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Objective
The glorious Vijayanagara city became a heap of ruins in the year 1565 A.D. The mighty Vijayanagara empire fell in 1672 A.D. Coins of the empire survived and are with us. The stories these coins tell is the subject matter of this monograph. The study of these coins is a magic carpet that carries us back to that age and awakene bygone scenes. The coins had links with the religion, mythology and art of the age. In those times coins were far greater in importance and power than they are today. Bank notes, cheques, credit cards and E-commerce were unknown. Money meant coins, and coins meant money. Every commercial transactions, even the largest, that was not done by barter, was done by weighing or counting out actual coins. For the perfect grasp of the history of empire, study of its coinage is indespensible. To know coins well is to know and understand history. These coins in their own times faithfully served the purpose for which they were made. But beyond that, they still retain their value and importance . They provide an almost unparalled series of historical documents. They conjure before us the life and times of those who had issued them.
Coins of a Special Category, Religion and Political History could not be included.
Included are the following topics:-
  1. Foundation of City & Empire.
    2. [Details]
  2. State Emblem. [Details]

  3. Sign Manual
    4. . [Details]
  4. Territory.
    5. [Details]
  5. Population
    6. . [Details]
  6. Chronology of kings
    7. . [Details]
  7. Portrait sculptures of kings.
    8. [Details]
  8. Architecture of three kinds
    9. . [Details]
  9. Public works
    10. . [Details]
  10. Sculptures.
    11. [Details]
  11. Paintings
    12. . [Details]
  12. Fine arts of dancing and music
    13. . [Details]
social life are under "Historical Background" second is devoted to a study of coinage of period subjects
  1. Monetory system
    2. . [Details]
  2. Technique of minting
    3. . [Details]
  3. Taxation. [Details]

  4. Price of commodities.
    5. [Details]
  5. Price of Lands.
    6. [Details]
  6. Interest rates.
    7. [Details]
  7. Foreign exchange.
    8. [Details]
  8. Foreign trade with special reference import of horses.
    9. [Details]
  9. Typology& Commemorative coins.
    10. [Details]
  10. Impact on post-Vijayanagara coinage.
    11. [Details]
The catalogue in which are listed 125 coins issued by 19 kings. Illustrations have the magic touch of making the readers curious about what they read and help to visualise and understand it better. Hence a surfeit of pictures. As a help aid, in the catalogue, on the right margin of some coin display formats suitable pictures are placed which almost amplify the devices on the corresponding coins so that the theme can be clearly understood. As this work is in the form of an electronic media of a web site and not in the form of a book, it is not possible to acknowledge each illustration, nor is it possible to furnish references and footnotes to the text.

Vijayanagara Studies are vibrent. UNESCO, Paris has declared the monuments at Hampi as a World Heritage Cultural Site.The Government of Karnataka has established The Hampi Resurrection Authorities and The Vijayanagara Research Center. and these institutions are conducting studies on various aspects of Hampi's history. With a similar aim a National Project is being carried out jointly by the Archeaeological Survey of India and the State Directorate of Archeaeology and Museums of Karnataka. The results of the study may increase our knowledge about the City and Empire of Vijayanagara.


The author is grateful to the Archaeological Survey of India for granting permission to publish the following two photographs of which it owns the copyright (Vellore fort, Krishnadevaraya sculpture at Chidambaram). Spurred by the encouragement received from intimate friends like Sri M. K.Chandrasekharan, Sri R. Jawahar Babu, Sri N.Sampath and Dr. N. Sankaranarayanan- all from the coin-collecting fraternity, this work is attempted. A big thanks to them all. Special thanks to a special friend Sri R. L. Narasimhan for his special interest in the subject. Thanks are due to the Software developers, Messers Vishwapointt, Web Technologies, for expeditiously constructing the website with a pleasing get up worthy of the theme and illustrations. For her total support to the project my beloved wife gets a well deserved encomium.

The author claims no special proficiency in the subject.Only his abiding interest in and a study of Vijayanagara Numismatics induced him to attempt this work. Suggestions for improvement are welcome.
e-mail:- harihariah@yahoo.com
Harihariah. Oruganti,
No: 10 (Old No:8/2),
Masilamani Colony,
Mylapore, Chennai-600 004.
Phone No: 4982349.