Shah Alam II was the Mughal emperor who formally granted the East India Company the diwani rights of Bengal, Bihar, and Orissa in 1765 — the legal instrument that transformed a trading company into a territorial revenue authority. Coins issued under his name by the Bengal Presidency carried the imperial sanction as political cover, maintaining the fiction of Mughal sovereignty long after Mughal power had effectively collapsed. The Company continued striking in his name for decades past any practical necessity.
Shah Alam II was the Mughal emperor who formally granted the East India Company the diwani rights of Bengal, Bihar, and Orissa in 1765 — the legal instrument that transformed a trading company into a territorial revenue authority. Coins issued under his name by the Bengal Presidency carried the imperial sanction as political cover, maintaining the fiction of Mughal sovereignty long after Mughal power had effectively collapsed. The Company continued striking in his name for decades past any practical necessity.