The great Delhi massacre- Nadir shah

[abhinumis]

During the reign of Muhammad shah , Persian king Nadir shah invaded India and took away the famous peacock throne, Kohinoor among numerous other priceless possessions from India.

The Great Delhi Massacre

  On 9 March 1739 Nadir Shah entered the city of Delhi, where on the next day he was proclaimed sovereign from the pulpits of the Jama Masjid and other places of prayer.
       The same day a rumour started that Nadir Shah had been treacherously shot dead at the instigation of Muhammad Shah, by a woman-guard of the palace. The rumour was readily believed and spread like wildfire and subsequently the Persians in the streets of Delhi were attacked by the local people. The riots went on all-night and about 3000 Persians were killed. Next morning, 11 March, Nadir Shah rode out to the middle of Chandi Chowk, opposite the police station (kotwal) and close to the Sarafa Bazar. After ascertaining himself from which wards and classes of men the crimes of the night before had proceeded, he unsheathed his sword as a signal for the general massacre which lasted from 9 o'clock in the morning to 2 p.m. whereby nearly 20.000 people were slain.
Coins in the name of Nadir Shah are known with the date AH1151 and 1152AH. Those with 1152AH were produced during the period between 30 March 1739 up to 1 May 1739.
- Jan Lingen, ONS newsletter 161

Legend on the coin:
Obverse- Sultan hast bar salatin jahan,
                    Shah-i-shahan Nadir Sahib qiran.
("over sultans of earth is Sultan Nadir, Shah of Shahs Lord of the Age")
Reverse- Dar al khilafat Shahjahanabad 1152,
                   Khallad allah Mulkahu
("May God protect his sovereignty, Abode of khalif Shahjahanabad AH1152")

[radars_teddy]

Why was there a persian king in India?

[Figleaf]

Good question, but let me first tell you why abhinumis is so happy with this coin. There are two reasons. The first is the date 1152. Islamic years are not synchronised with christian years, so it started on 30th March by the AD calendar. Nadir shah was paid off and left India so the coinage in the name of Nadir shah stopped on 1 May. Total production time was just one month! The type is scarce enough as it is, but with the date 1152, it is even harder to find. The second reason is that the coin is a witness of an important historical event, described in the post above.

So why was Nadir shah in India? He came to power in Iran by subduing all its internal and external enemies. That was a feat by itself, but it left the country panting on the floor. At that time, India was in the opposite situation. The Mughal emperor, Muhammad Shah, was losing his grip to two powerful internal forces: Sikhs and Marathas. Add to that the military ability of Nadir shah and the fact that India was at that time one of the richest countries on earth and you can understand that Nadir shah scored one victory after another and found himself in Delhi, where the massacre occurred.

After the massacre, Muhammad Shah did the right thing: paying off Nadir shah, who promptly returned home with his outrageously large ransom, made himself many friends by his generosity paid for by Muhammad Shah and had a few more wars just for fun. For much more detail, see Nadir shah's lemma in Wikipedia. Follow some of the links there for better understanding. To understand the massacre, read up on Genghis Khan and Amir Timur, both heroes of Nadir shah and neither able to get as far in India as he did.

Peter

[asm]

Nadir Shah is known for both the loot and the massacre in Dehli. It is recorded that he sent his louts across Dehli to list out the wealth of its citizens and then had them pay 50% of that (the value included property etc) as a tribute. The effect of this was such that the governors of some of the richer and prosperous places, far away from Dehli like Murshidabad, Banaras & Ahmedabad also struck coins in the name of Nadir. This would have been done to please Nadir and ensure that their fiefs did not suffer the same feat as that of Dehli. The issues of the other mints noted above are much more scarce.

Amit

[WillieBoyd2]

In 2018 I found an old book in a laundry room entitled My Life as an Explorer by Sven Hedin which was published in 1925.

Sven Hedin was a wealthy Swedish explorer in the early 20th century. In this book he visits, among other places, Persia (Iran).

About Meshhed, the City of Martyrs, he wrote:

The third grave is that of Nadir Shah. He was a Tatar robber, who ravaged Khorasan, became mighty and powerful, offered Shah Thamas II his support, reconquered for him all the provinces taken by the Turks, expanded the borders of Persia in all directions, dethroned the Shah and had him assassinated, drowned Delhi in blood (1738), blinded his son, built pyramids of human heads on the mosque-roofs, and stamped on his coins, "O coin, announce to all the Earth the reign of Nadir, the king who conquered the world".

(In 1747) Sale Bek, a colonel of the guards, stole into his tent at night and cut his head off. The body was buried in a mausoleum; but Aga Mohammed Khan, founder of the present royal house (the Kajars), on attaining power in 1794, opened the grave of the conqueror, and let the body be devoured by dogs.

I became interested in the Nadir Shah coin with such an inscription or a similar one. I could not find one with the exact inscription, but as these inscriptions were in Persian Arabic there were many translations of them.

This coin was struck during Nadir Shah's invasion of India in 1740:


Persia Rupee, Nadir Shah, Bhakkar, AH 1153 (AD 1740)
Silver, 20 mm, 11.32 gm, KM A385.2
Obverse: Three horizontal lines of text
Line 1: Shah-e-Shahan Nadir Sahib Qiran (King of Kings Nadir, Lord of the Auspicious Conjunction)
Line 2: Hast bar salatin jehan (There is over kings of the world)
Line 3: Sultan (King)
Reverse: Three horizontal lines of text
Line 1: Khallid Allah Mulhaku (May Allah perpetuate his reign)
Line 2: Bhakkar (mint)
Line 3: Zarb (struck at)
The year "1153" is on the reverse center. AH 1153 is around AD 1740. The coin has no regnal year.

The title on the obverse has been rendered several ways, including "Nadir is the King of Kings over all the kings of the world".

The "Auspicious Conjunction" usually meant that someone was born during a time when the planets Jupiter and Venus were close together in the sky. In their Astrology it meant that the person was destined for greatness.

[asm]

Here is my coin of Ahmedabad.

Amit

[Figleaf]

Thank you, Amit. I was going to ask you for that to enhance this splendid thread.

Peter