Nizam paid 128 kg in gold coins as meher to first wife

HYDERABAD: It cannot be said for sure how many wives the seventh Nizam Mir Osman Ali Khan had or the dates when the marriages took place. But what can be said with certainty is that his first marriage was with Azamunnisa Begum which took place in 1906.
According to his nikahnama or the marriage certificate where his name is written as Nawab Mir Osman Ali Khan Bahadur and his father's as Nawab Mir Mahboob Ali Khan Bahadur, the wedding took place on 19th Safar 1324 H corresponding to 14th April 1906.
At the time of his nikah his father was Shah-e-Deccan or the king of Deccan while he was his Wali Ahad or the crown prince. He was 22 years of age and lived in King Kothi. In the certificate, the name of his wife is given as Azamunnisa Begum, daughter of Nawab Jahangir Jung Bahadur. She was 16, and lived in Adan Bagh or Eden Garden, close to King Kothi.
Their marriage, which was first for both of them, was performed by Mir Mohammed Ali Anwar, Sadr or chief qazi of Shariatpanah Baldah, one of qazi zones in the city.
He gave her meher (compulsory gift given to bride at the time of marriage) of Rs one lakh and 7,000 ashrafi nazri or gold coins. An additional 11,000 dinar surkh (or about 128 kg of gold coins) was given to her. The two witnesses to this marriage were Sadiq Jung and Mohammed Sulaiman alias Allahwale.
The original nikahnama is in the custody of Qazi Mir Qadir Ali, grandson of Qazi Anwar Ali, along with numerous other marriage certificates, some of which are as old as 200 years or more.
At least two of the six qazi zones of the city-Sharia Panah Baldah and Qila-e-Golconda, Mohammednagar-have a treasure of documents, mainly nikahnamas. Surprisingly, they have an effective retrieval system in place. Based on the date, name and area where the marriage was performed the qazis are able to find documents in a day or two. They have divided documents according to the year and each year has a separate bundle bound in cloth.
For instance, there is a marriage certificate of Rasheeduddin Khan, the grandson of the founder of Paigah family, Tegh Jung Bahadur. He was married in 1243 H or 190 years ago to Hussaini Begum who was born to Jurat Jung Bahadur. Rasheeduddin Khan paid 1.25 lakh ashrafis or gold souvenirs as meher to his wife.
There are two other interesting marriage certificates in the possession of Qazi Qadir Ali. Nawab Mir Barkat Ali Khan who is popularly known as Mukarram Jah, the successor grandson of the last Nizam, married a Turkish woman, Manoliya Onur, on 1st of August 1990 in Hyderabad. This was the second marriage for Manoliya and third for Mukarram Jah. The former prince had pledged to pay $50,000 in meher to Manoliya of which he paid $10,000 at the time of the nikah.
As per the records available with Shariatpanah Baldah, Mukarram Jah had married another woman, Helen Ayesha Jah, in Perth, Australia in 1978. She was the daughter of John Ogilus Simmons and Mary Kathleen Simmons. Their marriage was performed at Perth Mosque Incorporated, Perth, by one Ayub Khan. Mukarram Jah gave Helen Ayesha a meher of $10,000.
Requesting the government to provide funds to qazis to help conserve the documents, Qazi Qadir Ali said that these represent an important dimension of the social history of Hyderabad. The documents are often sought by people to establish their genealogical link and inheritance of name and property. "The papers have become too old and brittle. It has lost colour. There is an urgent need to save them for posterity," he said.