Portuguese India Coins Found
Vishnu Joshi found the 16th- 17th-century coins in mid-November while clearing his cashew orchard in Nanoda Sattari.
The Ghat pathway connected British India and Portuguese India during the age of the spice trade. A cashew farmer clearing brush on his farm in what had been Portuguese Goa recently found artifacts from India’s colonial past, these being a hoard of 832 copper coins.
Ghat pathways are a rudimentary form of roads constructed mostly by the British Raj. The roads connect hill stations established in the mountains meant for those living in these remote regions. The Braganza Ghat was the only access someone traveling between the British and the Portuguese-occupied areas of India could use to reach Goa from Karnataka before the establishment of rail service.
In mid-November, Vishnu Joshi encountered the coin find in a small clay pot that disintegrated once handled while clearing his cashew orchard in Nanoda Sattari. Nanoda Sattari is a village in rural Goa that became an important trading hub for the Eastern spice trade in the area that was occupied by Portugal. Goa became the capital of the entire Portuguese Empire east of the Cape of Good Hope.
Portugal conquered Goa from the Bijapur Sultanate in 1510. Portuguese general, admiral, and statesman Afonso de Albuquerque and first Duke of Goa, expanded Portuguese influence while he was viceroy of Portuguese India from 1509 to 1515. Goa became a major port for the Portuguese armadas sailing into India. Goa was conjoined to modern India in 1961.
Joshi said of the coin find, “We were about in the cashew grove clearing along with some workers when we found these coins. There are 826 in total, and we tried to clean some and realized they are copper with some unknown inscription on them. It appears that they were stored here as a buried treasure.”
Joshi described the place of the find as being at Haddiche Bharad situated on a hillock about one kilometer from the Kalasa nullah site. Canals over the Mandovi River planned for this site are the source of contention between Goa and Karnataka.
Under India’s treasure trove laws, a lost or forgotten find becomes the property of the state. Anyone discovering such a find is required by law to report that find to the government. This coin find is expected to offer insight into the Ghat pathway that connected British and Portuguese India.
Goa Archaeology Department Minister Subhash Phal Dessai said, “The coins are connected to the history of Goa’s erstwhile kingdoms and the people of the time. Prima facie, from the alphabets and symbols, it appears that the coins were issued in the 16th-17th century during the early years of Portuguese rule. On some coins, one side has a cross and an alphabet, which could be interpreted as the initials of a king, under whose kingdom the coins may have been circulated.”
Minister for Archives and Archaeology Subbash Phaldessai said, “We need to understand which era or which kingdom has issued them. At present, all we can say is that the coins are at least a few centuries old. Such a large discovery of coins of historical value is indeed a rare occurrence in the state and the analysis will definitely throw some light and add a chapter to the history and economy of the times they belong to.”
Phaldessai said that following carbon dating analysis, the coins will be displayed in the Goa State Museum. Phaldessai indicated Joshi would be “suitably rewarded by the government.”
The department plans to carbon date the coins to determine their exact age. Copper coins were being issued in Goa before 1521. The early Portuguese-issued coins are the same diameter as the contemporary Bijapur coins but with Portuguese iconography. Portuguese Goa coins have images including the royal arms and a globe on lower denominations and a cross and globe on the higher denominations. The GA mint mark of Goa appears on some Portuguese Goa coins, but otherwise, there are no inscriptions on them.
The Portuguese mint in Goa struck coins for domestic use continuously until 1869, when the mint was closed by the then-occupying British. The coins are of poor workmanship and were made by local Indian craftsmen using European designs.
Gold half- and 1-cruzado coins on which the Portuguese globe design was minted have been attributed to the same period. The initial of Portugal’s King Manuel (1495-1521) appears on the half cruzado. There were no gold coins reported to be in the recent find.
Complicating identifying the coins further, Portugal issued coins at their settlements in Bacaim, Chaul, Diu, and Damao. These areas were seized from the sultanate of Gujerat during the mid-16th century. During the 18th century, Portuguese Goa issued distinctive large-diameter tin-composition cast coins that were similar to those issued by the British in Bombay. Coins of Portuguese Gujerat were often cruder in design than the Goan issues and never adopted the royal portrait design. An issue of copper coins was also minted at the Portuguese southern Indian port of Cochin before Cochin fell into Dutch hands in 1669.
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