Eluru, September 2, 2013: Four French gold coins with the image of Napoleon Bonaparte-III, a descendant of the military general and the first emperor of France, were discovered in the Ksheera Ramalingeswara Swamy temple at Palacole in West Godavari district a few days ago.

According to S. Bangaiah, Assistant Director, and K. Timma Raju, Technical Assistant, Department of Archaeology and Museums, who were present at the time of discovery, the coins weighing 1.5g were dated back to the 18th century A.D.

One of the coins was shifted to the department’s museum at Kakinada for preservation with consent from the temple authorities. Besides, three copper coins in the denomination of half anna and quarter anna of the same period bearing the pictures of Victoria Queen belonging to the British regime were also traced at the time of reinstallation of dhwajastambham at the temple.

The temple’s dhwajastambham, which was believed to have been built about 150 years ago, collapsed during heavy rain a few months ago. During the excavations taken up for the reinstallation of new dhwajastambha, the coins were traced nine feet underground.

According to the historical evidence available with the Archaeology department, the temple was built during the period of Eastern Chalukyas in the 10th Century.

Source: The Hindu, September 2, 2013