Postage stamps and postal history of the Indian states

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British Indian Empire as shown in the 1909 Imperial Gazetteer of India.

The native states of India, also known as feudatory or princely states, were typically vassals under a local or regional ruler who owed allegiance to the British Raj. There were about 675 native states in all but many were not parts of British India proper because they never become possessions of the British Crown; rather, they were tied to it in a system of subsidiary alliances. Following the Partition of India in 1947, the suzerainty of the Raj was terminated and native states had to choose between independence or formal accession by either India or Pakistan. In practice, all of the native states had acceded or been annexed by the end of 1949.

For postal purposes, many native states ran their own services and their stamp issues have been termed feudatory by the main catalogues such as Stanley Gibbons Ltd.[a] There were exceptions in the form of six convention states who made separate postal arrangements with the Raj and used British India stamps that were overprinted with the state's name.

Stamp-issuing native states[edit]

One of the earliest postage stamps of Hyderabad state, the half-anna 1871 Stanley Gibbons ser 4.
Two rupees 1897 Queen Victoria head of Nabha, a convention state.
Two anna red-brown 1916 postage stamp of Orchha state.
A post box from Travancore period known as Anchal petty still being used in Kerala.

The native states which issued postage stamps have been categorised as either convention states or feudatory states. The words 'convention' and 'feudatory' in this sense referred solely to postal arrangements with or in relation to British India.[1]

In all, there were some 675 feudatory states at various times,[2] but not all issued postal stamps and/or stationery. Many of the first issues were printed locally, using primitive methods such as typography and so they can be very rare. There was low quality of printing and design in many cases and collectors sometimes informally refer to them as "Uglies".[3] All remaining feudatory issues were replaced by stamps of the Republic of India on 1 April 1950 and most were declared obsolete from 1 May 1950 – there was one exception in the Anchal stamps of Travancore-Cochin which remained current until 1 July 1951.[4]

There were six convention states: Chamba,[5] Faridkot,[6] Gwalior,[7] Jind,[8] Nabha[9] and Patiala.[10] They all used stamps of British India which were overprinted[b] with the name of the state in Latin or Hindi/Urdu letters, or both.[11] The Gibbons catalogue omits minor varieties of these stamps which had printing errors such as smaller letters, broken letters, unequal inking and unequal spacing.[11] The convention issues were replaced by those of the Republic of India on 1 April 1950 but remained current until 31 December of that year, becoming obsolete from 1 January 1951.[11]

The native states which issued stamps were as follows. Unless otherwise stated, the currency in use was 12 pies = 1 anna; 16 annas = 1 rupee. The dates are the starting and ending dates of stamp issue validity:[12]

Native states of India which issued postage stamps, 1864–1951
State From To Notes and citations
Alwar 1877 1902 A feudatory state in Rajputana, northern India. Issued five stamps with values of 14 or 1 anna. The last issue was released in 1901 and the stamps became obsolete towards the end of 1902.[4]
Bamra 1888 1894 A feudatory state in the Central Provinces. Issued forty stamps with values ranging from 14 anna to 1 rupee. The last issue was released in 1893 and the stamps became obsolete during 1894.[13]
Barwani 1921 1948 A feudatory state in what is now Madhya Pradesh. All stamps of Barwani are typographed. A total of 41 stamps were issued with values ranging from 14 anna to 4 annas. The stamps became obsolete on 1 July 1948, soon after the final issue.[14]
Bhopal 1876 1949 A feudatory state in what is now Madhya Pradesh. Bhopal tried to remain independent after Partition but was effectively annexed by India on 1 June 1949. A total of 354 stamps were issued with values ranging from 3 pies to 1 rupee, the last in July 1949 and became obsolete from 1 May 1950.[15]
Bhor 1879 1901 A feudatory state south-east of Bombay in what is now Maharashtra. Bhor was the only state belonging to the Poona Agency, under the Bombay Presidency. It became part of India on 8 March 1948. Only two officially recognised stamps were issued, both in 1879, with values of half an anna and one anna. The state's post offices were closed in 1895.[16]
Bijawar 1935 1937 A feudatory state in the Central Provinces. A total of ten stamps were issued from 1935 to 1937 with values ranging from 3 pies to 1 rupee. These stamps were discontinued in 1939.[16]
Bundi 1894 1950 A feudatory state in the northern region of Rajputana. Bundi issued 56 postal and 52 official stamps until it became part of the new state of Rajasthan in 1948.[17] Along with Jaipur and Kishangarh, Bundi continued to run its own postal service within Rajasthan until 1 April 1950. In 1949, there was a further issue of seven Bundi stamps, carrying a Rajasthan handstamp (see also Rajasthan below).[18]
Bussahir 1895 1901
Chamba 1886 1948 A convention state.
Charkari 1894 1943
Cochin 1892 1949 For later issues, see Travancore-Cochin.
Dhar 1897 1901
Duttia 1893 1920
Faridkot 1879 1901 Faridkot was a Cis-Sutlej Sikh feudatory state which issued its own stamps from 1879 before joining the postal convention on 1 January 1887.[6]
Gwalior 1885 1949 A convention state.
Hyderabad 1869 1950
Idar 1939 1944
Indore 1886 1947
Jaipur 1904 1949
Jammu 1867 1877
Jammu and Kashmir 1866 1894
Jasdan 1942 1948
Jhalawar 1887 1890
Jind 1874 1948 Jind was a Cis-Sutlej feudatory state which issued its own stamps from 1874 before joining the postal convention in July 1885; its stamps from the feudatory period became invalid for postage, but they continued to be used for revenue purposes.[8]
Kashmir 1866 1878[19]
Kishangarh 1899 1947
Morvi 1931 1948
Nabha 1885 1948 A Cis-Sutlej convention state.
Nandgaon 1892 1895
Nowanuggur 1877 1895
Orchha 1913 1942
Patiala 1884 1947 A Cis-Sutlej convention state.
Poonch 1876 1894
Rajasthan 1949 1950
Rajpipla 1880 1886
Shahpura 1914 1948 [20]
Sirmoor 1879 1902
Soruth 1864 1950
Travancore 1888 1947
Travancore-Cochin 1949 1951
Wadhwan 1888 1892

