108 
M. M. Chakravarti— Uamci-tanJds. 
[No. 2, 
According to Ramayana, S'atrughna held the umbrella, Sugriva tlio 
cliamar, and Vibkishana, the king of Rakshasas, the wreath of one hun¬ 
dred lotuses. 
I do not think the Rama-tankis were ever issued as coins. No one at 
present uses them as such, and no tradition exists of their having been 
so used in the past. Besides, the numbers found are too small for use 
in a currency. They are to be considered as medals struck for some special 
purpose. For what purpose ? The nature of illustrations indicates that 
they were struck at the time of the Abhishehas , or enthronements, of kings. 
This idea is supported by the name by which they are known in Orissa, 
1IdmdbMshekis .—In short they may be considered as coronation medals, 
which were distributed among the Brahmins and others who assisted in 
the ceremony. 
The dates of these medals have not yet been ascertained. Popularly 
they are ascribed to the time of Ramchandra in the Treta Yuga. Fol¬ 
lowing the tradition of a math in S. India, Mr. Gibbs came to the conclu¬ 
sion that some of them might be 800 or 900 years old. Sir W. Elliott 
would bring them down to the reign of the Narasinha line of Vijayanagar 
(1488-1550 ?). In the absence of any reading of the inscriptions, it is dif¬ 
ficult to date the medals. From the following general considerations I am 
inclined to think that the oldest cannot be earlier than the 14th century 
A. D. The Ramatankis are S. Indian medals, and are chiefly known there. 
A glance at the list of S. Indian coins as given by Sir W. Elliott,* and by 
Dr. Bidie,f will show that the earliest coins bore the marks of animals, 
plants, or geometrical figures. Next to them came coins bearing the 
figures of gods such as S'iva, Parvati, and Vishnu. So far as I see, these 
latter coins began with the Vijayanagar kings (Harihar began to reign in 
1336 A. D.{). Now Ramatankis are Vaishnava medals, with Rama and 
Sita as the principal figures. They cannot therefore be put before the 
Viyayanagar kings, who were the first to introduce figures of gods and 
goddesses on the coins. Sir W. Elliott has found a coin of Tsvara with 
Rama and Sita seated, on the reverse. Tsvara belongs to the second line 
of Viyayanagar kings§. Thus this unique coin supports the above view. 
As regards the Ramatankis herein described, I imagine they are still 
more modern. The find spot is interesting. They have all been found in 
Puri, and it is remarkable that the numismatists who have collected else¬ 
where are not acquainted with this type. Dr. Bidie, who describes the 
# Coins of S. India, pp. 152—152H. 
f Journ. As. Soc., Bengal Vol. LII No. I 18S3 pp. 33—53. 
X Sewell’s sketch of S. Indian dynasties p. 103. 
§ For the Coin see “Coins of S. India” No. 108 p. 152E.; for I'svara see Sewel 
p. 108. 
