Jind: the Raj Press Lithographs, JHIND and JEEND, and the Convention Post

The state behind the stamp

Jind was one of the Phulkian states, ruled by a Sikh family, and its territory was a set of separated tracts in the Punjab. Sangrur replaced Jind town as the capital in 1827, so a state name on a stamp is not necessarily the town where it was posted.^[3]

Its local stamps belong to the years before 1885, when they were lithographed at the Raj Press in Sangrur and also served fiscal purposes. From 1 July 1885 Jind was a convention state: it used British Indian stamps overprinted with its name, first JHIND and JEEND, later JIND, until its post was taken over in 1949 and its stamps ceased to be valid at the end of 1950.^[2][1][45]

The rulers

A ruler’s reign and the dates a stamp was issued or valid are different kinds of evidence. The change of postal system in 1885 came under Raghubir Singh; his grandson Ranbir Singh succeeded as a minor in 1887 and received full powers in 1899.^[13][3][55]

Reign	Ruler	Note
1760s–1786 or 1789	Gajpat Singh	Took Jind and Safidon in the 1760s; recognised as Raja in 1772. Douie and the Census handbook give his death as 1789, the district history 1786; the Phulkian States Gazetteer gives 1789 in its pedigree and 1786 in its narrative
1786 or 1789–1819	Bhag Singh	Rani Sobrahi was appointed regent in 1814; Prince Pratap Singh revolted and briefly seized Jind fort; Prince Fateh Singh later ran the state in his father’s lifetime
1819–1822	Fateh Singh	Had governed for his father before succeeding
1822–1834	Sangat Singh	Succeeded as a minor; died without a son
1834–1837	Disputed succession	Settled in 1837 in favour of Sarup Singh
1837–1864	Sarup Singh	Of the Bazidpur branch; Dadri was added in his reign
1864–7 March 1887	Raghubir Singh	Ruler during the native stamps and the convention of 1885; title Raja-i-Rajagan in 1881
7 March 1887–1948	Ranbir Singh	Succeeded his grandfather as a minor; Council of Regency until his investiture on 10 November 1899; British political adviser until 1901; Maharaja by sanad of 12 December 1911; died 31 March 1948, by a secondary account
1948	Rajbir Singh	Signed the PEPSU covenant; the Raj Pramukh took over Jind’s administration on 20 August 1948

Chronology

Date	Event
1874–1885	Native stamps lithographed at Sangrur (Gessler); the first notices date from 1875 (Evans)
November 1883	Issue statement for the first native quarter-anna postcard
April 1885	Philatelic Record reports an earlier start, on the word of G. J. Hynes; not confirmed
3 June 1885	Postal convention ratified (Aitchison)
22 June 1885	Postal Notice at Simla announces the convention from 1 July
1 July 1885	First overprinted stamps; end of native postal use; the gazetteers give 15 July
July 1885	JEEND or JHIND? Calcutta is told to use JHIND
1893	Jind Branch Telegraph, Maler Kotla to Sangrur
by 1893	Old native stamps sold for revenue use
30 January 1897	Perforated orange quarter anna on laid paper received by the Monthly Journal
October 1897	Eleventh printing, with the wide SERVICE
6 September 1899	Railway agreement providing for mail carriage
10 April 1900	Revised postal convention signed
1902–1906	Edward VII stamps typographed in London, overprinted in Calcutta
1926	Indian stamp printing moves to Nasik
16 February 1927	Jind postcards listed among Nasik products
late 1927	Last recorded fiscal use of the native stamps (Warren)
1 April 1929	New British Indian inland schedule; the Jind booklet SG SB1
1932	Dadri office list, from the statistical tables of 1933
June and July 1933	Covers to Auxerre and, by air, to Bombay
20 August 1947	JAI HIND slogan at Sangrur
20 August 1948	The Raj Pramukh takes over Jind’s administration (PEPSU)
16 September 1949	Postal takeover of Jind, Nabha and Patiala
31 December 1950	Last day of validity of Jind stamps; exchange until 31 March 1951
23 July 1990	B.P.A. certificate 33,311 identifies a trial setting

A closer look at the stamps

The stamps

The issues and their values, from the research checklist. Official stamps, and the shades, papers, settings and inversions of each issue, are not listed. The collector’s checklist for Jind is a separate page in this section.