See also[edit]

References[edit]

Notes[edit]

  1. ^ The most widely accepted catalogue for postage stamps of the Indian States is published by Stanley Gibbons Ltd. Elsewhere, a wealth of information resides in articles that have been published in journals like the Philatelic Journal of India, the India Post (published by the India Study Circle), the London Philatelist (published by the Royal Philatelic Society London), and others that are available at many of the philatelic libraries (see List of philatelic libraries).
  2. ^ The practice of overprinting is also referred to as "surcharging" though in most of these cases the monetary value of the postage stamp was never altered.

Citations[edit]

  1. ^ Gibbons, 1968 Commonwealth, pp. 358, 370.
  2. ^ Meyer et al, 1908 Gazetteer, p. 60.
  3. ^ Healey, Matthew (30 August 2017). "India feudatory 'Uglies' shine at Cherrystone auction". Sidney, Ohio: Amos Media Company. Archived from the original on 15 April 2019.
  4. ^ a b Gibbons, 1968 Commonwealth, p. 370.
  5. ^ Stewart-Wilson, Chamba, Faridkot, Gwalior, pp. 9–15
  6. ^ a b Stewart-Wilson, Chamba, Faridkot, Gwalior, pp. 33–38.
  7. ^ Stewart-Wilson, Chamba, Faridkot, Gwalior, pp. 45–56.
  8. ^ a b Stewart-Wilson, Jhind, Nabha, Patiala, pp. 1–12.
  9. ^ Stewart-Wilson, Jhind, Nabha, Patiala, pp. 33–43.
  10. ^ Stewart-Wilson, Jhind, Nabha, Patiala, pp. 63–79.
  11. ^ a b c Gibbons, 1968 Commonwealth, p. 358.
  12. ^ Gibbons, 1968 Commonwealth, pp. 358–418.
  13. ^ Gibbons, 1968 Commonwealth, pp. 370–371.
  14. ^ Gibbons, 1968 Commonwealth, pp. 371–372.
  15. ^ Gibbons, 1968 Commonwealth, pp. 372–378.
  16. ^ a b Gibbons, 1968 Commonwealth, p. 378.
  17. ^ Gibbons, 1968 Commonwealth, pp. 378–381.
  18. ^ Gibbons, 1968 Commonwealth, p. 408.
  19. ^ Stanley Gibbons Ltd.Stanley Gibbons' Simplified Stamp Catalogue; 24th ed., 1959. London: Stanley Gibbons Ltd.' p. 776
  20. ^ Jaiswal, Sandeep. "Shahpura – a newly discovered stamp issuing Indian Princely State" (PDF). Frajola. Archived from the original (PDF) on 27 April 2019.

Sources[edit]

  • Gibbons, Stanley (1968). British Commonwealth, Ireland and South Africa. Postage Stamp Catalogue, Part 1. Strand, London: Stanley Gibbons Ltd.
  • Meyer, Sir William Stevenson; Burn, Sir Richard; Cotton, James Sutherland; Risley, Sir Herbert Hope (1908). The Indian Empire, Administrative. The Imperial Gazetteer of India. Vol. IV. Oxford: Clarendon Press – under the authority of His Majesty's Secretary of State for India in Council.
  • Stewart-Wilson, Sir Charles (1897). Chamba, Faridkot, Gwalior. British Indian Adhesive Stamps surcharged for Native States. Vol. I. Calcutta: The Philatelic Society of India.
  • Stewart-Wilson, Sir Charles (1898). Jhind, Nabha, Patiala. British Indian Adhesive Stamps surcharged for Native States. Vol. II. Calcutta: The Philatelic Society of India.

Further reading[edit]

  • Masson, David Parkes (1900). Jammu and Kashmir, Part I. Calcutta & Lahore: Philatelic Society of India.
  • Masson, David Parkes (1901). Jammu and Kashmir, Part II. Calcutta & Lahore: Philatelic Society of India.
  • Masson, David Parkes (1906). "Sirmoor I". British Journal of India. 10. Calcutta.