Lot 362

Hindu Medieval, Gond kingdom of Garha Mandla, Madhukar Shah, (17th Century AD), Copper Square Paisa, 10.02 gms, 16.00 mm, VS 1664, Obv: a lion facing to right, Devanagari legend गढागढ above, 'Zarb Garhagarh' inscribed in crude Farsi in front of lion, VS date 1664  in retrograde at the bottom, Rev: Devanagari legend in three lines reading ‘Shri Krishna/ Shri Madhu/kara Sahi’, The Gond kingdom was defeated by Akbar in 1564 after a heroic fight by Rani Durgavati who was killed in the battle. Akbar then installed Chand Shah to the throne. The date on the coin i.e. VS 1664 (1607 AD) corresponds closely to Akbar's death (1605 AD). It is possible that Madhukar Shah threw off the Mughal authority momentarily after murdering his elder brother Chand Shah and struck coins in his own name, similar to Zeno # 181386, Unlisted in KM, about very fine, extremely rare.