Lanka : 9-10th Century
Gold Type I Pala - Purnaghata

The anonymous Gold Type Pala ( 1/4 Kahavanu ) with Purnaghata. Codrington Pala Type I.

SPECIFICATIONS
DenominationOne Pala
MetalGold 0.??
AlloyAg%Cu = 0.??
TypeStruck
Diameter13. mm
Thickness1.? mm
Weight Std1.12 gms
Weight1.08 gms
DieAxis
p1_purnaghata_au_obverse p1_purnaghata_au_reverse
Codrington 63 ; OMRS-29
SPECIFICATIONS
DenominationOne Pala
MetalGold 0.635
AlloyAg%Cu = 0.91
TypeStruck
Diameter14.8 mm
Thickness1.? mm
Weight Std1.12 gms
Weight1.11 gms
DieAxisO°?
p1_purnaghata_au_obverse p1_purnaghata_au_reverse
Codrington 63 ; OMRS-29
Obverse : Standing figure Kuvera head to right. Crown, curved line rom top of head to bottom and ending in a dot. In a Dhoti (garment) indicated by two curved lines on either side but no line between legs. Right arm pendent; left is bent, and holds in front of the face a vase from which issues a plant composed of a straight line bifurcated at the top and two branches or leaves on either side. left leg crossed behind right. To left standing lamp; to right fire-alter, A beaded circle along the periphery of the coin.
Reverse : Nagari Legend Lakshmi under crescent. The k and sh are joined. Two dots under first letter which is smaller than the compound one. All in beaded circle. Finely executed.

I thank Jan Lingen who kindly permited me to use the image of this pala kahavanu from his collection, which he uploaded to zeno which have been reduced to 600 dpi and displayed at 500 dpi.

I thank Ishfar of Kandy for the image of the lower Specimen shown. which is slightly cruder than what is expected for type I. However, the surface Silver fraction in alloy with Copper (Ag%Cu) is as expected for Genuine Specimens.