Gold coins of the north-eastern Malay states
Anker Rentse’s 1939 article in the Journal of the Malayan Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society re-examines the so-called “kijang” gold coin of the north-eastern Malay states, arguing that the animal depicted is not a barking deer but a sacred bull—most likely the Nandi of Shiva—and that the coinage was introduced by Muslim Indian traders and subsequently minted locally in states such as Kelantan, Patani, and Kedah using indigenous gold.
Summary
Rentse undertakes a systematic typological study of a rare gold coin that had long puzzled numismatists. Earlier scholars—Bucknill, Moquette, Codrington, and Gerini—had variously identified the animal as a deer, a maneless lion, a horse, or an imitation of a Southern Indian fanam. Rentse, drawing on a larger and better-struck corpus of specimens than was previously available, identifies seven distinct types and argues that the animal is a bull, citing the presence of bull-like horns, a hump, a tasseled tail, and in one type a clearly depicted sexual organ consistent with Indian cult imagery. The long neck, he concedes, resembles a kijang, but the preponderance of features points to an Indian bull.
The article situates the coin within the broader commercial and religious history of the northern Malay states. Rentse notes that the local term mas-dinar derives from the Persian dinar (itself from Latin denarius), indicating a Western origin for the coinage concept, and that Muslim traders likely introduced it. He connects the bull imagery to the Malay Annals legend of the Nandi bull that appeared at Siguntang near Mount Mahameru, carrying the ancestor of Malay royalty. Skeat’s 1899 field notes from Jering, Patani, provide independent corroboration: coins were dug up in a bottle at Bukit Kuwong, traditionally attributed to Raja Merkah after his conversion to Islam, and Skeat himself identified the figures as bulls rather than kijang.
Rentse also discusses a related “sun coin” (dinar matahari) with an eight-pointed star, drawing parallels to Ceylonese coinage described by Codrington (1924), and notes that the coins served practical and magical functions in local society—worn as amulets for children, used in bird-training rituals, and passed down through families.
Key Findings
- Seven distinct types of the bull coin are identified, with weights ranging from 8 to 9 grains (p. 92).
- Inscriptions on the reverse include Malik al-‘adil (“the just Lord”), al-‘adil (“the just”), and asma ‘adil (“brave and just”) (pp. 89–92).
- Skeat’s 1899 notes record coins dug up in a bottle at Bukit Kuwong, Jering, Patani, traditionally struck by Raja Merkah after his conversion to Islam; half went to the Raja as treasure trove, half to the finder (p. 93).
- A coin bearing the inscription Sultan Mustapha Shah, discovered in Kedah by Ivor H. Evans, is tentatively linked to a ruler of Patani of the late 16th or 17th century (p. 95).
- Codrington’s Ceylon Coins and Currency (1924, Plate IV, figs. 91–96) provides a possible prototype: a kneeling bull with sun and moon above, though the Ceylonese representation differs in detail from the Malayan types (p. 92).
- The coins were used as amulets (with pierced rings for wearing around children’s necks) and in magical practices, including rubbing the tongues of burong tiong and burong barau to teach them human speech (pp. 92, 95).
Conclusion
Rentse concludes that the original type (Type 1) was likely introduced into Malaya by Muslim Indian traders or minted by a Malay ruler under Indian influence, while Types 2–7 represent local imitations struck in the northern Malay states using indigenous gold. The animal is the sacred Nandi bull of Shiva, consistent with the Malay Annals origin legend, and the coinage reflects the deep penetration of Indian religious and commercial culture into the pre-colonial polities of the east coast.
Context
- The study draws on Rentse’s personal collection of specimens from Kelantan and Patani, supplemented by references to coins in the Perak Museum and to earlier publications by Bucknill, Codrington, Linehan, and Skeat.
- The article contributes to the historiography of pre-colonial Malay coinage by shifting the interpretive framework from a purely numismatic puzzle to a study of Indian religious symbolism and local minting practices in the northern Malay states.