World's Smallest Gold Coin Belle Vijayanagar Empire

The smallest known gold coin in the world, weighing only one-tenth of a Fanam, known as Belle. Its approximate date of issue has been estimated to be around the 14th century C.E. (Common Era), taking into account factors such as weight and fabric. The Southern Indian city of Vijayanagara; Hampi was the capital of the last great Hindu kingdom that encompassed much of Southern India. Vijayanagara was known for its opulent temples, and its coinage reflected its great wealth. The gold nuggets the Bele were struck from were originally found in riverbeds, and the malleable quality of the gold allowed them to be stamped with intricate designs easily. This coinage unit consistently maintained a specific ratio to the ancient weight standard of Ratti. The subsequent denomination was known as Hana, also referred to as Pana in Karnataka, and had Anglicized names like Fanon and Fanam during the colonial period. A rarer unit, equivalent to half of Pana or Hana, exists, with only a limited number of known issues, primarily from the Rashtrakutas, Banas, etc. In 2004, a small hoard of the tiniest 1/10th fraction of the Fanam was discovered at Koppal, bordering Bellary. These gold fractions, on average, weighed 0.4 to 0.5 grams for every ten pieces, indicating that each fraction weighed approximately 0.04 to 0.05 grams, which is smaller than a grain of rice. A coin of similar authenticity but in a higher denomination of Hana (Fanam) was acquired approximately 25 years ago from the same region. Research was conducted to establish a correlation between the genuine fractions and the Fanams obtained from the identical region. The Fanam depicted in the scan closely resembled the image of the fractions (the obverse displaying Lord Siva with his third eye). The correlation study revealed that the hand-picked best fractions from the hoard exclusively featured the faces of Trimurthis (Lord Vishnu, Lord Brahma, and Lord Shiva). The reverse of these fractions’ attributes of Trimurti, such as Conch, Discus, Padma, etc. The subsequent scan displays the fractions alongside the unit obtained from the same region approximately 25 years ago.