Period	Issue	Values
1874 traditionally; documented 1875	First local lithographed series	½ anna, 1 anna, 2 annas, 4 annas, 8 annas
1876	Local series on azure laid paper	½ anna, 1 anna, 2 annas, 4 annas, 8 annas
1882–1884	Later local designs and added quarter anna	¼ anna, ½ anna, 1 anna, 2 annas, 4 annas, 8 annas
1885	Curved JHIND STATE on Queen Victoria	½ anna, 1 anna, 2 annas, 4 annas, 8 annas, 1 rupee
1885–1886	Horizontal JEEND STATE	½ anna, 1 anna, 2 annas, 4 annas, 8 annas, 1 rupee
1886 onwards	Horizontal JHIND STATE	½ anna, 1 anna, 1½ annas, 2 annas, 3 annas, 4 annas, 6 annas, 8 annas, 12 annas, 1 rupee
1897–1904	Late Queen Victoria additions	3 pies, ½ anna, 1 anna, 2 rupees, 3 rupees, 5 rupees
1903–1909	Edward VII ordinary	3 pies, ½ anna, 1 anna, 2 annas, 2½ annas, 3 annas, 4 annas, 6 annas, 8 annas, 12 annas, 1 rupee
1913	George V, early 1913 state-name setting	3 pies, ½ anna, 1 anna, 2 annas, 3 annas, 6 annas
1913–1927	George V, succeeding state-name setting and additions	3 pies, ½ anna, 1 anna, 2 annas, 3 annas, 4 annas, 6 annas, 8 annas, 12 annas, 1 rupee, 1½ annas, 2½ annas, 2 rupees, 5 rupees
1922 Jind catalogue listing	George V denomination surcharge	9 pies on 1 anna
1927–1932	George V, multiple-star watermark	3 pies, 9 pies, ½ anna, 1 anna, 1¼ annas, 1½ annas, 2 annas, 2½ annas, 3 annas, 4 annas, 8 annas, 12 annas, 1 rupee, 2 rupees, 5 rupees, 10 rupees, 15 rupees, 25 rupees
1934–1937	George V changed types and colours	½ anna, 1 anna, 2 annas, 3 annas, 3½ annas, 4 annas, 6 annas
1937–1938	George VI initial ordinary family	3 pies, 9 pies, ½ anna, 1 anna, 2 annas, 2½ annas, 3 annas, 3½ annas, 4 annas, 6 annas, 8 annas, 12 annas, 1 rupee, 2 rupees, 5 rupees, 10 rupees, 15 rupees, 25 rupees
1942–1943	George VI changed overprints on 1937 stamps	3 pies, 9 pies, ½ anna, 1 anna, 1 rupee, 2 rupees, 5 rupees, 10 rupees, 15 rupees, 25 rupees
1942–1943	George VI later low-value designs	3 pies, 9 pies, ½ anna, 1 anna, 1¼ annas, 1½ annas, 2 annas, 3 annas, 3½ annas, 4 annas, 6 annas, 8 annas, 12 annas
Early 1920s base	George V Indian-produced half-anna postcard, more sharply drawn Royal Arms (postal stationery)	½ anna · single card, ½ anna · message half of reply card
Early 1920s base	George V Indian-produced half-anna postcard, single counterpart to Jind CP18 (postal stationery)	½ anna · single card
Early 1920s base	George V De La Rue half-anna postcards with Jind overprint (postal stationery)	½ anna · single card, ½ anna · reply card
1939 India base	George VI nine-pies solid-background postcard, JIND STATE (postal stationery)	9 pies · single card, 9 pies · reply card
1939 India base	George VI nine-pies solid-background postcard, JIND (postal stationery)	9 pies · single card, 9 pies · reply card
1941 India base	George VI nine-pies white-background postcard, JIND (postal stationery)	9 pies · single card, 9 pies · reply card
1946 provisional	George VI HALF ANNA on white-background nine-pies Jind reply postcard (postal stationery)	½ anna on 9 pies · reply card
1946 India base	George VI half-anna mauve definitive postcards with Jind overprint (postal stationery)	½ anna · single card, ½ anna · reply card
Used in 1902	Queen Victoria quarter-anna brown postcard with Jind state overprint (postal stationery)	¼ anna · single card
Reported by May 1887	Queen Victoria half-anna envelope with black two-line JHIND STATE (postal stationery)	½ anna · envelope
Reported by May 1887	Queen Victoria one-anna envelope with black two-line JHIND STATE (postal stationery)	1 anna · envelope
Reported in 1885	Quarter-anna Convention card with curved blue JHIND STATE (postal stationery)	¼ anna · single card
Reported in 1885	Quarter-plus-quarter-anna Convention reply card with curved blue JHIND STATE (postal stationery)	¼ + ¼ anna · reply card
Reported in 1885	Green half-anna envelope with curved red JHIND STATE (postal stationery)	½ anna · envelope
Reported in 1885	Brown one-anna envelope with curved silver and brown markings (postal stationery)	1 anna · envelope
Reported in 1885	Green half-anna envelope with red two-line JHIND STATE and green arms (postal stationery)	½ anna · envelope

Sources

• [1] C. Stewart-Wilson, British Indian Adhesive Stamps Surcharged for Native States, Part II: Jhind, Nabha, Patiala, Calcutta: Philatelic Society of India, 1898, Jhind chapter and addenda.
• [2] Henry Gessler, “Jind Cover with Dagger Cancellation”, The London Philatelist, vol.114, November 2005, pp.341–342.
• [3] Encyclopædia Britannica, 11th edition, 1911, “Jind”: separated territory, Sangrur and Ranbir Singh.
• [13] Sir James Douie, The Panjab, North-West Frontier Province, and Kashmir (1916), chapter XXVI, Jind, printed pp.276–277.
• [19] Government of Haryana, Jind district history, regency and PEPSU inauguration.
• [22] Supreme Court of India, State of Haryana v. Amar Nath Bansal, 15 January 1997, (1997) 1 SCR 262, Jind handover and PEPSU Administration Ordinance.
• [29] Punjab Government, Phulkian States (Patiala, Jind and Nabha), 1904 gazetteer, printed 1909, pp. 274–277 and 296, Jind succession, post offices and postal convention.
• [45] Ashok Kumar Bayanwala, Merger of Postal System, Jind postal takeover, reported DGPO Circular 49 and overprint validity.
• [55] C. U. Aitchison, A Collection of Treaties, Engagements and Sanads, vol. I, pp. 127–130, Jind succession and communications.
• Census of India 2011, District Census Handbook, Jind, Part XII-B, District Highlights, succession and state administration.
• Haryana District Gazetteers, Jind, pp. 26–27 and 130, regency and post offices.