Rupee - Ahmed Shah Bahadur Katak mint

Ahmed Shah Bahadur was the fifteenth Mughal emperor, a largely powerless figurehead by the time the Marathas had consolidated control over Delhi in the mid-eighteenth century. The Maratha practice of striking rupees in the name of the reigning Mughal emperor was a calculated political maneuver — it lent legitimacy to Maratha fiscal authority while technically acknowledging Mughal nominal sovereignty. By 1818–19, that fiction had worn thin. The Third Anglo-Maratha War effectively ended Maratha independence that same year, making this among the final issues from Katak mint under Maratha administration.