Barwani: the Ranas, Their Stamps and the State Post

Barwani, south of the Narmada, ran a runners’ post from 1860–61 and issued portrait stamps of Rana Ranjit Singh and Rana Devi Singh from 1917 or 1921 until Indian stamps replaced them on 1 July 1948.

The state behind the stamp

Barwani lay south of the Narmada, on the Satpura side of south-western Central India, with its capital at Barwani. Its ruling house were Sisodia Rajput Ranas. Its postal routes served a hilly state rather than one compact town.^[2]

Two documents frame the stamp story. A 2024 auction inventory describes a Barwani State postal archive with annual returns, a run of the State Gazette, and correspondence about moving the printing to the Times of India Press, Bombay, in 1932. The State Council’s report for 1930–39 documents a working Rising Star press at Barwani and places Posts, Stationery and Printing with one member of the Council. Neither names the printer of each issue or the designer of a stamp.^[14][23]

The rulers

A ruler’s reign and the dates a stamp was issued or valid are different kinds of evidence.^[8] A modern district profile gives a different account of the accession, naming Maharawal Rajendra Singh.

Reign	Ruler	Note
1839–1880	Rana Jaswant Singh	The State post began in his reign; his ruling powers were withdrawn in 1861 and restored in 1873
15 August 1880 – 14 December 1894	Rana Indrajit Singh	Succeeded his brother; Diwan Muhammad Najaf Khan ran the administration at first, and Indrajit received full powers in 1886
14 December 1894 – 21 April 1930	Rana Ranjit Singh	Succeeded as a minor; the first stamps, more than twenty years after his accession, show his portrait
21 April 1930 – 1948	Rana Devi Singh	Succeeded his father as a minor, under a State Council; the 1932 portrait stamps belong to his reign

The Ranas of Barwani in the postal period.^[8][18][22]

A runners’ post before the portrait stamps

The State’s first regular daily mail dates from 1860–61, according to the Gazetteer of 1908; Harkawat gives 1861. Police sepoys and then runners carried official letters between offices at police stations, along a main line from Barwani to Pansemal with a branch to Silawad and a second line to Khetia. By 1905 the post had sixteen runners. The chapter on the runners’ post tells this in full.^[1][26]

Three families of stamps

The first stamps show Ranjit Singh: small typographed portraits in panes of four, sold in booklets, without gum. Their first day is disputed: older accounts give 1 April 1921, later research May 1917, and the earliest notice in print is of May 1921. One anna and two annas followed in 1922 and a four annas in 1927. In 1932 a smaller, gummed design with the portrait of the young Devi Singh appeared in five values, printed, it seems, by the Times of India Press, and from July 1933 or 1935 the Ranjit Singh design returned and stayed in print until 1948.^[1][3][4][7]

The earlier Ranjit Singh designs, quarter anna to four annas. Daniel F. Kelleher Auctions, sale 637, lot 2238. [11] — The earlier Ranjit Singh designs, quarter anna to four annas. Daniel F. Kelleher Auctions, sale 637, lot 2238.^[11]

Chronology

Date	Event
1860–61	First regular daily State mail (Gazetteer, 1908); Harkawat gives 1861
1891 and 1901	66 and then 100 miles of State mail routes
1905	Staff return: sixteen runners, a clerk, a Dak Jamadar and a peon
15 May 1917	Sender’s date on a card with a quarter anna; the State Gazette is reported to give this as the first day
1 April 1921	First issue date in older accounts
May 1921	First printed notice, among the advertisements of the Philatelic Journal of India
June–September 1921	Notices of the portrait, four-subject sheets, booklets and a third printing
May 1922	One anna and two annas forecast
1930–31	State Council sends its printing to the Rising Star press, Mhow
5 December 1930	Government post office opened at Palsood
1931–32	Tender and five-year contract for a Rising Star press at Barwani
October 1932	First printings of the Devi Singh portrait (specialist chronology)
July 1933	Return of the Ranjit Singh design (specialist chronology)
10 January 1938	Times of India asks for stamp and paper samples to quote prices
1 December 1938 – 1 June 1939	Government post offices opened at Mandwada, Silawad, Pati, Talwara Deb, Niwali and Talwara Buzurg
17 June 1940	Gosalia signs the preface to the report for 1930–39
30 September 1941	End of the extended State printing contract (not the end of stamp printing)
July–October 1943	R. F. Stoney’s study of the stamps
1 July 1948	Barwani stamps replaced by Indian stamps

The stamps

The issues and their values, from the research checklist. Shades, papers, settings and perforation varieties are not listed separately.

Period	Issue	Values
Early portrait types; catalogued 1921–1929	Ranjit Singh; successive frame, paper and perforation types	¼ anna, ½ anna
1922–1931, traditional specialist chronology	Ranjit Singh; early one- and two-anna printings	1 anna, 2 annas
1927	Ranjit Singh; BARWANI STATE frame	4 annas
1932	Devi Singh portrait	¼ anna, ½ anna, 1 anna, 2 annas, 4 annas
1938	Devi Singh portrait	1 anna
1935–1948	Ranjit Singh portrait; later printing	¼ anna, ½ anna, 1 anna, 2 annas, 4 annas

Sources

[1] N. J. Harkawat, “Postal History of Barwani State”, IND DAK, April 1979, p. 74 (opening instalment).
[2] Encyclopædia Britannica, 11th edition (1911), “Barwani”.
[3] David Feldman SA, Indian States, December 2017 auction catalogue, Barwani introduction.
[4] StampWorld, Barwani postage-stamp catalogue, issue listings.
[7] David Feldman SA, “Indian Feudatory States – Barwani: award-winning collection”, lot 60070, June 2019.
[8] C. U. Aitchison (compiler), A Collection of Treaties, Engagements and Sanads Relating to India and Neighbouring Countries, vol.IV, revised to 1930, Government of India, Calcutta, 1933, p.160.
[11] Daniel F. Kelleher Auctions, sale 637, lot 2238: Barwani collection, two album photographs and descriptions.
[14] David Feldman, Indian States, 21 June 2024, p. 25, Barwani State postal archives and MacGillycuddy collection.
[18] Philatelic Journal of India XXV(6), June 1921, New Issues, p. 85.
[22] R. F. Stoney, “The Stamps of Barwani”, Philatelic Journal of India, vol. XLVII, July–October 1943.
[23] Barwani State, Report on the (Minority) Administration of Barwani State for Nine Years, Beginning on 1st October 1930 and Ending on 30th September 1939, prefatory note signed by Harilal N. Gosalia, Dewan and President, State Council, 17 June 1940; pp. 40–41, 67, 118–119.
[26] C. E. Luard (compiler), Western States (Malwa) Gazetteer, Central India State Gazetteer Series, vol. V, Part A, Bombay: British India Press, 1908, pp. 578, 592, 596.
The Imperial Gazetteer of India, vol. II, Barwani entry (succession from Jaswant Singh to Indarjit Singh).
District Barwani, Government of Madhya Pradesh, “Profile”.