Hyderabad, Mir Osman Ali Khan Asaf Jah VII,
Gold Ashrafi, 11.1g, AH 1333 RY4, KM Y57a
Obv: 92 Asaf Jah (top); Nizam al-Mulk (left); Bahadur (right);
1333 Sanah (bottom); Char-Minar (Center) with 'Ain' in doorway (Persian
alphabet for 'O', the initial of Osman)
Rev: Yek Ashrafi (center circle); 4 Julus Maimanat Manus Zarb
Farkhanda Buniyad Haidarabad (4th regnal year associated with prosperity,
struck at Farkhanda Buniyad Haidarabad)
The issuer of the coin is Osman Ali Khan:
Numeral 92 is observed on almost all coins of Hyderabad. It is
not the Regnal Year of the State or the Nizam Dynasty or something related to
the title or rank of the Nizam or mint identification. It is the numerical
value of the name "Muhammad". In Islam, Prophet Muhammad (Peace be
Upon Him) is praised and honored therefore Muslims do not want his name to be
touched with unclean hands or thrown on the floor. For this reason, they
represent it with a numerical sum.
Muhammad = Mim + Ha + Mim + Dal = 40 + 8 + 40 + 4 = 92
The Nizam-ul-Mulk of Hyderabad, popularly known as the Nizam of
Hyderabad, was a monarch of the Hyderabad State, now divided into the states of
Telangana, Karnataka and Maharashtra. Nizam, shortened from Nizam-ul-Mulk,
meaning Administrator of the Realm, was the title of the sovereigns of
Hyderabad State, since 1724, belonging to the Asaf Jah dynasty.
The Asaf Jah dynasty was of Parso-tajik origin from the region
around Samarkand in modern-day Uzbekistan, The dynasty was founded by Mir
Qamar-ud-Din Siddiqi, a viceroy of the Deccan under the Mughal Empire from 1713
to 1721. He intermittently ruled after Aurangzeb's death in 1707. In 1724,
Mughal control lapsed, and Asaf Jah declared himself independent in Hyderabad.
Hyderabad was the largest and most prosperous of all princely
states in India. It covered 82,698 square miles (214,190 km2) of fairly
homogeneous territory and had a population of roughly 16.34 million people (as
per the 1941 census), of which a majority (85%) was Hindu. Hyderabad State had
its own army, airline, telecommunication system, railway network, postal
system, currency and radio broadcasting service.
In September 1948, in Operation Polo, the Indian Army marched
into Hyderabad, deposed the Nizam, and annexed the state into the Indian Union.
Seven Nizams ruled Hyderabad for two centuries until 1947. The
Nizam was known for his wealth and jewelry collection. The Jewels of the Nizams
comprised 173 jewels, which includes emeralds, some of them Colombian, which
together weigh nearly 2,000 carats (0.40 kg), and pearls exceeding 40 thousand
chows. The collection includes gemstones, turban ornaments, necklaces and
pendants, belts and buckles, earrings, armbands, bangles and bracelets,
anklets, cufflinks and buttons, watch chains, and rings, toe rings, and nose
rings. Among them is the seven-stringed Basrah pearl necklace, known as
Satlada, which has 465 pearls embedded in it. The collection also includes the
famed Jacobs Diamond, weighing 184.5 carats or 36.90 grams, the fifth largest
diamond in the world, that the Nizam Mir Osman Ali used as paperweight until
its true value was realized and stored away! In 1995, the Indian government,
citing the Nizams Jewels as part of Indian Heritage, finally bought the famed
Nizam Jewels for 218 crore (about US$70 million) much less than the $350
million the family (and the auction house Sotheby's) estimated the jewels were
worth.
Mir Osman Ali Khan, the last Nizam, was reputed to be the
richest man in the world, having a fortune estimated at US$2 billion in the
early 1940s or 2 per cent of the US economy then. At that time the treasury of
the newly independent Union government of India reported annual revenue of US$1
billion only. He was portrayed on the cover of TIME magazine on 22 February
1937, described as the world's richest man. The Nizam is widely believed to
have remained as the richest man in South Asia until his death in 1967, though
his fortunes fell to US$1 billion by then and became a subject of multiple
legal disputes between bitterly fighting rival descendants. Calculating his
modern-day worth in 2012, accounting for inflation, the Nizam was worth $236
billion, making him one of the wealthiest people to have ever lived. He built
the Hyderabad House in Delhi and also established the Osmania University.
Charminar (combination of the Urdu words Chār and Minar,
translating to "Four Towers"), featured prominently on the coin and a
global icon of Hyderabad, listed among the most recognized structures of India,
was built at the center of the city, to commemorate the eradication of plague,
as Muhammad Quli Qutb Shah had prayed for the end of a plague that was ravaging
his city and vowed to build a Mosque at the very place where he prayed.
According to Jean de Thévenot, a French traveller of the 17th century whose
narration was complemented with the available Persian texts, the Charminar was
constructed in the year 1591, to commemorate the beginning of the second
Islamic millennium year (1000 AH). The event was celebrated far and wide in the
Islamic world, thus Qutb Shah founded the city of Hyderabad to celebrate the
event and commemorate it with the construction of this building.
In 2007, Hyderabad Muslims living in Pakistan constructed a
small-scaled quasi replica of the Charminar at the main crossing of the
Bahadurabad neighborhood in Karachi.
Acknowledgement:
Wikipedia
Chiefa Coins
Blog Post Author: Mitresh singh
Chiefa Coins
Blog Post Author: Mitresh singh
