The Secular Coins

    If you were to look at a coin of the Mughal emperor, Akbar. What would you expect the coin to have minted on it? Akbar's face maybe, or his name in calligraphy or verses from the Quran. However, did you know that Akbar's coin had the Hindu deities Ram and Sita minted on it?!

    Emperor Akbar was a very secular ruler. He gave money to build temples, mosques and even churches. Due to his secular beliefs he decided to found a religion of his own called Din-il-Ilahi in 1584 A.D. The Din-il-Ilahi incorporated beliefs of many religions. One of them was Hinduism. To commemorate the founding his new faith he issued a few coins called 'Ram-Siya' coins. These coins had depictions of Ram, the Hindu god and his wife, Sita. Unfortunately, the minting of these 'Ram-Siya' coins stopped after Emperor Akbar's death. Today only 3 of these coins are known to exist.

The Albert Medal was the highest award a person could get in peacetime, for saving a life. Who would you expect to get the award? Most of us guess that it would be a British man or woman. However, did you know that even a tribal form India won this award?! So, let me tell you this interesting story.

    Sama-Veladi was a tribal of the Madia-Gond community that inhabits central India. So, as the tale goes- on 9th November 1924 H.S George, a forest department official, arrived in a village named Bejurpalli. George had halted there while travelling to Parsewada. The route was very dangerous one as it passed through thick forests, hence the village headman of Bejurpalli ordered Sama-Veladi to accompany George. George wanted to reach his destination faster so he decided to take a short-cut through the forest. Just as they had walked a little ahead, a huge tiger pounced on George! The tiger started carrying him back into the forest with George who was in his mouth screaming for help. Sama-Veladi saw this and tried to shoot the tiger with George's gun. Unfortunately, he wasn't able to do so due to it's safety catch. Instead, he now started to club the tiger with the rifle till it let go of it's victim. The beast then decided to attack Sama-Veladi who defended himself with the butt of George's gun. After a terrific struggle the tiger retreated back into the forest. Sama-Veladi then turned his attention to George who was in a pool of blood. He lifted the wounded man and slung him on his shoulder started running to the nearest settlement of Mudewahi. However, his troubles weren't over yet! The tiger with it's keen sense of smell tracked them all the way. Somehow, Sama-Veladi managed to traverse the treacherous terrain and reached Mudewahi. The official soon recovered after he was given treatment in Nagpur. After hearing of this incident the British government decided to award him the Albert Medal! Since, he wasn't able to travel to London to receive it from the then king, King George V, the Governor of the then Central Provinces awarded it to him. He was the 2nd Indian to receive the award.