India I.D. Help?

Bailathacl

Wondering what this might be. I was able to attribute several Mughal Empire coins my friend shook out of an old envelope, but this one didn’t look familiar. I didn’t have chance to weigh or measure this,

but it was roughly the dimensions of a rupee or U.S. quarter. Temple token perhaps? Any help is appreciated.

WillieBoyd2

The coin is a temple token.

Here are similar tokens:
https://en.numista.com/catalogue/exonumia44995.html

Sapyx

Yep, it's an "Indian temple token", Hindu, of the type known as a "Ramatanka".

Temple tokens have various uses, depending on which religion they were issued for. Hindu ones like this are used in household rituals on festival days; the "gods are fed" by smearing food paste onto the tokens. Which explains why these tokens often appear with strangely discoloured surfaces.

They can be over a century old and made of solid silver, but it's far more common to find a modern base-metal example (usually some kind of nickel-brass). I've noticed the "ears" are a general indicator of date: the bigger the ears, the more modern the piece is. And this piece... well, the ears are rather large.

Bailathacl

Thank you WillieBoyd and Sapyx. So helpful.