IN SOUTHERN INDIA. 
^1 
successors seem to have made re-issues thereof, so that the 
coin is fairly common among the OUa Podrida usually to 
he found in the hags of the shroffs of the Mysore towns. 
Early copper coins of the province (?) are also occasionally 
met with bearing oa one side a well defined figure of a 
dragon or other animal or Kanarese numeral and on the 
reverse a checquered pattern. From the fact that I have 
met with some dozen specimens of this coin in or near 
Mysore and Seringapatam, and (with the exception of two 
I procured in Bangalore) have never found them elsewhere, 
I attribute them to this province, with which the dragon 
and character of the numerals also connect them. The 
same reverse also appears on what are known in Mysore 
as the " ane paisa " or elephant pice, having a figure of an 
elephant with the sun, moon, or both, above, and which are 
exceedingly common there. 
Towards the middle of the 18th century, we find 
Mahomedan interests gaining the ascendancy in the Mysore 
province, and with it, as might be expected, a finer type of 
money than any that had preceded it, coming into vogue. 
In 1766 Nanjeraj succeeded to the sovereignty of the State, 
and during his reign the famous Hyder rose to power. 
In 1775 the king died, and his successor being a child, the 
reins of government fell into the hands of the vmscrupulous 
Musalman, with whose usurpation the well-marked, neatly 
executed coins, which had for years characterized the Maho- 
medan mints of the north, came into vogue, their clear cut 
impressions and legible superscriptions forming indeed a 
striking contrast to the usually rough issues of the Hindu 
monarchs of the south. In his coins the reverse bore (c) 
his initial in substitution of the word " Sri " which had 
previously marked them, while on the obverse he retained 
the old pagoda form, Siva and Parvati sitting side by side 
and holding the deer and trisul. He established several 
mints, such as Bangalore, Bednoor and Calicut, which 
