[No. 1 , 
46 G. Bidie —The Pagoda or Tardha coins. 
PI. II, Fig. 15 and 15a. The two specimens of this coin figured 
were both received under the name of “ Venkatapati pagoda,” viz. one from 
the Collector of Bellary and one from the Mysore Commissioner’s Treasury. 
Marsden* gives a figure and description of a coin of this type and says it 
resembles two figures of S. Indian coins, in the work of the old traveller 
Tavernier “ which he attributes to a raja of Velouche, probably a corrup¬ 
tion of Vellore.” Wilson also alludes to this pagoda and states, that it was 
struck by Venkatapati Raja of Chandragiri in the beginning of the 17th 
century, after the overthrow of the Yijayanagar kingdom.”f Referring 
next to Capt. Newbold’s account of the Bellary district, J written in 1839, 
it appears, that at one time Venkatapati pagodas were also coined at Rai- 
drug, and this statement is further borne out by the fact, that the Collector 
of the District in sending specimens of the pagoda to Madras in 1855 says, 
that they were coined at Raidrug by “ Vencatapaty Naidoo Poligar of that 
place.” It seems likely therefore that the Yenlcatapati pagoda was first 
coined at Chandragiri by the ex-raja of Vijayanagar, and latterly at Rai¬ 
drug. One of the last Palegars of that place was named Venkatapati, and 
as the family were descended of a former Commander-in-Chief of Vijaya¬ 
nagar and were long vassals of that house, they would naturally, on setting 
up a mint, copy the coinage of the dynasty with which they had been so 
intimately connected. Venkatapati the Palegar was a contemporary of 
Hyder, and had to yield allegiance first to Delhi, and finally to Seringa- 
pa tarn. 
Oh. Figure of Vishnu under a canopy; four-armed and holding up 
the usual symbols. 
Bev. Sri V(en)kat(e)svara(ya)namah. 
Weight of one 51’05 gr. and of the other 50 725. 
It will be observed that this pagoda is very different in every respect 
from those issued by the rajas of Vijayanagar, when in the zenith of their 
power; in fact the coin has more the appearance of a religious token than 
of a piece of current money, and would seem to imply, that in their humi¬ 
liation and troubles the rajas sought consolation from devotion to religious 
duties. Or it may have been adopted with reference to the neighbouring 
shrine of Tripati having been taken under their special protection. 
Gandikata Pagoda. 
PI. II, Fig. 16. This coin was sent to the Madras Exhibition of 
1855 bv the Collector of Bellary as a “ Timmanayanee Perathapum, coined 
at Goondicotta by Timma-Naidoo Palaigar of that place.” According to 
Newbold also the “ Gundicotta” pagoda was termed “ Timma Naid Per tap,” 
* “ Numismata Orientalia,” Part II, p. 738, fig. 1073. 
f “Asiatic Researches,” Vol. XVII, p. 596 and PI. IV, fig. 96. 
+ “Madras Journal of Literature and Science,” Vol. X, p. 131. 
