HYDERABAD: It was a solid hundred years ago that the Hyderabad Currency Act came into existence - in 1918 - introducing the first paper currency in the erstwhile Nizam’s Hyderabad State, but its splendour is still intact today giving a rare glimpse into the rich heritage of the Asaf Jahi’s. At a seminar on Saturday which underlined the importance of currency notes and coins of the Nizam era, numismatist Amarbir Singh, said, “Though the characters of these notes were predominantly Islamic in nature, with no pictures of animals or personalities on them, they are still regarded as the most beautiful notes ever printed.”
The currencies of Nizam-era had at least five languages printed on it. While Urdu was prominent, English, Kannada, Hindi, Telugu and Marathi also found space on the note. “This shows that languages other than Urdu were given equal status as languages of the populace.”The notes gain more importance since out of the 565 Princely states in British India, Hyderabad was the only one allowed to print currency notes. “This is evident to Hyderabad’s economic prowess when compared to other States,” Singh said.
The evidence of the secular credentials of the Nizam can also be found in the currency, Singh said. “Among the designs considered for the notes of Hyderabad State, there were those which depicted Jama Masjid in Gulbarga, Bibi ka Maqbara in Aurangabad, Nakul Sahadev Rath in Mahabalipuram, Ellora Cave 8 and a pillar from Ramappa Temple at Warangal.”
The tale of how many notes were lost at sea, and then recovered
Monsoons bring with it a constant threat of your belongings, including money, getting wet. And these notes, when wet, get susceptible to getting torn. Now imagine a note’s condition if it was buried 400-feet deep in the English Channel amid high pressure for over a decade. However, what happened to the Nizam’s currency, which followed a similar fate, defies logic.
It was May 19, 1922 and a batch of freshly-minted Hyderabadi Rupee worth HS `51, 25, 000 was waiting at the English docks for its long journey back home. A day after the journey commenced, the ship it was sailing on, SS Egypt, collided with the French cargo ship and sank. It went down into 400 feet of water in the Bay of Biscay, 30 miles away from land.
It stayed there for a decade, until interested parties and insurance companies came looking for it and other valuables that the ship took down with her when she drowned. Later, an insurance company commissioned Italian ship SORIMA Societa Ricuper Marittim Italian for the salvage operations, hoping that it could lay claim to the lost treasure. The notes were finally salvaged on June 9, 1932, after almost a decade.
“Most of these notes survived the pressure at that depth. Though they did not look brand new, but was good considering that it stayed deep inside water for a decade,” Singh, who possesses a few specimen of these salvaged currency notes, said. “It shows the quality of the notes and the way it was made.” The notes after being salvaged were sold as souvenirs by insurance companies and locals. “The Nizam did not face a considerable amount of loss since they were not legal tenders,” he said. The currency attained legal status only after it and was accorded with the then Finance Minister’s stamp.