Although Raja Raja Chola won many battles and subjugated various kingdoms even before he became the emperor, this particular battle marked his first military achievement of his reign. Kandalur Salai is a place in the modern day Kerala province of the India, which once belonged to the Chera dynasty. The battle is dated around 988 AD, Raja Raja's 4th regnal year, as evident from various inscriptions from 988 AD onward mentioning him as 'Kandalur salai kalamarutta' or 'Keralanthagan' meaning one who put an end to the Keralas/Cheras, similar to the Roman titles like Parthicus or Germanicus. He even named one of the entry archs of the Siva temple he built as the Keralanthagan Vayil (Vayil means entrance in Tamil), that he built in his capital city of Thanjavur. The Cheras were a Vishnu worshiping country, while the Cholas were Siva worshiping, so when Raja Raja Chola conquered them, he issued special coins that portrayed the feet of lord Vishnu called Sripada aka 'sacred foot' along with the Chera symbol bow. There are two ways of interpreting this, one is that Raja Raja wanted to show that despite being a Siva worshiper, he still tolerates those who worship Vishnu, or he wanted to show that the Chera country signified by the bow, along with their Vishnu worshiping people are now the subjects of Cholas. A Hindu religious stone of Vishnu's feet And here is the coin, on the left is the normal issue where the bottom right on the obverse has a floral/lotus image, however on the right is the special issue with the distinct foot and a bow. I came to know about this variety when I read about Chola coinage last year! "In another type there is the standing figure with under his left arm fish shown vertically. The third variety carries the standing figure and below his left arm is a pada (foot) mark. A slight variation in the type is the presence of a bow in addition to the foot" from https://ancient-indian-coins.blogspot.com/2015/10/the-chola-their-coinage.html And when I saw this coin on ebay just described as a regular Chola issue, I snapped it right up! And if you ever wondered what the design on this fanam from Travancore (modern day Kerala) means, it's just a stylized imagery of Vishnu's foot! (not my coin)
Very cool, @JayAg47. I like how the level of stylization on the coins is comparable to Celtic, but with a different esthetic behind it.
I didn't realize there was one with a smaller "Vishnu Padam" and a Chera bow. Usually, they are like the following, from ANA Museum, with just a large foot or medium-size foot: I need to go back and check Bidduh and Mitchiner. As far as the Travancore coin goes, its not a Vishnu Padam, but something else. There is a whole write-up about that in another book...
Hi again, just bought 12 FANAMs at auction, and I want to run them by you. Is there a way to date these?
