Duddu Público Deposited
Also variously written Dudu, Doudou and Tuttu. A copper coin of Southern India, the value of which varied according to the locality. In the Travancore State there are varieties marked Ara Chakram, meaning half a Chakram. See Elliot, Coins of Southern India. 1886. (p. 139), who describes two varieties of the value of four and eight Cash respectively.
In the Madras Presidency these coins were issued early in the eighteenth century, and in Bengal they were computed as equal to the half Paisa.
When the French operated their mints at Pondichery and Karikal, they struck the Doudou, as they called it, with a rude fleur de lis on one side, and a Tamil inscription on the reverse. There is a dated variety of 1836, with the Gallic cock on the obverse. There coins were also valued at four Cast. See Zay, Histoire monetaire des colonies franchises. 1892. (pp. 278, 285).
- Frey's Dictionary (American Journal of Numismatics, Vol. 50, 1916)