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1/4 Rupee - Ahmed Shah Bahadur Katak mint
| Issuer | Maratha Empire |
|---|---|
| Year | 1754-1784 |
| Type | Log in to see details |
| Value | 1/4 Rupee |
| Currency | Log in to see details |
| Composition | Log in to see details |
| Weight | Log in to see details |
| Diameter | Log in to see details |
| Thickness | Log in to see details |
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| Obverse description | Log in to see details |
|---|---|
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| Reverse description | Central field bears bold Persian legends in Naskh script identifying the Katak (Cuttack) mint, rendered in a cursive hand with deeply struck strokes. The inscription fills the flan in a compressed, informal layout characteristic of Maratha hammered silver coinage. A single pellet is visible in the lower central field as a mint or die marker. The flan is irregular and slightly dumpy, consistent with hand-struck production at a provincial mint. |
| Reverse script | Log in to see details |
| Reverse lettering | کٹک |
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| Additional information |
Ahmed Shah Bahadur, the Mughal emperor nominally depicted on this coin, was by the 1750s a ruler in name only — blinded and imprisoned by his own wazir, Imad ul-Mulk, in 1757. The Marathas exploited precisely this imperial vacuum, issuing coins in his name across territories they militarily controlled as a mechanism of administrative legitimacy. Katak, the old Odishan capital on the Mahanadi, was one such mint operating under Maratha suzerainty following their consolidation of Orissa.
The thirty-year striking window for this type reflects continuous Maratha use of a frozen regal year, a common practice that renders individual date attribution within the series essentially impossible without die study.