WW2 Kapurthala State War Purpose Fund Raffle

It's indeed a long time since I have posted an article on blog. Past couple of months have been extremely busy for me relocating from India to USA on official assignment. Now that I am settling down and able to balance between personal and professional life, I hope to be regular.

I saw that I hadn't posted any war fund tickets/raffles in past couple of posts so I would like to start with a war fund ticket. Actually, I had run out of my collection of such tickets and was waiting for some items to appear. Finally, I am able to find some more of such tickets recently so I hope to continue this thread.

This particular ticket seems to another of such series.

Above photo is one of the war fund lottery ticket issued in the aid of "His Excellency The Viceroy's War Purpose Fund" by princely state of Kapurthala during WWII. The war fund ticket is named after then ruler: Maharaja of Kaurthala Jagatjit Singh Bahadur.

Kapurthala was 13 gun salute princely state in British Empire. In 1930, Kapurthala became part of the Punjab States Agency and acceded to Union of India in 1947.

The event organised to raise fund was for Rajpipla Cup, a polo tournament held in Bombay on 22nd Feb, 1941.

The Grand Raffle Jhalawar - Princely State War Fund Ticket

It's long time since I posted an article on war fund tickets. Actually, I had run out of my stock on War Fund Tickets (shown everything here). I was desperately looking for more varieties when I stumbled upon some of these and naturally bought it ;-)

I am showing one of these here in today's post. It is written completely in Hindi so I will as usual translate for my readers. I have not seen this one appearing in any auction sites/dealer earlier so I assume this one must be difficult to get.

Shown above is "The Grand Raffle Jhalawar (for War in Europe)". This war fund ticket was issued by princely state of Jhalawar. It mentions in Hindi:

Ticket No. 2191

Whatever will be saved from this raffle will be sent to help war in Europe.

The Grand Raffle Jhalawar (For Help in War in Europe)
Brijnagar (Rajputana)

Ticket 8 Anna Each

Date of opening -----------------------------------
Date of closing ------------------------------------
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
In 5 rupees, you can get booklet of 11 tickets

First Prize 500/- rupees

It them mentions various other prizes.

On the reverse, it mentions rules. (The most important one is translated.)

1. Whatever money will be collected, out of which 3500/- rupees will be set aside for distribution of various prizes and rest of the money will be sent to Europe for help in war.

It mentions then the secretary of "The Grand Raffle Jhalawar State for Help in War in Europe", Captain Sobhagmal Surana, B. A.

Hyderabad War Week - WW2 Raffle

Today's post will be a very short one because I have no information on it at all. It is about a War Fund Raffle issued by Princely State of Hyderabad.

Shown below is front side of Hyderabad War Week Raffle in unused form. It mentions that the total prize of this raffle was 1,00,000 Indian Rupees which had to be divided into 571 prizes. The price of ticket was one Rupee (mentioned in English and Urdu). It also mentions that the raffle was organized by direct and immediate supervision of the "Hyderabad War Week" Committee.

In back side it mentions that the Raffle would close on 15th September, 1945 and draw would take place on 12th November, 1945 at Fateh Maidan. Fateh Maidan is where Aurangzeb pitched his first camp on his victorious campaign against Golconda in 1687. Hence, the raffle was drawn at such place which symbolizes victory. It then mentions various prize details and the fact that it will be paid at the Head Office of the Hyderabad State Bank.

It also mentions that all the correspondence shall be done to Jt. War Secretaries, "Hyderbad War Week", Gun Foundry Road, Hyderabad.

Note the location of address, it is the same place where Head Office of State Bank of Hyderabad is located besides offices of the Department of Archaeology and Museums.

The Gun Foundry is now a tourist place in Hyderabad. The walls of this Gun Foundry made of bricks, lime and mortar, was about 50 feet high. Due to the rampage of time and negligence, the original height has come down to 25 to 30 feet. One can still see specimens of the cannons and cannonballs manufactured in the Gun Foundry, in the Public Gardens and various other places in Hyderabad, bearing inscriptions regarding their manufacture. This is the only existing Gun Foundry as the rest were dismantled.

