2016-09-27 Tue

Raja Raja Chola I popularly known as Raja Raja the Great is one of the greatest emperors of the Tamil Chola Empire of India, who ruled between 985 and 1014 CE.

One of his Gold Kahavanu coin depicts the seated king facing towards right with right hand raised and conch shell in his left hand. The reverse side depicts the standing king to right with torch and plant symbol at the sides. It also has a Devanagari legend “Raja Raj”

This extremely fine coin weighs around 4.41 g. The important features of Chola coins are that they are extensively decorated with various motifs like leaves, plants, granular dots, etc.

It can be called as “octopus-man” type coin, may be because of the illusionary effect. It looks like that the king is having four legs. But is it correct to call these coins as “octopus man” type?
What do you think about it?