Dhar: the Puar Maharajas, Their Stamps and the State Post

Dhar in Malwa ran a Darbar post from 1871 and issued typeset and arms stamps from 1897 until the Imperial post took over on 1 April 1901: the rulers, the chronology and the stamps.

The state behind the stamp

Dhar lay west of Mhow in Malwa, ruled by the Puar (Punwar) Maratha house from its capital at Dhar; the historic site of Mandu was in its territory. The account of 1911 places it in the Bhopawar Agency of Central India, with 1,775 square miles and 142,115 people in 1901: figures for the old state, not the modern district.^[2][12]

Dhar State in 1919, with place names in Marathi, from Shivram Kashinath Oak, Dhar Sansthancha Sankshipt Prachin Itihas (1919). Via Wikimedia Commons.

The rulers

A ruler’s reign and the dates a stamp was issued or valid are different kinds of evidence.^{[12][13][14][15][35]}

Reign	Ruler	Note
1833–early 1857	Raja Jaswant Rao II	Succeeded Ram Chandra Rao; died of cholera early in 1857
1857	Raja Anand Rao III	Adopted son, succeeded as a minor
1857–1 May 1860	British administration	Dhar captured 25 October 1857 and confiscated 19 January 1858; restored 1 May 1860
1 May 1860–15 July 1898	Anand Rao III, Raja, Maharaja from 1877	Under supervision until 1 October 1864; the first stamps of 1897 belong to his reign
1898–30 July 1926	Udaji Rao Puar, Raja, later Maharaja	Adopted son; a superintendent under the Political Agent ran the state in his minority, through the end of the stamps; ruling powers December 1907
1926–1947 and after	Anand Rao Puar IV (Vikram Singh)	Adopted by the Dowager Maharani on 1 August 1926; a council under the Maharani ruled in his minority; ruler at independence

The rulers of Dhar in the postal period.^{[12][13][14][15][35]}

These political records name the administrations in office. They say nothing about who commissioned the stamps, ordered the printing or applied the oval seal.^[14][15][13]

Four years of stamps

Dhar’s own stamps lasted from 1897 until Indian stamps replaced them on 1 April 1901: locally typeset stamps on coloured paper, then from 1898 an arms design in half anna, one anna and two annas.^[1][3]

The named people and the missing makers

Groves, Evans, Douie, Stoney, Dawson and Barefoot are witnesses and researchers, not makers of the stamps. The retired postmaster who ran the revived department is unnamed. No designer, engraver, printing firm, compositor or commissioning official has been securely named; a name read in a seal and a planned supply from Bombay do not fill the gap.^{[25][35][26][31][32][33][7][1][34][6]}

Chronology

Date	Event
March 1848	Imperial post office opened at Dhar
1871	Regular Darbar runner service; Dhar in the Indian Postal Guide
1874	Brahmani-dak contract, renewed yearly
1897	Darbar department revived under a retired Government postmaster
June 1897	First three typeset stamps: half pice, half anna, one anna (Groves)
September and November 1897	The oval seal described as applied before use
September 1898	Arms stamps first reported
1 August 1900	Typeset two annas reportedly issued
October 1900	Temporary typeset quarter anna and two annas while the new designs were delayed
February 1901	Closure announced for 31 March
1 April 1901	Imperial post takes over; Indian stamps replace Dhar’s

The stamps

The issues and their values, from the research checklist. The settings, shades and papers of each issue are not listed.

Period	Issue	Values
1897–1900	Typographic Devanagari inscription	½ pice, ¼ anna, ½ anna, 1 anna, 2 annas
1898–1900	Arms	½ anna, 1 anna, 2 annas

Sources

[1] John Barefoot, “Some Curious Corners of Dhar”, Stamp Collecting, 8 October 1981, pp. 121–123 and 126–127.
[2] Encyclopædia Britannica, 11th edition (1911), “Dhar”.
[3] Smithsonian National Postal Museum, “Feudatory States: A–D”, Dhar.
[6] M. A. Nayeem, “Signet Seals of Dhar and Hyderabad”, letter to the editor, The Philatelist, vol. 33, March 1967, pp. 171–172.
[7] L. E. Dawson, “The Indian Feudatory States—X: Dhar”, The Philatelist, vol. 32, August 1966, pp. 328–331.
[12] Imperial Gazetteer of India, vol. XI, “Dhār State”.
[13] Government of Madhya Pradesh, Indore Division, History. Dhar restoration paragraph.
[14] Government of India, Aitchison’s Collection of Treaties, Engagements and Sanads, Southern States of Central India.
[15] British Library, Dhar Succession, IOR/R/1/1/1567(2).
[25] G. Barton Groves, “The Postage Stamps of Dhar”, The Philatelic Journal of India I(9), September 1897, p. 223.
[26] E. B. Evans, “The Stamps of some of the Native States of India”, Dhar, Stanley Gibbons Monthly Journal X, 28 February 1900, pp. 186–187.
[31] Lt.-Col. F. M. Douie, R.E., “The Stamps of Dhar”, in “The Stamps of the Indian Feudatory States”, The Philatelic Journal of India XXXVIII, no. 5, May 1934, pp. 53–59.
[32] R. F. Stoney, “The Stamps of Dhar. Type I.”, The Philatelic Journal of India XLI, nos. 11–12, November–December 1937, pp. 77–80 and plate.
[33] R. F. Stoney, “Dhar Type-set Stamps”, The Philatelic Journal of India XLV, no. 7, July 1941, pp. 86–90.
[34] D. C. Padgham, “Signet Seals of Dhar”, letter to the editor, The Philatelist, vol. 33, February 1967, p. 145.
[35] Captain C. E. Luard, Western States (Malwa) Gazetteer, Central India State Gazetteer Series, vol. V, part A, Bombay: British India Press, 1908, Dhar, pp. 389, 400–401, 444–446.
Wikimedia Commons, “1897ca Half anna Dhar Yv3 Mi3 lilarosa.jpg”.
Wikimedia Commons, “1900ca 1a Dhar Yv7b Mi7b violett.jpg”.