Turquoise Throne of Warangal

The Turquoise Throne (Telugu: Vaiḍhurya simhasanam) was originally covered with an gold and turquoise enamel was a famous jewel-studded throne of Warangal which became royal throne Takht-i-Firoza (Hindustani: Takht-e-firoza) of the Bahmani Sultans of Deccan in India. 

March 23, 1363 : Warangal goldsmiths had a reputation for jewellery making. It was a gift by Musunuri Kapaya Nayaka, then king of Warangal. Over a period of time, this throne became one of the most important icons of the Bahmani royalty and heritage

Telangana region was liberated by Musunuri Nayaks in the early 1330s. Nearly after three decades, the King of Telangana (or Warangal) Kapaya Nayaka came up with a proposal that caught the imagination of the Bahmani sultan. Kapaya Nayaka agreed to present the Bahmani with such a wonderful gift that is worthy only to be offered to a great king if they accept a truce and fix a frontier between the two kingdoms. This came after Nagadeva, son of Kapaya Nayaka was brutally killed aftermath of a war with the Bahmani Sultanate. Kapaya Nayaka also gave an undertaking that he would not ally with the newly founded Hindu Vijayanagara empire in the south.

That treaty between the Bahamani sultanate and Telangana kingdom occurred at Kaulas and Golconda was fixed as the frontier between the two.The throne was packed in a large wooden box at Warangal and was concealed so that its contents remain unknown until it is presented to the Sultan Mohammed Shah I at Gulbarga.

When ascending the new throne, Sultan named it taxt-i-fīrozā due to the color of the enamel work and predominant precious stones. Firishta mentioned that Sultan first sat on the new throne on Nowruz, the Persian new year following the autumnal solstice in 764 AH. After this truce, Kapaya Nayaka had peace with the Bahmani Sultans. He was however faced with rebellions from other Telugu chieftains, eventually getting killed in battle at Bheemaram in 1368 CE

In the reign of Mahmud Shah (1482-1518), the same authority also informs us, jewellers were called in for estimation, and they valued the throne at one crore gold coins (huns).

The Takht-i Firuza was worth one crore gold huns.

Weight of a single gold hun = 3.5 grams

1 crore gold huns would therefore have weighed 35,000 kilograms of gold.

1 kilogram gold costs today approximately 4.8 million rupees.

So the cost of 35,000 kilograms of gold today = 168 billion rupees

So if the Takht-i Firuza had existed today, it would have had a value of a whacking 16,800 crore rupees!

Even after taking into consideration the exaggeration common in medieval chronicles, the figure is still simply mind-boggling!



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