Shah Alam II had been blinded by the Afghan warlord Ghulam Qadir in 1788, and by the 1790s exercised virtually no real authority — the Mughal emperor whose name appeared on Bengal Presidency mohurs was, in practical terms, a pensioner of the East India Company. The Company continued striking in his name because the bazaars of Bengal demanded it; local merchants refused coinage that lacked the familiar Mughal formula, regardless of who actually controlled the mint at Calcutta.
The regnal year frozen on this type corresponds to the 19th year of Shah Alam II's reign, a fiction maintained across the entire issue regardless of actual striking date.
Shah Alam II had been blinded by the Afghan warlord Ghulam Qadir in 1788, and by the 1790s exercised virtually no real authority — the Mughal emperor whose name appeared on Bengal Presidency mohurs was, in practical terms, a pensioner of the East India Company. The Company continued striking in his name because the bazaars of Bengal demanded it; local merchants refused coinage that lacked the familiar Mughal formula, regardless of who actually controlled the mint at Calcutta.
The regnal year frozen on this type corresponds to the 19th year of Shah Alam II's reign, a fiction maintained across the entire issue regardless of actual striking date.