Towards the end of Mackenna’s Gold (1969), the canyon walls collapse, burying the treasure and ending the hunt. In real life too, gold has a way of escaping human grasp, its price rising during crisis, its utility argued over by every generation. In 1971, US President Richard Nixon severed the dollar’s link to gold, ushering in the era of modern money.
By 1973, gold had pushed past the symbolic $100-an-ounce mark, climbing towards $200 amid stagflation, geopolitical tension, and the search for safety. By August 1976, gold was back around $110 per ounce.
That era also brought another shift: the US lifted restrictions on private gold ownership imposed in response to the Great Depression.
Indians need no lessons about Hiranyam, the ancient Vedic Sanskrit word for gold. In Bharat, gold…
