2018-05-25 Fri

Arcot, is also known as Carnatic, it is a town situated on the east coast of India between Madras and Calcutta. Arcot is said to be derived from Tamil word ‘Aarukaadu’. Tamil word ‘Aaru’ means ‘river’ and ‘kaadu’ means forest, hence the word ‘Aarukadu’ means a forest of fig trees.

Arcot struggled a lot initially to establish an independent state after the fall of Mughals in the North and Vijayanagar in the South. The Nawab of Arcot had to compete with his contemporary rulers such as the Tanjore, Madurai, Mysore, Marathas and the Nizams of Hyderabad.

This copper octagonal paisa issued by Muhammad Ali minted at Nahtanagar weighs around 7.5g. The obverse of the coin is inscribed as with name and title of the king and the reverse of the coin is inscribed with the mint name and Hijri year 1207.

Image Courtesy: Oswal Auction