POSTAL HISTORY IN INDIA

Indian Postal History 1947-1997

On the occasion of 50th Anniversary of India’s Independence, when the then CPMG of Ahmadabad requested the Gujarat Philatelists’ Association and its members to build a collection on India’s Freedom Struggle to be shown for full one year from 15th August 1997, it revealed that the Postal Department do not have all Postage stamps which will be shown in the Collection.

If the Department do not have even Postage Stamps, how can we, the collectors think that they will have information on their workings of last 50 years. On enquiry, it was known that they do not have any systematic recordings of their workings. And this truth, forced me to jot down the loose ends of our Modern Postal History from 1947 to1997.

I built a collection of Modern Postal History of India (1947-1997), which was shown in 1997. Since then I wanted to record the achievements, events, various Postal facilities and services, which were introduced and/or withdrawn during the last 50 years.

If we look back, we will find that in last 50 years many postal services were introduced out of which some were revised and few were discontinued.

The facility of minimum two deliveries in a day has become history. Postal service’s labels, clear brass cancellations, time slug in cancellations and delivery postmarks are not found any more.

There are many facts (I came to know during my study) which are either not known to collectors, such as –

Formula Post Card was introduced on 1st April 1950 and was sold across counters at 3 pies for 4 blank formula Post Cards.

Registered Envelope having Green Cross Lines and the legend was actually Issuedin1951.

There were many postal services which are not even known today. Such as Air Parcel Service which was introduced on 30th January 1949 or regular Helicopter Mail Service in between Bagdogra and Gangtok which remained in existence for more than 9 months during 1988.

The Post in ancient and medieval India:

The history of India's postal system begins long before the introduction of postage stamps. The antecedents have been traced to the systems of the Persian Empire instituted by Cyrus the Great and Darius I for communicating important military and political information. The Atharvaveda records a messenger service. Systems for collecting information and revenue data from the provinces are mentioned in Chanakya's Arthashastra (ca. 3rd century BC).

In ancient times the kings, emperors, rulers, zamindars or the feudal lords protected their land through the intelligence services of specially trained police or military agencies and courier services to convey and obtain information through runners, messengers and even through pigeons. The chief of the secret service, known as the postmaster, maintained the lines of communication ... The people used to send letters to [their] distant relatives through their friends or neighbors.

For centuries it was rare for messages to be carried by any means other than a relay of runners on foot. A runner ran from one village or relay post to the next, carrying the letters on a pole with a sharp point. His was a dangerous occupation: the relay of postal runners worked throughout the day and night, vulnerable to attacks by bandits and wild animals. These mail runners were used chiefly by the rulers, for purposes of information and wartime news. They were subsequently used by merchants for trade purpose. It was much later that mail runners came to be in use for the carriage of private mail.

The postal history of India primarily began with the overland routes, stretching from Persia to India. What began as mere foot-tracks that more than often included fords across the mountaneous streams, gradually evolved over the centuries as highways, used by traders and military envoys on foot and horses, for carriage of missives.

The Arab influence of the Caliphate came about with the conquest of Sind by Muhammad bin Qasim in 712 A.D. Thereupon, the Diwan-i-Barid or Department of Posts established official communication across the far-flung empire. The swiftness of the horse messengers finds mention in many of the chronicles of that period.

The first Sultan of Delhi, Qutb-ud-din Aybak (Persian: قطب الدین ایبک) was Sultan for only four years, 1206 - 1210, but he founded the Mamluk Dynasty and created a messenger post system. This was expanded into the dak chowkis, a horse and foot runner service, by Alauddin Khilji in 1296. Sher Shah Suri (1541-1545) replaced runners with horses for conveyance of messages along the northern high road, today known as the Grand Trunk Road, which he constructed between Bengal and Sindh over an ancient trade route at the base of the Himalayas, the Uttarapatha. He also built 1700 'serais' where two horses were always kept for the despatch of the Royal Mail Akbar introduced camels in addition to the horses and runners

In the South of India, in 1672 Raja Chuk Deo of Mysore began an efficient postal service which was further improved upon by Haider Ali

Postal history of Indian states

One Anna Queen Victoria head (error variety of 1897) of Chamba, a convention state.

Main article: Stamps and postal history of Indian states

British India had hundreds of Princely States, some 652 in all, but most of them did not issue postage stamps. The stamp-issuing States were of two kinds: the Convention States and the Feudatory States. The postage stamps and postal histories of these States provide great challenges and many rewards to the patient philatelist. Many rarities are to be found here. Although handbooks are available, much remains to be discovered.

A 1914 red-brown 2 anna of Orchha, a feudatory state

The Convention States are those which had postal conventions (or agreements) with the Post Office of India to provide postal services within their territories. The adhesive stamps and postal stationery of British India were overprinted for use within each Convention State. The first Convention State was Patiala, in 1884, followed by others in 1885. The stamps of the Convention States all became invalid on 01 Jan 1951 when they were replaced with stamps of the Republic of India valid from 01 Jan 1950.

The Feudatory States maintained their own postal services within their territories and issued stamps with their own designs. Many of the stamps were imperforate and without gum, as issued. Many varieties of type, paper, inks and dies are not listed in the standard catalogs. The stamps of each Feudatory State were valid only within that State, so letters sent outside that State needed additional British India postage.

National Philatelic Museum

But I hit upon a much simpler plan. I gathered together all the children in my locality and asked them to volunteer two or three hours' labour of a morning when they had no school. This they willingly agreed to do. I promised to bless them and give them, as a reward, used postage stamps which I had collected.

Mahatma Gandhi, Rajkot 1896.

The National Philatelic Museum of India was inaugurated on 6 July 1968 in New Delhi. It had its beginning at a meeting of the Philatelic Advisory Committee on 18 September 1962. Besides the large collection of India Postage stamps designed, printed and issued, it has a large collection of Indian states, both confederate and feudatory, early essays, proofs and colour trials, a collection of Indian stamps "used abroad" and as well as early Indian postcards, postal stationery and thematic collections.

The museum has been extensively renovated in 2009 and now includes more exhibits, a philatelic bureau and other postal objects such as beautiful Victorian post boxes.