India ?, Sri Lanka ?, Kingdom of Travancore or Cochin (British Protectorate) ?, ca. 1795-1850 AD., Viraraya Fanam, KM 30.

India ?, Sri Lanka ?, Kingdom of Travancore or Cochin (British Protectorate) ?, ca. 1795-1850 AD.,
Viraraya Fanam (ø 7 mm / 0,30 g), gold, axis (as pictured) irregular alignment ↑↙ (ca. 250°),
Obv.: , stylized lion or figure representing a human body, raised arms and head.
Rev.: , stylized boar.
KM 30 .

From Hans Herrli's "Gold Fanams 1336-2000", according to Herrli:
"At one time or other various coin types have been called Kali (or Gully) fanams at different places in South India. The name originally did not refer to the goddess Kali, but to the Kali Yuga (the age of conflicts), the last of the 4 great periods of the Hindus, which allegedly began on the 18th of February, 3102 BC, at the end of the great wars described in the Mahabarata, and which will end in the year 428,999. None of the early coins therefore shows a goddess."

"The coin that in the eastern half of South India became known as a Kali fanam is the result of a lateral compression of the obverse of the classical Vira raya fanam, a development which already started on early Vijayanagar taras. On early Kali fanams the 4 dots representing the head of the lion are still visible:"
The transformed design no longer resembles a lion surmounted by a crescent, but 2 varieties of human figures, which were popularly said to represent the goddess Kali.

Though the Viraraya fanams (KM29 silver and KM30 gold) are listed under Travancore they were issued by rulers in Ceylon. They were probably found in Travancore because they are close to each other geographically and coins might have been used in trade.