by the Sultan. Tipu Sultan also presented four silver cups to the Lakshmikanta Temple at Kalale. Tipu Sultan does seem to have repossessed unauthorised grants of land made to Brahmins and temples, but those which had proper sanads (certificates) were not. It was a normal practice for any ruler, Muslim or Hindu, on his accession or on the conquest of new territory. Persecution of Kodavas outside Mysore Tipu got Runmust Khan, the Nawab of Kurnool, to launch a surprise attack upon the Kodavas who were besieged by the invading Muslim army. 500 were killed and over 40,000 Kodavas fled to the woods and concealed themselves in the mountains. Thousands of Kodavas were seized along with the Raja and held captive at Seringapatam. Mohibbul Hasan, Prof. Sheikh Ali, and other historians cast great doubt on the scale of the deportations and forced conversions in Coorg in particular. Hassan says that it is difficult to estimate the real number of Kodava captured by Tipu. In a letter to Runmust Khan, Tipu himself stated: The coinage system The coinage of Tipu Sultan is one of most complex and fascinating series struck in India during the 18th century. Local South India coinage had been struck in the area that became Mysore since ancient times, with the first gold coinage introduced about the 11th century (the elephant pagoda), and other pagodas continuing through the following centuries. These pagoda were always in the South Indian style until the reign of Haidar Ali (1761–1782), who added pagodas with Persian legends, plus a few very rare gold mohurs and silver rupees, always in the name of the Mughal emperor Shah Alam II plus the Arabic letter "ح" as the first letter of his name. His successor, Tipu Sultan, continued to issue pagodas, mohurs and rupees, with legends that were completely new. As for copper, the new large paisa was commenced by Haidar Ali in AH1195, two years before his death, with the elephant on the obverse, the mint on the reverse, and was continued throughout the reign of Tipu Sultan, who added other denominations. Tipu Sultan introduced a set of new Persian names for the various denominations, which appear on all of the gold and silver coins and on some of the copper. They were: Copper: Qutb "قطب" for the 1/8 paisa (Persian for the pole star) – Akhtar "اختر" for the 1/4 paisa (star) – Bahram "بهرام"