Travancore, Rani Gouri Lakshmi Bayi (AD 1811-1815), Gold Puvitta Anantha Varahan (Pagoda), Obv: vishnu standing with stylised sanku & chakra, two lotus sprigs below, overall crudely struck Rev: convex and finely granulated, 3.39g, 11.03mm, (Coin 179 # Travensing Travancore - 2016 by Beena Sarasan), about extremely fine, Extremely Rare.

These coins were wrongly attributed to the Scott Pagoda earlier.

In the new book of Mrs. Beena Sarasan, 2^nd edition of “Traversing Travancore through the Ages on Coins” the much famous Scott pagoda which was struck on the style of Porto Nova Pagoda on Base gold is correctly attributed as the Travancore state issue.

Karthika Thirunal Rama Varma (AD1758-98) had issued two new gold coins in his reign around 964 KE which were Anantharayan Panam and Anantha Varahan whose values were given as Rs.0-4-7 and Rs. 3-15-15 (British Currency) respectively. The Anantha Varahan was not identifiable as the devices on the coin were not known. And then Barbara Mears stumbled on an illustration of this coin by Major G Bidie and wrote in her paper on the Elusive Anantharaya Varahan otherwise the coin would have remain in oblivion and always misattributed as Scott Pagoda. Barbara in her paper identified two different types, one is without lotus sprigs and one with lotus sprigs. Rani Lakshmi Bayi introduced the lotus sprigs to differentiate her coins. It could all happen with Major G Bidie’s illustration of the Ananthavarahan in the Journal of the Asiatic Society of Bengal, Vol LII, (1883AD).

This is the first time when it is correctly attributed and offered under the Travancore issue.