1883.] 
35 
G. Bidie— The Pagoda or Vardha coins. 
paratively modern, and it seems more probable that this device was adopted 
with reference to the prevailing popular European designation of the piece, 
than that the coin was called “ Pagoda” on account of its bearing the figure 
of a temple. The common Tamil name for the pagoda is Vardha, an appel¬ 
lation due to the circumstance, that some of the older types had on the 
obverse the figure of a Vardha or Poar —the symbol of the Chalukyas and 
kings of Vijayanagar—or the image of Vishnu in the Varaha avatar. The 
Hindustani name of the pagoda is Hun, a word probably derived from 
JELonnu, the Canarese designation of the half pagoda. That the Maho- 
niedans should have adopted this corruption of the Canarese term for the 
coin is explained by the fact, tfuft; when they invaded the Carnatic, they 
first saw the pagoda or half pagoda in the hands of a Canarese speaking 
people. According to Sir Walter Elliot the term vardha is never- used in 
ancient Tamil records in connection with money, but the word pon, which 
originally signified gold. He is also of opinion “that the normal standard 
coin was a piece equal to the modern half pagoda, the pagoda itself being 
the double pon, which ultimately became the vardha .” The weights of the 
different forms of the vardha vary, and it is a curious fact, that the Vene¬ 
tian Sequin, which used to circulate freely on the Malabar Coast, and the 
Ducat which also found its way to Madras are very nearly of the same 
weight as the pagoda. According to Prinsep the weights of the 3 coins 
were as follows :* 
Grains. 
Venetian Sequin . 52 - 40 
Ducat ... 53 50 
Star Pagoda, average .. 52 40 
Kelly gives the weight of the star pagoda as 52’5G grains and adds 
that the metal was 19^ carats fine, which gives “ 42 - 043 grains of fine 
gold.”f 
Other pagodas of native States varied in weight from 45'30 to 52’87 
grains each. 
Prior to 1818 all public and mercantile accounts were kept in Pagodas, 
Fanams and Gash as follows :— 
80 Cash = 1 Fanam 
42 Fanams = 1 Pagoda. 
The complete system, however, for some time prior to the introduction 
of the rupee as the monetary standard, embraced other coins, thus:—■ 
10 Cash = 1 Doodie 
2 Doodies = 1 Pice 
* Thomas’s “ Prinsep’s Indian Antiquities,” U. T., pp. 43 and 44. 
f Kelly’s “ Universal Cambist,’’ Vol. 1, p. 90. 
