Rupee - Maratha confederacy Bankapur mint

These rupees were struck at Bankapur — a Karnataka fortress town that passed between Bijapur, Mughal, and Maratha hands repeatedly across the seventeenth century — during the turbulent interregnum following Aurangzeb's death in 1707. The Marathas exploited the resulting Mughal succession crisis aggressively, extending their revenue-collecting apparatus into the Deccan and legitimizing control of newly held mints by continuing to strike coins in Mughal weight and style. Bankapur's output during this window was brief precisely because territorial footholds in this region were contested and frequently reversed.