Note: This rupee, struck at Patna in AH 1070 / Regnal Year 2, belongs to the confused period immediately following Aurangzeb’s second coronation. After the defeat of Dara Shikoh at the Battle of Samugarh, Aurangzeb advanced on Agra and compelled Shah Jahan to relinquish imperial authority. His first coronation was held on 1 Zilqa‘da 1068 AH (21 July 1658) at the Bagh-e-Fakhr-Ara. The ceremony lacked full legal sanction as the Qazi-ul-Quzat declined to authorize the khutba while Shah Jahan remained alive and nominally sovereign. After eliminating the remaining rivals and consolidating his position, Aurangzeb held a second and fully sanctioned coronation on 24 Ramzan 1069 AH (5 June 1659) at the Diwan-i-Khas, Shahjahanabad.

The AH 1070 / RY 2 combination was struck in accordance with this second coronation, before the imperial farman retrospectively fixed 1 Ramzan 1068 AH (23 May 1658) as the official accession date. We do not know exactly when this order reached the different mints, and this short gap appears to account for the survival of a small number of coins still carrying the earlier regnal reckoning. By the time the revised chronology was enforced, AH 1070 would fall under RY 3, and this is also why several earlier dies are found reworked accordingly. Regnal Year 2 is therefore one of the rarest regnal years of Aurangzeb, and the AH 1070 / RY 2 combination from Patna is exceedingly rare, belonging to this very narrow period before the revised accession date came into effect.

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