Standing Bull Chola style Copper massa
South Indian Occupation 1220 - 1284
Anonymous Chola style copper massa with humped standing Bull from the
period of South Indian Tamil occupation of nothern Lanka by Magha
( CE 1215-1236) until Jaffna was taken in 1284 by Pandyan Arya Chakravartis.
The Sinhala kingdom had escaped to Dambadeniya during this period.
| SPECIFICATIONS |
| Denomination | One massa |
| Alloy | Copper |
| Type | Struck |
| Diameter | 16.3 mm |
| Thickness | 2.7 mm |
| Weight | 3.6 gms |
| Shape | Round |
| DieAxis | O° |
|
| 
|
| | Mitchiner #856
|
| Denomination | One massa |
| Alloy | Copper |
| Diameter | 14.5 mm |
| Thickness | 3.3 mm |
| Weight | 3.4 gms |
| Shape | Round |
| DieAxis | O° |
|
| 
|
| | Mitchiner #858
|
Obverse : Humped bull standing right; torch in front and crescent above.
Reverse : Standing king with torch on left and group of spheres on right.
Coins of this type are found in Lanka, as distint from related late Chola
bull issues of slightly dumpier fabric with differences in ancillary symbolism
current in South India.
Text edited from
* Oriental Coins: Michael Mitchiner,
London, Hawkins Publications, 1978.
The massa coin was scanned at 600dpi and displayed at 400dpi.
These two coins were purchased on ebay in 1999 November from Manuel
Rajesh in Madras, India. As such they were probably not found in
Lanka. However the size, weight and design match very closely the
coins illustrated in Mitchiner with which they have been identified.
These two coins with a greenish tone were selected from the auction
lot of four coins. The other two had a brownish tone, were 10% lighter
but about the same diameter and thickness with designs that didn't
match any of the three illustrated in Mitchiner 856-858.