2017-02-20 Mon

This Gold Fanam was minted during the reign of Maharaja Krishna Raja Wodeyar when the pulse of Indian soil was in the grip of English roots.

Mysore is amongst the oldest Hindu kingdoms built on the foundation of Vijayanagar Empire. Mysore later came under Haider Ali and Tipu Sultan which were both notorious in the British circle and hence it leads to a series Anglo-Mysore wars from 1780 to 1792. Tipu sultan was defeated by the British and the Mysore throne had a new regent as Maharaja Krishna Raja Wodeyar.

The obverse flan of this Fanam depicts the Narsimha in seated position and its head is represented by dots. The reverse flan depicts Kanarese legend ‘Kanthirava Narasa Raja’. The early Fanam issues clearly depicted the face of Lord Narsimha, later the representation with dots started. The Narsimha depicted in Fanam is based on the seated idol of Lord Lakshmi-Narsimha of the Vijayanagar’s capital Hampi.

Lord Narsimha according to the Vishnu Purana is the avatar of Lord Vishnu. This form of lord Vishnu represents protection, he took the form of half man and lion to protect his devotee ‘Prahlada’ form his father demon king Hiranyakashipu.

Mysore state remained under the British rule till Indian Independence (1947). The Maharaja of Mysore signed the Instrument of Accession and Mysore incorporated its realm into the Indian union. Know more about Krishna raja Wodeyar coinage.