48 
[No. 1, 
G. Bidie —The Pagoda or Vardha coins. 
wars that raged in that part of Southern India in the 17th and 18th cen¬ 
turies, Chitaldroog not only managed to maintain its existence, but to take 
a more or less conspicuous place in the turmoil. Finally, having attracted 
the cupidity of Hyder, the fort of Chitaldroog was captured by him though 
treachery in 1779, after several vain attempts to seize it by force of arms. 
The ruling Nayak at tlie time was also taken and sent, along with his 
family, a prisoner to Seringapatam. Not content with this Hyder deported 
20,000 of the inhabitants of the place who were also of the bold and hardy 
Bedar caste, with the object of completely breaking up the power which 
had manifested such formidable and enduring resistance. 
Ob. Durga, a form of Parvati. 
Pev. Some coarse imitations of Nagari characters. 
Weight. 52 - 25 grs. 
Hawkes describes and figures a “ Doorga” and “ Molay Doorgee” 
pagoda, both of which were struck at Chitaldroog. 
Tkavancode Pagoda. 
PI. Ill, Fig. 22. Two specimens of this coin were got from the 
Treasury of H. H. the Maharajah of Travancore, one of which was 
designated “ Anantha Varahen.” 
Ob. Peculiar figure of Vishnu placed between two lotus flowers, 
with conventional representations of the usual symbols in his hand. 
Pev. Convex granulated. 
Weight. 52’43 grs. 
PI. II, Fig. 18. This coin, a double pagoda, was struck by His High¬ 
ness the late Kama Varma, G. C. S. I., Maharajah of Travancore, and is very 
well executed. There is also a single pagoda of the same type. 
Ob. The sacred shell surrounded with a wreath. 
Pev. Hound the margin, Travancore, and in the centre within a 
wreath 
1877. 
R. V. 
the letters being the initials of H. H. the Maharajah. 
Weight. 7S - 8 grs. 
East India Company’s Pagodas. 
Very little has been recorded regarding the earlier coinage of the East 
India Company, and accordingly the effort to arrange their pagodas and 
those of their contemporaries in chronological order has been a task of 
great difficulty. Permission was granted by Charles II in 1077 to the 
Company to coin money, on the condition that it should not resemble Eng¬ 
lish currency. For a long time after this the process of minting was the 
rude native method. Moor in his “ Narrative of the operations of Capt. 