Set up in 1786 by French General Monsieur Raymond, Gun foundry was one of the several cannon and cannonball factories, in the Hyderabad State. The furnaces, melting of iron castings of cannons and muskets (long-barreled guns) were carried out in more scientific way under the supervision of General Raymond. These foundries cast one of the excellent cannon and made serviceable muskets.

This is the only structure of the surviving foundry established in the 18th century in the then Hyderabad State. The Roman Catholic Cathedral on the main road of Secunderabad was also constructed in Gun Foundry locality somewhere in 19th century. There were many such foundries that were more than 100 years old on the road to Mir Alam Tank and on the Bangalore road, which fell into ruins today.

Indian Independence Movement Fund - WW2

Today's item is an Indian Independence Movement Fund receipt issued during WWII. Before I share the item and talk about historical background, I want to present my opinion on these kinds of items available for sale.

As we all understand that over period of time, these items have become rare and definitely command a good amount of money. I have seen people selling these items (whenever they appear) on eBay and other auction sites at very high price. I understand that like Gandhi anything related to INA/IIL or Subhas Chandra Bose is now days difficult to procure and they have been becoming costly year by year. Still, I think some of the gentlemen (sellers) on eBay have become greedy. For example, I bought this item at reasonable rate and when I saw similar item for sale later on eBay, the price was at least 6 times more than what I had paid! You can imagine the difference.

I just thought I should warn fellow readers from purchasing such items on any auction site. Just think for a moment before buying whether it is worth paying or not irrespective of emotions flowing in your mind :-) This way we all can keep these items within our reach and available for trade.

Shown above is the fund receipt issued in 1944 at Taiping, Mallaya. Even though the date mentioned on receipt indicates 24-12-04, seller from whom I bought it told it is 1944. I forgot to ask him how did 04 (which I thought to be year) change to 1944 (like everyone my mind was already over powered by my emotions :D

Well, I believe the seller. There are couple of reasons behind it. I will trace them through history lesson that I am about to start so anyone not interested can stop here. I sound like a prof in college :-) In professional life also, I have to wear sometimes 3GPP hat and act like a professor in front of customers.

History (Guest) Lecture - Prof. (self crowned) Jyotirmay Bareria

It was late 1941 when Japan unfolded its strategy in Asia to counter British forces. Based on experiences in China, the Imperial Japanese Army established a semi-autonomous unit to carry out liaison duties with local independence movements in Southeast Asia and transmit intelligence gathered from these movements back to the army command. Two such units were established before the outbreak of World War II in South-East Asia: the Minami Kikan and the F Kikan. We will focus on F Kikan in this post.

The Japanese IGHQ in October set up the Fujiwara Kikan, or the F-kikan, in Bangkok, Headed by the Major Fujiwara Iwaichi, chief of intelligence of the 15th army. He was tasked with intelligence gathering and contacting the Indian independence movement, the overseas Chinese and the Malayan Sultan with the aim of encouraging friendship and cooperation with Japan. Fujiwara's staff included five commissioned officers and two Hindi-speaking interpreters. Again, we will focus of F-Kikan's achievement with Indian Independence Movement. In reality also, they were hugely successful with Indian struggle than Malayan or Indonesians.

After the attack on Pearl Harbor on 7th Dec 1941, the 15th Army was tasked with the invasion of Malaya. During Malaya campaign, Fujiwara was camping in Alor Star when he learnt that there was a body of men from the 1/14 Punjab Regiment, with their British commanding officer, Lieutenant-Colonel Fitzpatrick, sheltering in the jungle east of Alor Star. The British force in the northern part of the Malaya Peninsula including Captain Mohan Singh's battalion, 1/14 Punjab Regiment, was fleeing towards the south. Mohan Singh's own forces had been outgunned and destroyed by superior Japanese forces at Jitra.

