Early coinage of ceylon

The early coinage of Ceylon

Eldlings

The puncmarked coins, called in Sanskrit purána, "old" Englished as "eldling," are found in Ceylon as well as throughout India. They may be recognized in the "signatum argentum" offered as tribute to Alexander at Taxila, but in all probability their origin must be sought in a remoter past. The Persian Empire was bounded by the Indus from the end of the sixth century, and a money of this early type is not likely to have been initiated when a far superior mode1 was furrnished by the darics and sigli; if the Buddhist scriptures are to be trusted, the beginnings of the eldling coinage must be anterior to the time of Gautama. Although they do not seem to have been current in the North much after the beginning of our era, they continued in circulation in the South for some two centuries later according to Mr. Vincent A. Smith (Imperial Gazetteer of India, Vol. II., p. 150); Mr. Loventhal, in his "Coins of Tinnevelly," would extend the period of their use to about AD 300. The reasons adduced by Mr. Still (J.R.A.S., C.B., Vol. XIX., No. 58, 1907, p. 191, ff.) to prove the circulation of this class of money in Ceylon about A.D. 1000 appear to be inadequate; the currency of the Island was closely connected with that of South India, and in all probability the ernployment of the eldling ceased in both countries about the same time.

Eldling
Silver, 3,44 gram
16,5x13,5 mm
(found in Sri Lanka)

The eldlings were manufactured by subdividing bars of metal or strips out from a hammered sheet, the weight being adjusted where necessary by clpping the corners of each coin so formed. The obverse is usually covered with punch marks, often overlapping and clearly impressed at different times; the marks on the reverse, on the other hand, are usually fewer in number, in the great number of cases one only, are less distinct, and frequently smaller. These archaic coins were probably issued "by local authorities - money-changers or merchants"and were submitted by them for the approval of the local king or governor, whose stamp appears on the reverse, the punch marks on the other side, once blank, being those of the successive money -changers, through whose hands they passed in the course of circulation. In Ceylon these marks are absent from the obverse of the majority of the later dumpy pieces. On none of the eldlings found locally have I been able to trace on the reverse any constantly recurring symbol which can be attributed to the Island, such as the railed svastika of the copper die-struck issues. I am, therefore, inclined to the belief that all the eldlings current in Ceylon were imported from India. From H.W.Codrington, Ceylon Coins and Currency

The earliest coinage of Ceylon shows many parallels with that of the Pandyas, by which it was inspired. The initial Pandyan issues have been divided into two consecutive series of mulid-type coins (c. 240-210 and c. 210-175 BC) that preceeded the Pandyan campaigns in Ceylon during the second century BC. The earliest coins struck in Ceylon bear designs derived from the second series of Pandyan multi-type coins struck during the period circa 210 to 175 BC and bear a group of symbols on the obverse among which an elephant normally figures.

The Pandyam fish symbol is also borrowed and appears on the reverse of these earliest Singhalese issues. During the period of Pandya domination over Ceylon which lasted from the time of the initial Tamil occupation about 177 BC until the period when the kings of Ceylon were able to exert their independance in a definitive manner from about 28 BC the Elephant coinage of the Pandyas was current both in Madura and in Ceylon. The next indigenous coinage of Ceylon dates from the resumption of independance in 28 BC and consists of a new series of multi-type copper coins bearing a prominent Elephant symbol. But these new coins are quite different from the early issues of Ceylon and from all Pandyan coinage. Moreover, this distinctive new coinage (infra) appears to have circulated only on the island; not in the lands of the Pandyas. The railed swastika found on the reverse of these coins also appears as a symbol on the reverse of contemporary rectaneular plaques showing the figure of a Goddess on the obverse. Whether the plaques subsened currency requirements or whether they were more in the nature of temple votive pieces is still a subject of discussion. The distinctive local currency of Ceylon came to an end sometime in the third century AD when the island fell under some form of domination by the Pallavas of the mainland. According to the Mahavamsa when the Singhalese king Sirinaga I died in c. AD 275 he was succceeded by his son Voharaka Tissa: but another son named Abhaya Naga collected an army on the mainland, invaded and took control of Ceylon in 297. Be that as it may the period is marked by an influx of Pallava coins to the island where specimens of the 'Lion/Wheel' issue have been found in substantial numbers. Not long afterwards massive influx of fourth century Roman bronzes led to the dominance of this species and its local imitations in the currency of the island. (From Mitchener,Orintal Coins and their Values. The Anciant & Classical World 600 BC-AD 650)
	India, Cheras 100 BC - 250 AD Elephant right symbols o. elephant and perhaps a trident in front Rev.: Bow and arrow, ankus ?.

Struck ? Lakshmi Plaques
Copper, 1,31 (thick) 8,5 x16,5 mm
Obverse: Goddes
Reverse: Swastika

Struck Lakshmi Plaques
Copper, 1,40 gram (thin) 10x27,5 mm
Obverse: Goddes between two standards
Reverse: Svastika

H.W.Codrington cfr. plate II, 23 and T.M.De Silva Abeywarde Plate II, 35

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