Hyder Ali was born near Kolar in the year 1722 CE. He got control over Mysore kingdom in the year 1766. He was one of the most formidable rivals for the British India. He got to show his great military skills in the first Mysore war fought in the year 1769 against the British.
Hyder Ali issued coins in gold, silver and copper. The gold Pagodas that he issued had Hindu god and goddess, like ‘Shiv and Parvati’ on the obverse side of the coins and Persian letter ‘He’ on the granulated field on the reverse side. Seated ‘Balakrishna’ is also seen in one of his gold fanam. Apart from this, some copper coins were also issued by him. Copper coins issued by him have the image of Elephant on the obverse side and mint name and date on the reverse side.
This gold Pagoda issued by him weighs around 3.4g. On the obverse side he has placed seated ‘Shiv-Parvati’ and on the reverse side Persian letter ‘He’ is inscribed on a granulated field. This gold Pagoda was sold for INR 17,000 at Todywalla Auction.