After preliminary negotiations, Fujiwara went into the jungle to contact the unit, and persuaded the wounded battalion commander that it was his duty to his men to surrender. Captain Mohan Singh agreed with Fujiwara and was taken to Alor Star where he met Pritam Singh at a joint office of the F-Kikan and the Indian Independence League (IIL). Although Pritam Singh was involved to a large extent, it was Fujiwara who, with his sincerity of purpose and belief, convinced Mohan Singh to betray his oath to the Crown by uniting with the Japanese mission for the greater motive of Indian freedom.

Fujiwara accompanied Mohan Singh to the Tactical Headquarters of 25th army where they met General Yamashita. Impressed by general's sympathetic views, Mohan Singh returned to F-Kikan HQ with a set of propositions that had been drawn up by him after discussion with other Indian prisoners-of-war.

1) An Indian National Army (INA) should be formed.
2) The Indian National Army should cooperate with the already existing Indian Independence League.
3) Indian POWs should be put under Mohan Singh's command for the Indian National Army.
4) The Indian National Army should be considered by the Japanese as an allied force.

These principles were accepted, in principle, by Yamashita, and the Indian National Army was born at Taiping on 31st December 1941. Now you understand the importance of Taiping :-) To me, Taiping holds a very important place in history.

After the British surrender of Singapore in 1942, F-Kikan was dissolved, and replaced by a new liaison agency, the Iwakuro Kikan, or "I-Kikan", to coordinate activities between the Indian National Army and the Japanese army.

Of course later, INA was put under supreme commander Subhas Chandra Bose. There is more history behind it. I will shed more light on exploits of INA under Mohan Singh and Subhas Chandra Bose in future posts (next class :-) when I share IIL/INA war propaganda leaflets.

For now, go ahead and read Wikipedia and other links to lighten yourself :D

WW2 Junagadh State and Dindigul War Raffle

It's long time since I shared some War Fund coupons/raffles. Today, I am showing two of such varieties which I was planning to share for long time.

Shown above is a War Fund related lottery ticket issued by Junagadh state. It is printed in Gujarati whose English translation is:

"The ticket should be held by the person who bought it"
Junagadh State Lucky Bag
War Fund 1940

Aalijaah Daulatmadaar (Richest) Nek(Kind) Naamdaar(Famous) [all of them are salutations] Saheb Bahadur(the king) Manjur Karel(has approved)

Price: 1 Rupee

It then mentions first name and surname of person to whom the ticket was issued. At the right hand corner, it carries printed signature of "Sardar Muhammad Khan", Chief Dewan (kind of Chief Minister of state) of Junagadh state.

This is another of war fund raffle ticket. This is a bit rare as I haven't seen this ticket appearing in any of auctions yet. For example, you can easily find Junagadh one being offered at eBay from time to time.

Anyway, this one is in English and Tamil both so you can make out that it was issued by one of town of Madras Presidency or modern state of Tamilnadu. As the ticket states, it was issued by Dindigul Taluk (District) Ladies Auxiliary War Committee in the aid of the amenities for troops fund.

It was a raffle ticket of 8 Annas for a fancy sale organised for war fund. It mentions in Tamil that the draw date was Sept 1943 and 30 prizes worth 300 rupees could be won. Prizes included Zari/Karachi Sarees and other items.

The ticket was issued to Subramanian Chetty at Manapparai (a place near to Dindigul).

War (WW2) Fund Tickets - British India

Today's post is going to be a short one. Obviously, the main reason is I couldn't get any information on these. It is about two WWII war fund raffle/ticket.

First one in the series is issued by Chhatarpur State War Committee. Chhatarpur is now a district in Madhya Pradesh state of Modern India. Before independence, Chhatarpur was 11 gun salute princely state, also known as central India (Bundelkhand) agency.

The ticket says it was issued for "Funds needed to fight in the war". The denomination of ticket was 1 Anna. It also has serial number of 0095 (meaning not more than 9999 of such tickets were printed).

Unfortunately, I couldn't get any details on Chhatarpur State War Committee or involvement of Chhatarpur state during WWII. All I could gather was Chhatarpur state also consisted of Nowgong (Nowgaon), a military cantonment town which was the headquarters of the 'Bundelkhand Agency’ of princely states. Thus, I assume that Chhatarpur state must have actively contributed.

