1883.] 
G. Bitlie —The Pagoda or Vardha coins. 
53 
seen, the hun is said to have been coined in the 3rd year of the reign of 
Muhammad Shah, which would be about A. D. 1722. 
Oh. J> 
Pev. alA 
Weight .—5 L'35 grs. 
PL III, Fig. 26. The two specimens of this coin in the Museum were 
received from the Collectors of Bellary and Dharwar respectively. It is a 
hun of Alemgir II struck at Adoni, and must have been coined there while 
that place was held by the Nizam. The reverse in both the Museum speci¬ 
mens is illegible, but I have seen others in which the name of the mint 
town, Imtyazgurh or Adoni, was quite visible. 
Ob. (Jhc 
Pev. oA 
Weight. —57'2375 grs. 
Mysore Pagodas. 
PI. Ill, Fig. 27. This coin has already been alluded to in this paper. 
The form of obverse which it exhibits, with figures of Siva and Parvati, was 
first adopted by the Yijayanagar Rajahs, and subsequently copied by the 
Bednur Nayaks. The capital of the latter was originally, and up to A. D. 
1610, situated at a place called Ikkeri, and hence the coin from having 
been first struck there received and still retains the.name of “Ikkeri 
pagoda.” In the year above mentioned the seat of Government and mint 
were transferred from Ikkeri, to a village that received the name of Bidanur 
or Bednur. In course of time, as the Nayaks added to their territories, 
Bednur became a place of great importance and wealth, and was very 
strongly fortified. In 1763, during the time of Rani Virammaji it was 
captured by Hyder Ali, and it is said that the booty thus obtained amount¬ 
ed to 12 millions sterling.* Hyder changed the name of the town to Hyder 
Nagar, and established his chief arsenal there for the manufacture of arms 
and ammunition. He also continued the mint which he found in existence, 
and there first struck coins in his own name. For his buns he adopted the 
obverse of the old “ Ikkeri pagoda,” but on the reverse he erased the 
Nagari inscription which had previously existed, and substituted his own 
initial. Various issues of this coin took place during Hyder’s reign, but 
he appears to have been rather ashamed of the obverse and to have been 
careless about the dies, as the figures of Siva and Parvati in some of the 
pagodas are very badly executed. The form struck by Hyder is known as 
the “ Bahaduri” hun or pagoda, and being made of superior gold it always 
commanded a favourable rate of exchange. An issue of the same coin was 
* Rice’s “Mysore Gazetteer,” Vol. 2, p. 383. 
