Gigantic 12kg gold coin’s passage to Hyderabad remains towering mysteryFrom Mughals To Nizams, The Mystery Rules | Hyderabad News

Gigantic 12kg gold coin’s passage to Hyderabad remains towering mysteryFrom Mughals To Nizams, The Mystery Rules | Hyderabad News


HYDERABAD: The photograph of a gold coin stood apart at the recent exhibition of coins at the Saifabad Mint in the city. The 11935. 8 grams gold coin belonged to the emperor Jahangir and inherited by Mukarram Jah, titular Nizam VIII of Hyderabad.
According to Prof Salma Ahmed Farooqui, director of HK Sherwani Centre for Deccan Studies, Maulana Azad National Urdu University, a very interesting thread emerges where historians and CBI officers have together tried to arrange the jigsaw puzzle that revolves around the Mughals and the Nizams and how the world’s biggest ever minted gold coin came into possession of the Nizams.

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“The coin, world’s largest and heaviest minted in gold, continued to remain with the Nizams of Hyderabad until Independence. Alt- hough, not everyone knows that the coin was referred to as the Kaukab-i-Tali by Jahangir,” Prof Salma said adding that CBI former joint director Shantonu Sen’s book ‘CBI Tales from the Big Eye’ gives interesting details about this juggernaut.
Prof Salma said the metrology of coins of Jahangir’s reign shows that in the early 17th century, gigantic and zodiacal coins had started to be minted. Such gigantic pieces were also mentioned by foreign travellers Nicolao Manucci and Capt. Hawkins and others in their travelogues. Venetian traveller Manucci said that although the coins were not current, Mughal emperors like Jahangir and Shahjahan gave them as presents to ambassadors and special guests.
“Jahangir in his autobiography, Tuzuk-i-Jahangiri tells us of a gold mohur weighing 1000 tolas which he presented to Yadgar Ali, ambassador of Shah of Iran, who visited his court to pay homage bringing a letter of condolence for Emperor Akbar’s death and gifts for the emperor on April 10, 1612. This stunning gold coin 20. 3 centimetres in diametre was minted at Agra,” she said.
She said the coin’s journey to Hyderabad remains ambiguous. Ishwardas Na- gar’s Fatuhat-i-Alamgiri gives an account of Aurangzeb arranging to send relief to his tired and hungry soldiers when Bijapur was being captured.
“Banjaras with 5000 oxen laden with wheat, rice and other grain and some treasure under the escort of Ghaziuddin Khan Bahadur, Ranmast Khan, Amanullah Khan and others reached the camp of Prince Muhammad Azam. It is said that in gratitude, Aurangzeb presented the 1000 tola gigantic coin to Ghaziuddin Khan Feroz Jung I from whom it passed down to his son Nizamul-Mulk Asaf Jah I,” Prof Salma said.





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