After the independence of India in 1947, the Rajas of Chhatarpur acceded to India, and Chhatarpur, together with the rest of Bundelkhand Agency, became part of the Indian state of Vindhya Pradesh. Vindhya Pradesh was merged into the state of Madhya Pradesh in 1956.

Shown above is another of such war fund ticket issued during WWII. It is called "Hujur Viceroy Bahadur Ka Ladai Fund" in Hindi meaning "Viceroy's War Fund". The ticket is dated November, 1940. It is written in a variant of Hindi and the handwriting makes it more difficult to read. I just couldn't even make out the amount mentioned on ticket. Besides, I have no clue which princely state or part of British India had issued it.

Any information on both of above war fund tickets will be highly appreciated.

Burma State Lottery - WWII

Today's post is on Burma State Lottery. Even though, Burma was separated from Indian Empire in 1937 and came under direct British Administration, I still collect Burma as part of my Indian collection because of Indian Army involvement in this theater of war. Burma and North East India were the main area where Allied (British & Indian) and Axis (Japanese & INA) forces fought hard pitched war during WWII.

Burma became province of Indian Empire on 1st January 1886. Since 1886 to 1937, Indian stamps were used in Burma. Between 1942 to 1945 part of Burma was under Japanese and British administration and during that time both of them ran their postal system in parallel.

During WWII, British Government came up with Burma State Lottery to raise funds. I don't have much details on it. But, I have two of such samples in my possession which mentions war.

First of such item is shown below. It is a ticket of Ninth Burma State Lottery, issued in 1941 to someone called Ramajayam.

The ticket is priced Rupees 2 and have a illustration of Burma's pagoda and Buddhist temples.

The back side of the ticket has as usual rules listed in English and Burmese. The rules state that the draw will begin on the 24th march 1941 while tickets will be sold till 10th March 1941 in Rangoon and 3rd March 1941 outside Rangoon.

And here comes the main rule which is of my interest: no war tax or other deduction will be made from the prizes.

Here is some information shared by fellow blogger Ramanathan on this lottery:

In the first lottery signed 'Sree Ramajayam' in the 'Nom De Plume' section of the lottery, the actual owner is S.V.RM.V.Ramanathan Chettiar of Pallatur, Ramnad District. Further, this lottery belongs to this gentleman (Ramanathan Chettiar) because people from the Chettiar community were major traders, money-lenders, and merchants in Colonial Burma. During the British Raj, Ramanathanpuram was written as Ramnad and Pallatur belongs to one of the 96 small villages / towns the Chettiar community is spread across -- today it has shrunk to 75 villages. Pallatur is a small village next to Karaikkudi. Family of AMM group, manufacturers of BSA cycles, trace their ancestry to Pallatur (before their venture into industries, ancestors of this AMM family had large investments in Burma).

Here is another sample of lottery ticket. This one is quite interesting since it has postmark on it :-)

If you notice this ticket carries a postmark of some KANYUT.... I can't decode it. I would really appreciate if someone can tell me which place it refers to. This is 1st time I have seen a lottery ticket being carried like this in postal system without any stamp on it. Or could it be some official seal while selling the ticket?

Again, fellow blogger Ramanathan helped to decode the mystery:

It is a postmark of 'KANYUTKWIN' located in Irrawady district. Such items may have been posted from Burma to India or vice-versa, hence that postmark seal. You see the name 'ANNAMALAI' in Nom De Plume section, again, this could be that of a Chettiar's name.

-- thanks a lot Ramanathan for helping with both the lotteries. Your analysis was as usual perfect and complete.

Anyway, this is 12th issue of same year 1941. Back side of this lottery mentions that the draw will begin on the 18th December 1941 while tickets will be sold till 4th December 1941 in Rangoon and 27th November 1941 outside Rangoon.

Like previous one, this also mentions that no war tax or other deductions will be made from the prizes.

