Tree and Svastika
Ancient Lanka
Anuradhapura - Ruhuna Period

A circular copper-lead coin found at various archaeological sites in Anuradhapura and Ruhuna with a branched tree within enclosure of many compartments on obverse and a railed svastika revolving to right (clockwise) or left (anticlockwise) on the reverse.

The Branch in clear specimens ends plain with nothing, a triple fork, triple dot [Codrington TypeIB(a)] or triple leaves, but not mentioned by OBRW for H11, H16 or H17), If a triple Fork then the Upward pointing branch should also has a similer triple Fork. Codrington counting only brnches to side has counted this sometimes as two branches, although the top two do not have a triplet at their ends. So some of that called Six branches should be five. Some called Four Branchs is also Five as he ignores the upward pointing branch. Codrington mentions plain branches with nothing at end (Type 3) and Branches with Quadruple Fork (1B(b)(ii) ) but no images

Note also that the tip of the tree and the base of the enclosure maybe off the Flan and or those coins the classification based on region of image seen on flan could be in error. The number of branches have been counted differently by many Authors, and hopefully I have adopted same as OBRW which to me is more logical.

Codrington describes 14 types with various combinations of (1) Four (2) Six and (3) Eight Branches in tree, and Four, Six, and twelve compartments in enclosure. The catalogs also list Right and Left rotation of the svastika, and other extra symbols which give various types. Codrington's description counts only branches to side and has even number.
CompartmentsBranchesSvastikaTypes
None Four Right 1B(b)(vi)
Four Four Right 1A 1B(a)(i) 1B(a)(ii) 1B(a)(iii) 1B(b)(ii) 1B(b)(iv) 1B(b)(v)
Four Four Left 1B(b)(i)
Four Eight Right 3(i) 3(iii)
Six Eight Left 3(ii)
Twelve Four Right 1B(b)(iii)
Twelve Six Right 2

All of Codrington coins are not illustrated, and as those that are used models, they are not as clear as high resolution scans of coin.
Pl.12 coin is called a Four Branched tree when it probably is Five.
Pl.13 coin is called a Four Branched tree when it should be Three.
Pl.14 coin is called a Six Branched tree when it should be Five.
Pl.15 coin is called a Eight Branched tree when it probably is seven.

Bopearachchi and Wickramasinhe in Ruhuna (OBRW) describes 9 types from Akurugoda with various combinations of Three, Five and seven Branches in tree, and Four, Six, twelve and fifteen compartments in enclosure. They count main vertical stalk leading to one more or a odd-number of branches.

CompartmentsBranchesSvastikaWeightOBRW #
Four Five Leaf Right 1.?? H.17
Four Five Leaf Right 1.87 H.16
Twelve Seven Leaf Right 2.67 H.11
Six Three Fork Left 0.38 H.13
Four Five Fork Left 2.04 H.15
Twelve Five Fork Left 2.09 H.12
Four Three Fork Left 3.89 H.14
Fifteen Five Fork Left 6.72 H.09
Twelve Five Fork Right 6.95 H.10

The scheme used by OBRW where images of all are published was studied and used. However there are Typo's in weights and sizes
H14 coin has published weight 4.54g when it is 3.89g
H17 coin image has a diameter of 14 mm but is stated as having same weight and diameter of H16 with a diameter of 19 mm.

Many of the coin types listed below are ex: Rajah Wickremesinhe collection the Author of the second list above. The variety is probably even larger.

CompartmentsBranchesSvastika WeightSizeLinkComment
Plain Branch Type
Four Seven Plain Left 0.50g10.5 @ Small
Twelve Five Plain Right 0.81g12.1 @ Square
Twelve Seven Plain Left 1.11g14.4 @
Twelve Five Plain Left 1.27g14.7 @
Branch ending in 3 dots Type
Six Five dot Right 0.77g12.1 @
Six Seven dot Left 1.90g15.4 @
Twelve Five dot Left 1.91g14.1 @
Branch ending in 3 leaves Type
Twelve Five Leaf Left 1.31g13.0 @
Eight Five Leaf Right 2.49g14.3 @ Square
Twelve Five Leaf Left 2.49g17.1 @
SixteenFive Leaf Right 2.67g16.7 @ H.11
Branch ending in Triple Fork Type
Twelve Five Fork Left 1.02g13.7 @
Twelve Five Fork Left 1.48g14.6
Four Three Fork Left 3.89g22.5 @ H.14
FifteenFive Fork Left 4.26g19.2 @
Twelve Five Fork Right 5.82g25.3 @ Large

Observations.
There are more token types with railed Svastika rotating to left or Anticlockwise. but clockwise is seen in all types.
Twelve compartments and Five Branches seem to be the most common format of token type.
All different number of compartments is seen in all Types and is not correlated with weight.
The Plain Branch tokens are small and light, and the largest and heavy tokens end with a triple Fork.

Text edited from
* Ceylon Coins and Currency By H. W. Codrington. Colombo 1924
  Page 22 Chapter III - Tree and Svastika - Pl 12 to Pl 15.
* Ruhuna. An Ancient Civilisation Re-visited by Bopearachchi and Wickramasinhe. 1999 (OBRW)
  Page 27 Local coins - Tree and Svastika - Pl H.9 to H.17.