2017-01-17 Tue

Muhammad Quli Qutb Shah (AH 988-1020; AD 1580-1611) was fifth Sultan of Qutb Shahi dynasty of Golkonda. He was the third son of Ibrahim Quli Qutb Shah. He founded the city of Hyderabad and also built Charminar. He was a scholar of Arabic, Persian, and Telugu. He was also a good poet and wrote his poetry in Urdu, Persian, and Telugu.

He issued coins in gold and copper. Copper coins issued by him are of two categories: early coins and warning couplet coins. Early coins issued by him bears king’s name on the obverse and mint name on the reverse. Warning couplet issued by him has a Persian couplet “Adl Muhammad Quli Qutb shah Darb Dar Al-Saltanat Golconda” on the obverse and “Paivasta ba-la nat-i-illahi ta yir dah falus-i-Shahi” meaning “God’s curse be on him who finds fault with the royal falus” on the reverse.

One of his gold fanams which weighs around 0.4g was sold for INR 17,000 at Todywalla Auction held in Mumbai on 7th November 2014. The obverse of the coin reads as ‘Muhammad Quli’ and reverse of the coin reads as ‘qutb shahi’. This coin is very rare.