Cash Coupon Issues of Indian Princely States

 

The British colonial administration of India lasted for almost 200 years, starting with the Fall of the Nawab of Bengal in the Battle of Plassey in 1757, & ended in 1947 with the independence and unfortunate partition of India. Over the course of this colonial misrule, India was majorly made up of two types of divisions- British Indian provinces, administrative divisions of the Raj under the direct control of the Crown government, & of Indian Princely States, regions ruled by native rulers in an alliance & under the suzerainty of the colonial British government. The alliance between these native Indian rulers of the princely states & the colonial administration, recognised their right to rule over their respective states, subject to the conditions of the British Raj. This allowed the British to have a form of indirect rule over these states, allowing them to pass laws and legislations that applied to the whole of India. At the time of the Indian Independence in 1947, there were 17 British Indian provinces and over 565 recognised Indian Princely States (& numerous estates such as zomindars, jagirs, etc).

Map of the British Indian Empire, Imperial Gazetteer of India (1909)

War Efforts & Shortages in the Raj

The second world war started with the German Invasion of Poland on September 1, 1939, resulting in the joint declaration of war on Germany by the United Kingdom & France two days later. India, then a colony under the British Crown, was dragged into the second world war and forced to help in the British war efforts. As a result, a shortage of essential resources was soon felt across the whole of India, and so deep was this resource crunch that it did not spare the activities of the mints operating in British India. Many changes were brought in the coinage such as the reduction of the purity of silver in the coins minted, from 0.917 to 0.500, and later it’s replacement with copper-nickel for the production of such coins, the introduction of holes in copper coins of low denomination (to save on metal for the war efforts), a reduction in the total amount of minted coins and their distribution being hit, among others. A scarcity of coins- especially small change was thus felt, with the shortage being more pronounced in the princely states- areas under indirect control of the British Raj.

Cash Coupon Issues of Princely States

Over the course of time, the British colonial administration in India had introduced legislations that made it increasingly difficult for the native princely states to issue their own coinage. Given that the right to mint coins was seen as a symbol of sovereignty, the permission to mint coins was used as a diplomatic tool for negotiations between the British officials & the Princely states. Over the course of time, most of these Indian princely states had given up their right to mint their own coins. Only a handful of them issued their own independent coinage until their union with India, the most significant of them being the Kingdom of Travancore, & the State of Hyderabad (Hyderabad Deccan), both of which had individual British Residencies stationed in their states. The bulk of the princely states were dependent on the coinage of the British Raj for their economic transactions. Thus, when the resource crunch hit the mints of colonial India, these princely states were hit the most.

To compensate for the short supply of coins in daily transactions, these native states (& some estates like those of the Ramgarh Raj) introduced the idea of cash coupons- small ticket like cardboards that were issued for circulation. These were often prepared from stamps of a said value (or pictures of coins, as incase of many estates), that would be considered at par with coins of the same value. Given their relative simplicity and ease of production, these cash coupon issues were tightly controlled, with series letters & control numbers imprinted on them, to prevent the flooding of markets with homemade forgeries which otherwise would have wreaked havoc & collapsed the local economy.

Given their issuance during a time of shortage & emergency, these cash coupons are often regarded as the Notgelds of India, “Notgeld” being a German term for emergency money, which were often issued by local administrations during a time of emergency- a concept that had become more pronounced during the economic crisis of the German Weimar Republic in the early 1920s.

Cash Coupon Issue of 2 Annas, Indergarh Estate, showing a picture of 2 Anna coin [Credit: Banknote Museum]

Cash Coupon Issue of One Anna, Estate of Ramgarh Raj [Credit: Banknote Museum], labeled picture

Many estates (zamindar, jagir, etc) such as those of Ramgarh Raj, Navalgarh, & Indergarh issued cash coupons for ease in daily economic transactions, along with other princely states. Princely States that had issued such cash coupons include-

• Ambliara State (also, Ambaliyara)
• Nawanagar State
• Bajana State
• Jaipur State
• Jaisalmer State
• Palitana State
• Bikaner State
• Rajkot State
• Bundi State
• Jasdan State
• Chuda State
• Junagadh State (also, Junagarh)
• Sailana State
• Dhar State
• Sayala (also, Sayla)
• Mangrol State
• Sitamau State
• Tonk State
• Gondal State
• Muli State
• Vithalgadh State (also, Vithalgarh)
• Bamra State (also, Bamanda)
• Kingdom of Bharatpur
• Dewas Senior
• Dewas Junior
• Jaora State
• Khanate of Kalat
• Khadal State
• State of Khairpur (also, Khayrpur)
• Morvi State (also, Morbi/Morvee)
• Wankaner State

Cash Coupon Issue of One Paisa, Ambaliyara State [Credit: Banknote Museum]

 

While the aforementioned list is non exhaustive owing to a lack of cataloging among other reasons, it can be seen that many of the princely states mentioned are salute states- Princely states of the British Raj, the rulers of whom were entitled to being greeted with a number of gun salutes, as a protocol, on behalf of the British Crown, owing to their status, influence & prestige. The most prominent from the list are the states of Kalat, with its ruler entitled to 19 gun salutes, while the rulers of the states of Bundi, Tonk, Bikaner, Bharatpur, & Jaipur were entitled to 17 gun salutes! These are quite high numbers granted to these princely states which showcase their prestige, & status in the British Colonial administration, as it equalled the number of gun salutes accorded to the Heads of Governments, Commander-in-Chief of British Indian Forces, Governor-General of Portuguese India, Governor of French India, and the Governors of British Indian Presidencies & Provinces. The fact that such highly major & influential princely states needed to issue cash coupons reflects upon the severity of the shortage & resource crunch of the time.

Cash Coupon Issue of One Paisa, Sayla (Sayala) State [Credit: Banknote Museum]

Cash Coupon Issue of One Anna, Junagadh State [Credit:Banknote Museum]

Surviving Specimens & Forgeries

Except for small hordes of these cash coupon issues from the states of Bikaner, Junagadh & Bundi, few specimens have survived to this date. Given this relative scarcity, and a lack of records on the issuance of cash coupons by the princely states, the cataloging of these cash coupons issues remain difficult and incomplete.

Owing to simple designs, ease of production, and a lack of cataloging & records of these issues, cash coupons remain among the most misidentified & forged Indian numismatic items. As most of these cash coupon issues were made out of easily available princely state stamps- both revenue & postage, oftentimes such slightly modified stamp issues & stamp paper cutouts are passed off as cash coupons, with none or forged control numbers attested onto them.

 

-Soubhik Chatterjee