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TAMIL HERITAGE...
the Tamils are an ancient people
Sangam Age Tamil Coins
courtesy: R.Krishnamurthy
Monograph available from Garnet Publications,
34, Second Main Road, Raja Annamalaipuram,
Chennai 600 028, India
see also
R. Krishnamurthy.
Non-Roman Ancient Foreign Coins from Karur in India
There are a few benchmarks in our knowledge
of the ancient Tamil speaking people of South India,
popularly referred to as the "Sangam Age" of the Tamils and
approximately spanning the period between 300 B.C to 300 A.D.
They are the discovery of the literature of
this age ; the reading of the names of some kings of
this period in the Tamil-Brahmi
inscriptions ; the identification of some coins
assignable to this age ; the definite attribution of a coin
with the legend Peru-valuthi
embossed in Tamil-Brahmi script to the Pandya King of the
Sangam Age by R.Krishnamurthy,
the author of this monograph .
This book is the result of his
painstaking effort over a decade to collect, classify and
understand the coins of this age and bring out in English a
comprehensive study in a single volume and attempt to
present enough material to substantiate the view that the
coinage of the ancient Tamil land was fairly well developed
and the State was strong enough to contribute to this
development process, probably due to its trans-Indian and
trans-Oceanic trade contracts.
Illustrated with line
drawings and attractive multicolour photographs of
coins, the monograph is likely to remain as a standard
reference work to historians, numismatics,coin collectors,
and the general readers interested in the
Sangam Age of the Tamils and their
coins in particular.
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'Makkotai' Silver coin |
'Kuttuvan kotai' silver coin |
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'Peru-valuthi' Pandya coin |
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Pandya coin |
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Chola coin |
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