Bhor: the Pant Sachivs, Their Stamps and the State Dak

The state behind the stamp

Bhor lay in the Western Ghats country south of Poona, among the Satara jagirs. Its chief bore the title Pant Sachiv. Its two handstruck postage stamps of 1879 have to be kept apart from the square fiscal labels of 1880–81 and from the later portrait, whose postal status is disputed.^[2]

The Bombay Presidency register of 1898–99 names Bhor State as owner of its own State Printing Press. In 1906 Bhor was one of two Bombay Presidency states still keeping a State dak beside the Imperial post, and the Imperial Gazetteer of 1908 leaves it out of the Bombay postal circle because it had its own postal arrangements. D. V. Kale’s guide published by the Bhor State Press in 1946 has a map of the State inside its back cover, with place names but no postal routes.^{[15][34][38][26]}

The rulers

A ruler’s reign and the dates a stamp was issued or valid are different kinds of evidence. Lethbridge’s Golden Book of India gives Shankar Rao’s accession as 12 February 1871; Aitchison confirms the year, the transfer of the administration to him in 1874 and his death on 17 July 1922, but not the exact day of his successor’s accession.^[8][7][19]

Tenure	Pant Sachiv	Note
by 1820 – 1827	Chimnaji Sachiv	Named in the engagement of 1820; died 1827
1827–1837	Raghunath Rao Chimnaji	Adopted son and successor; a territorial agreement of 1830
1837–1871 (Aitchison)	Chimnaji Raghunath	Adopted in 1837; an engagement of 1839; the Marathi Vishwakosh starts his rule in 1852
12 February 1871 – 17 July 1922	Shankar Rao Chimnaji (Sankar Rao)	Full ruling powers in 1874; Pant Sachiv during the stamps of 1879 and the portrait of 1901
July 1922 – 8 March 1948	Raghunath Rao Shankarrao Babasaheb	Succeeded on his father’s death; the exact day is unverified; Bhor merged into Bombay State in 1948

The stamps in brief

Bhor’s accepted postage stamps are two: a red oval half anna and a red oblong one anna, struck by hand on native laid paper and first reported in May 1879. Four square labels of 1880–81, black on coloured paper, were probably fiscal. A printed half anna with the Pant Sachiv’s portrait is reported to have replaced the handstamps on 6 June 1901; the Imperial post said in 1902 that Bhor stamps had no scope to pay postage, yet the State dak was still carrying stamped petitions in 1912.^{[1][6][28][4][39]}

Chronology

Date	Event
12 February 1871	Shankar Rao becomes Pant Sachiv; full powers in 1874
May 1879	The oval half anna and oblong one anna first reported, in Casey’s Stamp Journal
1880–1881	Four square labels reported; fiscal, not postage
30 December 1894	Indian envelope front to Poona with both Bhor stamps added
1895	Evans’s belief that the State offices closed; outside mail passes to the Imperial post (Bateman)
1897	One anna on a local cover (auction description)
30 November 1899	Evans’s study of the Bhor stamps
6 June 1901	The portrait half anna reported to replace the handstamps
September 1901 – January 1902	The portrait reported received, supplied to dealers and described in sheets of 21
22 April 1902	The Imperial post says Bhor stamps have no scope to pay postage
12–13 April 1903	Portrait on Queen Victoria stationery from Bhor to Malabar Hill
30 September 1903	Warning of forgeries copied from catalogue drawings
October 1906	Bhor and Junagad keep their State daks beside the Imperial post
January 1909	The dispute between Evans and a former political agent reprinted
January 1912	Six offices, daily runners and stamped petitions described
20 January 1913	“Three labels in 33 years”: a British journal doubts they are postage stamps
8 March 1948	Bhor merged into Bombay State

The stamps

The issues and their values, from the research checklist. The square labels are fiscal and the portrait label is disputed; both are listed for comparison.

Period	Issue	Values
Reported May 1879	Oval red design	½ anna
Reported May 1879	Oblong red design	1 anna
Reported 1880–1881	Square labels, black on coloured paper (fiscal, not a postage issue)	2 annas, 4 annas, 8 annas, 1 rupee
6 June 1901 (reported in January 1902)	Later half-anna portrait label (disputed postal attribution)	½ anna

Sources

• [1] E. B. Evans, “The Stamps of Some of the Native States of India: Bhor”, Stanley Gibbons Monthly Journal, 30 November 1899, p. 104.
• [2] Encyclopædia Britannica, 11th edition (1911), “Bhor”.
• [4] “Bhor and Orcha”, The Postage Stamp, vol. 3, 9 January 1909, pp. 175–176, reprinting the Philatelic Journal of India account with the Imperial letter of 22 April 1902, and E. B. Evans’s reply.
• [6] E. B. Evans, Bhor (continued), Stanley Gibbons Monthly Journal, 30 November 1899, p. 105.
• [7] The Imperial Durbar Album of the Indian Princes, Chiefs and Zamindars, Bhor entry, p.199: Shankar Rao succeeded 1871, invested with powers 1874.
• [8] Sir Roper Lethbridge, The Golden Book of India, 1893, entry “Bhor, Sankar Rao Chimnaji”: accession 12 February 1871.
• [15] Report on the Administration of the Bombay Presidency, 1898–99, register of printing presses (British Library IOR/V/10/310).
• [19] C. U. Aitchison, A Collection of Treaties, Engagements and Sanads, vol. VIII (1931), Bhor narrative, pp. 121–122.
• [26] D. V. Kale, Here Came Swaraj, Bhor State Press, 1946, inside back cover map.
• [28] Stanley Gibbons Monthly Journal, vol. 12: 30 September 1901, p. 40; 31 December 1901, p. 108; 31 January 1902, p. 141.
• [34] “Notes on the Postal Arrangements in Some of the Native States”, The Philatelic Journal of India, vol. X, no. 10, October 1906, pp. 218–227 (Bhor, p. 226).
• [38] The Imperial Gazetteer of India, vol. VIII, 1908, p. 333.
• [39] “The Bhor State Stamps”, The Philatelic Journal of India, vol. XVI, no. 1, January 1912, p. 2.
• Bhor Princely State, Royal Archives: Pant Sachiv Shankarrao Chimnajirao.
• Marathi Vishwakosh, “भोर संस्थान” (Bhor State).
• Ranade and Joshi, A Short History of the Bhor State (1930), map of Bhor State, via Wikimedia Commons.