East India company coins with pictures depicting Hanuman

[Guest guest]

Hi all,

 

My colleague's Son Nathaniel Dominy

http://anthro.ucsc.edu/n_dominy.shtml has been conducting a research

on East India Company coins of Half anna (1835) that has pictures of

Hanuman.

 

According to him,

"In 1835, the first coins produced by the East India Company were

struck for circulation; two gol;d coins, the double mohur and the

mohur; silver rupees, as well as half and quarter rupees, and two

anna pieces... The anna traded at 1/16 rupees."

 

The Half anna coin (1717) had a picture of Hanuman. "But getting

back to Hanuman's devotion to Rama and sita, we come to 'token'

which is more curious by far than anything so far desscribed."It is

the bronze piece pictured with dates in question (not sure).

 

We are interested in any information how and why East India company

came up with such a coin, the history behind the coin, and how long

was it in circulation.

 

Some examples of Hanuman on a n earlier Indian coin than this

 

http://prabhu.50g.com/southind/hoysala/south_hoysalacat.html

 

http://prabhu.50g.com/southind/kadamba/south_kadambahcat.html

 

Any information that ayone can provide is greatly appreciated. It is

something I did not know myself and am very curious to learn.

 

With best regards,

 

Jay

 

Jay Bhatt

Information Services (Engineering)

Drexel University, Philadelphia

TEL 215-895-1873

FAX 215-895-2070

EMAIL bhattjj

 

http://www.library.drexel.edu/services/refengineer.html