Travancore Fanam
The Travancore Fanam was a type of money that was issued by the State of Travancore, now a part of Kerala in South India. The Fanams (or Fanoms) and Chuckrams (or Chakrams) were known to be some of the smallest coins in the world. Historically, the Fanam and Chuckram coins were the regular unit of currency in Travancore and appear to have been extensively used for trading in the region of South India. The word Fanam (and the related Panam) literally means money and is still used as a synonym for wealth in Kerala in the native language of Malayalam.
History
The Fanam coins were part of the traditional coinage of Kerala and the time from when these coins were issued is not known. Some other versions of the Fanam are known to have been minted in Kerala by the kingdoms of Cochin and Kozhikode. The adjoining States in modern day Tamil Nadu, Karnataka and Sri Lanka are also known to have had their own versions of the Fanams. By the 18th century, the reduction in precious metal content had rendered the Travancore Fanam coins so small that they had become difficult to count. They were counted by pouring them in a pile onto a counting board (called palakas) and shaking them into the holes on the surface of the board.[1]
The modern version of the Travancore Fanams were introduced into circulation around 1800 C.E. (975 M.E.) with a value equal to 4 Chuckrams.[2] These modern versions were minted in Trivandrum (now called Thiruvananthapuram) with the aid of stamping presses obtained from Madras Presidency. Later issues were minted using presses procured from England. While the older versions of the fanams were based on gold or silver, these newer coins were primarily based on silver. They were issued till 1946-47 remaining in circulation till 1949 before being replaced by the Indian Rupee and Paise system.
Inscriptions
Older issues of the Fanam coins are inscribed with the various symbols representing religious deities or nature, but issues from the 1860s onwards often had the names or insignia of the reigning monarch in English. The year, when printed on the Fanam coins was based on the Malayalam calendar (and corresponding Malayalam Era - M.E.) which begins circa 825 CE. Therefore, the year of issue of the coin can be found by adding 825 to it.
Example - The year of issue of a coin showing 1000, will be 1825 C.E.(or A.D.). Therefore, the year of issue of the coin with year 1116, as depicted in the images, will be 1940-41.
7 Fanams made up one Travancore rupee while the Fanam was composed of 4 Chuckrams. These Chuckrams were further divided into 16 cash. Thus,
| Unit | Equivalent Sub-units |
|---|---|
| 1 Travancore Rupee | 7 Fanams |
| 1 Fanam | 4 Chuckrams |
| 1 Chuckram | 16 Cash |