2017-03-01 Wed

India is a land of Kings; the pages of its history are adorned by the tales of battles and valour of her monarchs. But the period of the 19th century was the time when Kings existed but not their kingship; it was a time of the British crown and the Indian Princely States. So today, we are going to understand the history of the princely state through its stamp by taking an example of Garhwal states stamp.

The state of Garhwal is located amongst the beautiful valleys of Himalayan ranges of Uttarakhand State. In 888 AD it was established by the Garhwali Rajput Dynasty. It came under the British protection in the 19th century and was named Tehri Garhwal state.

This stamp was issued by the Garhwal State but this stamp is not a regular postal stamp, it is a revenue collection stamp or the receipt stamp which is used to acknowledge the payment done on a purchase. These kinds of stamps were printed by the Princely State to collect revenue for the state’s welfare and maintenance.

The people of this region actively participated in the freedom movement and after the declaration of Independence wanted to join the Indian Union. But the Maharaja of the Garhwal State was against this union, so his subjects started a movement to free themselves from him. These actions made the administration of the state difficult and the 60th Maharaja of Parmar Vansh, the last ruling Maharaja Manvendra Shah of Garhwal State accepted the sovereignty of the Union of India.