Many Indian historians have portrayed the pre-colonial economy as a golden age of prosperity, and its massive wealth has set many outsiders on their great voyage of discovery. Our history is full of some amazingly wealthy individuals, but there have been tragedies, wars, myths, and many other things connected to it. It is estimated that during the rule of Nizams, India’s wealth sustained billions of treasures. And one such Nizam was Mir Osman Ali Khan who was extremely rich. Mir Osman Ali Khan was the last Nizam or ruler of the Princely State of Hyderabad, the major state in British India, and he was one of the richest individuals of all time.

On February 22, 1973, the Time Magazine featured Mir Osman Ali Khan on its cover as the world’s richest person. Th magazine labeled him as the richest man in the world, with a fortune estimated at US$2 billion in the early 1940s, which almost has a whopping price of $34.9 billion today, or 2% of the US economy at that time. Likewise, Celebrity Net Worth, a site that reports the total assets and financial activities of celebrities, also ranked him as one of the top 25 people of all time in its inflation-adjusted list. Mir Osman Ali Khan or Asaf Jah VII was known as the Architect of modern Hyderabad and is credited with establishing numerous public institutions in the city of Hyderabad. He ascended the throne on 29 August 1911, at the age of 25, and ruled the kingdom of Hyderabad between 1911 and 1948, until the Indian government seized his kingdom. The man was styled as His Exalted Highness – HEH, and the Nizam of Hyderabad. The site ranked the last Nizam as 6th in a list of 25 richest people ever lived on Earth, and it had estimated his wealth as $230 billion.

Mir Osman Ali Khan had a personal collection of gold that was worth more than $400 million worth of jewels including the famous Jacob Diamond which is worth $95 million today. He used the diamond as a paperweight in his office. The Princely state of Hyderabad was the largest princely state before it was merged into the Indian union in 1948 by Operation Polo. And for nearly 3 centuries, the Hyderabad state was ruled by the Nizams, who fixed their kingdom in south India from the ruins of the Mughal Empire. The former and seventh ruler of the Asaf Jah dynasty, Mir Osman Ali Khan, renowned for his quirks, was likewise known for his excellent collection of jewelry, and the word excellent is perhaps too insignificant to define the outstanding craftsmanship of the renowned Nizam jewelry. The pure splendor of rubies, diamonds, pearls, sapphires, and other precious stones stunningly implanted in gold and silver, display the magnificence of the former Nizam. Mir Osman similarly had Jacob’s diamond, which is currently a marvelous piece weighing 184.75 carats.

The Jacob Diamond is believed to be double the size of the Kohinoor diamond and the seventh-largest in the world. This precious stone was acquired by the sixth Nizam, Mir Mahboob Ali Pasha in 1891 from a Jewish trader named A.K. Jacob and hence it was called the Jacob diamond. However, when it came to Mahboob Ali Khan, he was influenced that the diamond was cursed, and he covered it in a dirty cloth and placed it away in the drawer of his table. The diamond was later found in old footwear during the reign of the 7th Nizam, who had it riding on a gold decoration base. After many years, some other people also believed that Nizam was relatively correct about the curse. And in1972, the diamond became the focus of bloodshed with a legal battle that lasted for horrific 30 years and it contributed to the massive downfall of its preceding owner Mahboob Ali Khan’s great-grandson Mukarram Jah.

Seventh and the last ruler of the Asaf Jah Dynasty, Mir Osman Ali Khan died in 1967, and instantly, a dispute over his huge property arose among his 149 descendants. The Government of India stepped in when things went out of control, however, much of the Nizam’s jewelry collection was already looted by the time. It is stated that the aged Nizam never allowed any audit of his jewelry collection and he also confirmed that the dust settled on his collection never gets cleaned, so that the gleam of his treasure never hits anyone’s eyes.

Presently, a fraction acquired by the Government of India is worth Rs 5000 crore. They all are made of gold, set with diamonds, bright green beads, and cabochon rubies. There is a distinct one termed “Bachkana Sarpanch” which was made for the young prince, Mahboob Ali when he ascended the throne. The beauty of Golconda diamonds set in this piece outshines other pieces of the set. A solitaire set in gold, with 5 smaller diamonds on each side, has on its top an exquisite bird crafted with small diamonds for its plumage and ruby as its eye. Interestingly, this bird holds a ‘Taveez’ or a lucky charm in its beak. A diamond belt was also made especially for the Nizam by the House of Oscar Massi Pieres of France.

It took the Indian Government many years to sum the Mir Osman’s wealth, and the entire wealth has not been found yet. However, many people have estimated his wealth and there are many stories in the folktales related to the treasure of Mir Osman Ali Khan. Numerous invaders have tried to attack and wrap his wealth, some got successful and some badly failed in it. But they all became part of a huge change in history. While India is now considered as a developing economy, we still have walked on a very lengthy and golden path of economic progress, from the golden pre-colonial and colonial eras of wealthy kings like Mir Osman Ali Khan.
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Reference:

• www.archive.siasat.com
• www.wikipedia.org
• www.celebritynetworth.com