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Ceylon, Chola Invasion Period (ca. 1100 AD) Debased Gold Kahavanu Coin. 2.82gm!

Mint Period: ca. 1100 AD
Denomination: Gold Kahavanu (Stater)- Lotus & Adahanda Type.
Reference: Friedberg 1 var. (here strongly debased later issue), cf. Codrington Plate III 47-49.
Condition: Crudely struck, with silvery/greyish appearance (definetely a strongly debased alloy), otherwise Fine!
Material: Strongly debased silver/bronze & gold alloy!
Diameter: 18mm
Weight: 2.82gm

Obverse: King seated right with legend below his rised arm, which holds a conch.
Legend: Sri Lamka Vibhu ("The fortunate Lord of Ceylon!")

Reverse: Standing king with ancillary symbols.

The Ceylonese gold in the name of the "Lord of Sri Lanka" is believed to have been struck starting around 960 and continued through the period of the Chola occupation, with Raja Raja Chola completing the conquest around 1001, and continuing until the expulsion of the Cholas by Vijaya Bahu around 1070. The standard anonymous coinage has figures of the king holding a sankh shell and lotus respectively on obverse and reverse. Variant types (see following lot) may have been struck at subsidiary mints around the island, or possibly even on the Indian mainland in Tamilnadu.

Rajaraja I (Middle Tamil: Rājarāja Cōḻaṉ; Classical Sanskrit: Rājarāja Śōḷa; 947 CE – 1014 CE),  also known as Rajaraja the Great, was a Chola emperor who reigned from 985 CE to 1014 CE. He is known for his conquests of Southern India and parts of Sri Lanka, and increasing Chola influence across the Indian Ocean.

His empire included vast regions of the Pandya country, the Chera country and northern Sri Lanka. He also acquired Lakshadweep and Thiladhunmadulu atoll, and part of the northern-most islands of the Maldives in the Indian Ocean. Campaigns against the Western Gangas and the Western Chalukyas extended the Chola authority as far as the Tungabhadra River. On the eastern coast, he battled with the Telugu Chola king Jata Choda Bhima for the possession of Vengi.

Rajaraja I, also built the Rajarajeshwaram Temple at the Chola capital Thanjavur.  The temple is regarded as the foremost of all temples constructed in the medieval south Indian architectural style. During his reign, the texts of the Tamil poets Appar, Sambandar and Sundarar were collected and edited into one compilation called Thirumurai, gaining him the name of 'Thirumurai Kanda Cholar' meaning The One Whom Found Thirumurai.  He initiated a project of land survey and assessment in 1000 CE which led to the reorganisation of Tamil country into individual units known as valanadus.  Rajaraja died in 1014 CE and was succeeded by his son Rajendra Chola I.