2017-10-25 Wed

Azim-ush-Shan was the second son of Mughal Emperor Shah Alam Bahadur and was favourite to succeed his father among his other sons.

During the reign of Aurangzeb Azim-ush-Shan was appointed the Subedar (Viceroy) of Bengal Subha, Bihar and Odisha. In 1712, at the time of his father's death, he immediately proclaimed himself emperor. However, he was killed (drowned in the Ravi River) shortly afterwards in the succession struggles that ensued.

The issue of coins in the name of Azeem-ush-Shan thus presents a very interesting story of intrigue, victory and defeat in the Mughal court. They were struck for a very short time a little more than sixteen days! They constitute perhaps the rarest of an instance of a name of a transient ‘emperor’ to have appeared on Mughal coins.

Two kinds of rare silver Rupees are known to be struck on his name at Katak and Jahangirnagar.

This extremely rare silver rupee which weighs around 11.99g minted in Jahangirnagar was sold for INR 42,00,000 at Classical Numismatic Gallery. The obverse of the coin inscribed with a Farsi couplet ‘Sikkazaddar Jahan (chu) Fatehwa Zafar Badshah Azeem Deenparwar’ (Struck coin in the world through victory and conquest, King Azeem the guardian of the faith) while the reverse of the coin is inscribed as ‘Sanah Ahad Zarb Jahangirnagar Julus Mainamat Manus’.