Duttia: the Ganesh Stamps and the Datia State Post

The state behind the stamp

Datia, catalogued by stamp collectors as Duttia, lay in Bundelkhand, near Gwalior and north of Jhansi. Its capital was Datia town and its rulers were Bundela Rajput Maharajas. Its State post handled local mail alongside the Imperial postal network.^[2]

The 1911 Britannica gives the state 911 square miles and a population of 173,759 in 1901. The Jhansi–Gwalior branch railway crossed it, and Datia town had a station 16 miles from Jhansi. That is the setting; it does not tell us how any particular State-post cover travelled.^[2]

The rulers

A ruler’s reign and the dates a stamp was issued or valid are different kinds of evidence.^[9][11]

Reign	Ruler	Note
1857–4 August 1907	Bhawani Singh	Ruler in the early stamp period. Luard says the administration was entrusted to him in 1865; Aitchison dates his investiture with ruling powers to May 1866
from August 1907	Govind Singh	Powers withdrawn in 1911, restricted powers in 1913, full administrative powers in 1916 (Aitchison); Röver gives 1914

A small post with a large literature

The Eastern States Gazetteer of 1907 dates Datia’s State postal system to 1893; before that, letters went from the British post office to the nearest police station or tahsil office. The stamps show Ganesh and a value in Hindi. In 1897 they were printed at a private press and made valid by the impression of the Maharaja’s seal, the blue circle on most copies. The earliest, with handwritten values, are traditionally dated 1893 and are still disputed.^[9][12][1]

From 1897 the state’s name appears in English, usually DUTTIA, briefly DATIA, the spelling of Hunter’s transliteration system. From 1899 the stamps were printed from rows of type-set clichés, and the post carried on until the Imperial Postal Department took it over in 1921, Röver says on 1 April. The state then received Service stamps worth Rs. 5,000 a year, free.^[1][11]

The chapters that follow take the Ganesh stamps of 1893–1899, the later DUTTIA stamps to 1921, and the State post’s offices, rates, postal lines and registered mail.

Chronology

Date	Event
1857	Bhawani Singh’s reign begins
1865 / May 1866	Administration entrusted to him (Luard) / investiture with ruling powers (Aitchison)
1893	State postal system established (Gazetteer); the manuscript-valued Ganesh stamps traditionally dated to this year, and disputed
1894 (tentative)	Two annas, double frame and stars, grey-blue on yellow (Röver)
1895 (tentative)	Half anna surcharged on eight annas (Röver)
1896 (tentative)	Trefoil-frame family and the modified red one anna (Röver)
February 1897	The Philatelic Journal of India describes the private press and the Maharaja’s validating seal; one head office and nine branches
1897–1899	English DUTTIA inscription on coloured papers
1899	Sans-serif issue, including the quarter anna
October 1906	Eleven Datia offices printed in the Philatelic Journal of India
4 August 1907	Death of Bhawani Singh; Govind Singh succeeds
12 September 1910	Registered letter with sender’s receipt and postal-service card
1911	Govind Singh’s powers withdrawn
1913	Restricted powers; a one-anna postal-fiscal used for postage on 28 August during a shortage
1916	Full administrative powers (Aitchison); the catalogue’s imperforate four annas
1917	A composite cancellation borrowing Convention State forms
1918	Quarter anna black, perforated 11½
1920	Quarter anna blue, rouletted, in panes of thirty-one; a registered cover of 27 January with mixed franking
1921	Imperial Postal Department takes over (1 April, Röver); free annual grant of Rs. 5,000 in Service stamps

What is still unresolved

The order of the manuscript values and several early frame types is still a research question; the later stamps of about 1897 and 1918 are comparisons, not proof of the group traditionally dated 1893. A measured atlas of the postmarks and a complete chronology of the offices are still to be put together. No complete study of watermarks, no paper contract and no paper supplier is known.^[1]

The stamps

The issues and their values, from the research checklist. Shades, papers, settings and separations are not listed separately; one anna was twelve pies.

Period	Issue	Values
Traditionally 1893	Ganesh; manuscript denominations (disputed early postage)	½ anna, 1 anna, 2 annas, 4 annas
Tentatively 1894	Ganesh; double frame and stars	2 annas
Tentatively 1895	Half anna on eight annas (postage surcharge)	½ anna on 8 annas
Tentatively 1896	Ganesh; trefoil frame	¼ anna, ½ anna, 2 annas, 4 annas
Tentatively 1896	Modified Ganesh design; one anna red on white	1 anna
1897–1899	English DUTTIA inscription	¼ anna, ½ anna, 1 anna, 2 annas, 4 annas
Short DATIA interlude; exact date unresolved	DATIA spelling variant	½ anna, 1 anna, 2 annas, 4 annas
1913, reported temporary postal use	One-anna blue postal-fiscal used for postage (postal fiscal)	1 anna blue
1916	Later DUTTIA printing	¼ anna, ½ anna, 1 anna, 2 annas, 4 annas
1918–1920 catalogue coverage	Later coloured DUTTIA printings	¼ anna, ½ anna, 2 annas, 1 anna pink, ¼ anna blue, rouletted

Sources

• [1] Peter Röver, “Duttia: Duttiah: Dutia: Datia, 1893–1993: A Stamp Centenary?”, The London Philatelist, vol.103, November 1994, pp.290–297.
• [2] Encyclopædia Britannica, 11th edition (1911), “Datia”.
• [9] C. E. Luard, Eastern States (Bundelkhand) Gazetteer, Central India State Gazetteer Series, vol. VI-A: Text, Lucknow: Newul Kishore Press, 1907, preface pp. i–ii and Datia pp. 104–106, 116–117.
• [11] C. U. Aitchison, A Collection of Treaties, Engagements and Sanads, vol. V, revised and continued up to 1929, Datia, pp. 11–13 (Delhi: Mittal Publications reprint, 1983).
• [12] “The Duttia State Post”, from notes supplied by C. L. Pigott, The Philatelic Journal of India, vol. I, no. 2, February 1897, pp. 38–40.