Mughal ; Aurangzeb Alamgir ; Silver Rupee; Mint : Zafarabad ; RY 19

Description

Mughal ; Aurangzeb Alamgir ; Silver Rupee
Mint : Zafarabad ; RY 19
Obv: Mehar-e-munir couplet, Rev: sana julus zarb at bottom,
Note : During his second viceroy-ship of the Deccan, Aurangzeb devised plans to subjugate the Deccani Sultanates and as part of this campaign launched an attack on the fort and town of Bidar in early 1656. At this time, Bidar was under Adil Shahi control and was governed by Sidi Malik Marjan, an African commander. He had already been in charge for 30 years and had repaired and fortified Bidar’s old Bahmani fort. Aurangzeb’s army succeeded in securing a breach in the fort’s wall and attacked Adil Shahi troops with rockets and grenades, one of which hit a gun-powder magazine inside the fort. Malik Marjan was severely burnt in the explosion and died two days later. On 16 April 1656, Bidar fell to the Mughals after a siege of 27 days. Aurangzeb staged a triumphant entry int o the fort, read Khutba in the name of Shahjahan at the Great Mosque in the fort, and renamed Bidar as ‘Zafarabad’.
**Zafarabad’ **under Aurangzeb was a name given to Bidar. After Aurangzeb’s reign ended, Bidar appears to have reverted to its original Islamic alias, Muhammadabad. So the **’Zafarabad’ **on later coin has to be located elsewhere. The most plausible candidate is Zafarnagar which was also known as ‘Zafarabad’ and retains a variant name ‘Jafrabad’ even today. The mint appears to have operated sporadically – first as ‘Zafarpur’ under Aurangzeb (to distinguish it from Zafarabad-Bidar) and then as ‘Zafarabad’, when that alias was no longer used for Bidar.
By this time the area was very much in control of the Nizam of Hyderabad. Zafarabad is very much known in Mohammad shah and Alamgir II “SAVE HERITAGE SAVE COINS”