The decline of the Mughal Empire, the political ascendency of the British East India Company, a number of revivalist powers (the Sikhs, the Marathas, the Rohillas, etc.), and a large number of Indian princely states, resulted in redrawing the political spaces across India. In the process, the minting rights of the titular Mughal king and of the neo-independent Indian princely rulers were severely curbed by the domin­ant colonial power, both for political as well as economic reasons. The territorial expansion of the British Empire in India was invariably fol­lowed by the abolition of the native mints and the introduction of the imperial currency in the annexed territories. Indeed, the ‘sikka’ followed the?flag.