Nawab of Bengal Itimad ud-Daula Mir Qasim Azimabad mint Silver Rupee1175/3 RY INO Shah Alam II

Nawab of Bengal, Itimad ud-Daula Mir Qasim, (AH 1174-1177/1760-1763 CE), Azimabad (Patna) mint, Denomination: AR Rupee, Composition: Silver, Issued in AH 1175/3 RY (in the name of Shah Alam II), Struck at Azimabad then under the Control of the Nawab of Bengal, Trident mint mark on Reverse, Weight: 11.55 grams, Diameter: 22.43 mm, Unlisted in Km, About Very Fine, + Very Rare

Obverse: badshah ghazi muhammad shah alam saye fazl hami deen, hijri year 1175.

Reverse: Trident mint mark, Mint name, Azimabad, modern-day Patna, India.

Mir Qasim ruled Bengal as Nawab from 1760 to 1763 CE (AH 1174–1177) after succeeding his father-in-law Mir Jafar, with the support of the British East India Company. Although Bengal remained the formal province, Mir Qasim soon tried to assert real independence from Company interference. To escape European pressure at Murshidabad, he shifted his capital to Azimabad (modern-day Patna), which lay in Bihar, then an important but contested region within the Bengal Subah.

From Azimabad, Mir Qasim reorganized revenue administration, rebuilt forts, strengthened the army, and attempted to curb the Company’s trade privileges. Politically, Bengal and Bihar were under the Nawab’s nominal authority, but the Company increasingly controlled trade, finances, and military affairs. The Mughal emperor Shah Alam II played a crucial symbolic role: Mir Qasim continued issuing coins in the emperor’s name to maintain Mughal legitimacy, even while exercising autonomous power.

Rising tensions led to open conflict with the Company, culminating after his fall in the decisive Battle of Buxar. Mir Qasim’s Azimabad coinage—silver rupees with distinctive marks such as the trident—reflects this short but critical phase, combining Mughal titulature with the political reality of an assertive provincial ruler challenging Company dominance.