most
commonly used, by the later kings exclusively.
[41] The attributes of the two seated figures are sometimes those
of Śiva, sometimes those of Vishṇu; there is some difficulty in
distinguishing between the coins of Devarāya I (1406-1410) and Devarāya
II (1421-1445).
[42] Durgi = belonging to durga, a hill fort. The coins are said to
have been struck at Chitaldrūg.
During the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries the Nāyaka princes of
Tanjore, Madura and Tinnevelly and the Setupatis of Rāmnāḍ, originally
in subjection to Vijayanagar, gradually assumed independence. The
earlier coinage of the Madura Nāyakas bears the names of the chiefs on
the reverse in Tamil, but their later coins were struck in the name
of Veṅkaṭa, the “pageant” sovereign of Vijayanagar. Somewhat later,
probably, begin series of copper coins both of Madura and Tinnevelly,
with the Telugu legend _Śrī Vīra_ on the reverse and a multitude of
varying devices on the obverse; these include the gods Hanumān and
Ganesh, human figures, the elephant, bull, lion, a star, the sun and
moon, etc. A similar copper series, with double or single crossed lines
on the reverse, are found in large quantities in Mysore. Yet another
series with the same reverse, also found in Mysore, bears on the
obverse the Kanarese numerals from 1 to 31.