Postal System of Princely States

Postal System of Princely States
By: Mr. Ashok Kumar Bayanwala

Out of 562 Princely States, a few States had issued their own stamps and others joined hands with the Imperial Post for their Postal System. The States which issued their own stamps and had their own Postal System are known as “Feudatory States”. The stamps issued by Feudatory States were valid for use in their own territories only. Soruth was the first State, which issued stamps in 1864. There are other States, which have issued as late as 1935 (Bijawar) and 1940 (Dungarpur).

The Department of Posts decided on the issue of Postal Convention in 1884. Most of the States signed the Indian Postal Convention. They were allowed to overprint Indian Stamps with their States’ name. Only six States chose to have, over - printed stamps. The States, which were issuing their own stamps could discontinue them, on coming under the Indian Postal Convention. That is why two States namely Faridkot and Jind are listed in both categories of Feudatory and Convention States. The stamps issued by Convention States were valid for use through out India.

The Feudatory States had to put British India stamp along with their own stamps, if letter had to travel out of its territory. Thus Feudatory States had to pay double payment. That is why Princely States one after another came under the Indian Postal Convention and their own stamps went out of circulation.

There were six States under Postal Conventions, which are as follows:

Sr. No.	Name of the State	Issue Date of Stamp	Date of Cesser
1.	Patiala	1st October 1884	1st April 1950
2.	Gwalior	1st July 1885	1st April 1950
3.	Jind	1st July 1885	1st April 1950
4.	Nabha	1st July 1885	1st April 1950
5.	Chamba	1st January 1887	1st April 1950
6.	Faridkot	1st January 1887	31st March 1901

Regarding Feudatory States, the following list shows the name of the States, which ceased to use their own stamps before merger with Union of India:

Sr.No.	Name of the State	When in Use	Became Obsolete
1.	Alwar	1877 - 1901	01.07.1902
2.	Bamra	1888 - 1893	01.01.1895
3.	Bhopal	1872 - 1903 1908 - 1949	01.07.1908 - Ordinary Postage stamps Official Stamps
4.	Bhor	1879 - 1901	00.00.1901
5.	Bijawar	1935 - 1937	00.00.1941
6.	Bussahir	1895 - 1901	01.04.1941
7.	Dhar	1897 - 1900	31.03.1901
8.	Duttia	1893 - 1920	01.04.1921
9.	Faridkot	1879 - 1886	01.01.1887
10.	J & K	1866 - 1894	01.11.1894
11.	Jhalawar	1886 - 1890	01.11.1900
12.	Jind	1874 - 1885	Jind became Convention State from 01.07.1885 and used overprinted stamps.
13.	Las Bela	1897 - 1907	01.04.1907
14.	Nandgaon	1891 - 1894	01.07.1894
15.	Nawanagar	1877 - 1895	01.01.1895
16.	Poonch	1876 - 1888	00.00.1888
17.	Rajpipla	1880 - 1886	00.00.1886
18.	Sirmoor	1878 - 1902	01.04.1902
19.	Wadhwan	1888 - 1895	01.01.1895

The Feudatory States, which continued to print their own stamps till they merged in Union of India, are as follows:

Sr. No.	Name of the State	When in Use	Date of Merger / Date of Cesser
1.	Barwani	1921 - 1947	It became part of Madhya Bharat by 1st July 1948.
2.	Bundi	1894 - 1947	It became a part of Rajasthan Union by 15th April 1948.
3.	Charkhari	1894 - 1947	It became part of Vindhya Pradesh by 1st May 1948.
4.	Cochin	1892 - 1949	It became part of Travancore & Cochin by 1st July 1949.
5.	Dungarpur	1933 - 1947	It became part of Rajasthan Union by 15th April 1948.
6.	Hyderabad	1869 - 1949	It was taken over by India during September 1948.
7.	Idar	1932 - 1947	It became part of Bombay Province by 10th June 1948.
8.	Indore	1886 - 1947	It became part of Madhya Bharat by 1st July 1948.
9.	Jaipur	1904 - 1947	It became part of Rajasthan Union by 30th March 1949.
10.	Jasdan	1942 - 1947	It was merged with United States of Kathiawar by 15th April 1948.
11.	Kishangarh	1899 - 1947	It became part of Rajasthan Union by 15th April 1948.
12.	Morvi	1931 - 1948	It was merged with United States of Kathiawar by 15th February 1948. (Later Saurashtra)
13.	Orchha	1913 - 1948	It became part of Vindhya Pradesh by 1st May 1948.
14.	Shahpura	1914 - 1948	It became part of Rajasthan Union by 15th April 1948.
15.	Soruth	1864 - 1947	The State was occupied by Indian troops on 9th November 1947 following the flight of Nawab to Pakistan.
16.	Travancore	1888 - 1949	It became part of Travancore & Cochin from 1st July 1949.

Merger of Postal System >>>

Readers are requested to send their query/comments to Mr. Ashok Kumar Bayanwala, 96, Swastik Society,Navarangpura, AHMEDABAD-380009, INDIA or email to Prashant H. Pandya

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