I am sure British Government would have issued such tickets until they were run over by Japanese Occupation Forces in Burma or perhaps such tickets were continued to issue in regions of Burma under British control till end of war.

Dasehra Week - War Fund Ticket (India)

Before I present today's item, let me tell you that I was feeling low initially showing these because I could hardly gather information on it like earlier post. But, then I started searching with other keywords and found very interesting piece of information surrounding the war fund tickets that I am gonna show.

So, let me reveal the suspense and come straight on topic. It is two different tickets/raffles for sports activities which were organized in aid of war fund during WW2 days. The tickets were issued by the Princely State of Jaipur. The first of such ticket is shown below.

The ticket was issued for "Hockey Match" in aid of war fund which was organized at Bhagwant Dass Barracks on the 8th Oct, 1940. The ticket was priced Rupees 2 and it was part of Dasehra Week celebration.

Shown above is similar ticket but this time issued for "Cricket Match" which was organized on next day i.e. on 9th Oct, 1940 at the college ground.

There is significance behind these tickets being issued during Dashera Week for War Fund. One can read more details on Dasehra or Dussehra or Vijaydashami. Typically, Dasehra falls every year in end of September or 1st to 2nd week of October as per Indian Hindu Calendar.

This festival has been the most celebrated one by the fighting castes since centuries. All Hindus try to make a beginning of their most cherished work on this auspicious day. According to the Hindu tradition, on this day Lord (God) Ram set out on his conquest of Lanka, and therefore it can be easily imagined the supreme importance of Dasehra in the eyes of the princes of Mewar and Amber who claimed direct descent from Lord (God) Ram. Its essence was the combination of worship and military display: all the arms, accoutrement and paraphernalia of the royalty and the state forces were inspected, and divine blessing sought on them by the Maharaja as the supreme commander of the troops and the chieftain of the clan.

There was century old tradition of holding such ceremony in Udaipur where a change was introduced in the details by Maharaja Sawai Madho Singh of Jaipur in 1913, when all the State forces were assembled together at the Fatah-Tiba or Mount of Victory outside the capital. There, after offering worship to the gods, the colors were taken down and re-hosted, and a salute fired by the entire artillery.

This collective celebration was discontinued in 1924. Since then every unit of the army used to perform the Dasehra rites at its headquarters, conducting the puja (rituals), changing the colors and firing the salvo on the local scale. At Jaipur, the Maharaja Sawai Man Singh used to ride at the head of Sawai Man Guards to Amber, and offer adoration to the flag of this corps d'elite of his army before the Shila Mata, the goddess enshrined in that ancient capital. Later, there used to be day long ceremonies to celebrate the festival.

This tradition was also changed later by Maharaja Sawai Man Singh II in 1939 when the inspection parade were held at the Bhagwant Dass Barracks, the headquarter of the Sawai Man Guards.

Now, you can understand why such war fund tickets were issued on occasion of Dasehra and one of the match was held at Bhagwant Dass Barracks which was the headquarter of the Sawai Man Guards. The other ground in question is Maharaja College Ground where Cricket match was organized. The ground is still one of the popular venue for hosting cricket matches.

After Independence , when Jaipur State was merged to complete the formation of the present state of Rajasthan, Jaipur City became its capital, and then these Bhagwant Dass Barracks were turned into the Secretariat of the Rajasthan Government.

Victory Amusement Park Ticket - WW2 India

Today's post will be a very short one as I failed to gather any information on it. See if any of you can come up with some information. It is about ticket issued for "Victory Amusement Park" in India after allied victory over axis powers.

I am not sure if the ticket issued was part of Victory Week celebration which happened in April 1946 in Delhi or it was for some separate event in 1945/46. I not only tried as usual searching on internet but browsing some magazines/books I have which talk about Victory week celebration in Delhi. But there was no mention of Victory Amusement Park at all.

I even don't know whether these were entry tickets or related to some performance etc. The ticket carries crown and Union Jack. It also mentions "SKILL PRICE" on it with different denomination such as 1, 2, 4, and 8 annas.

I have a set of 19 different (colorful) such tickets. I was told that this is one of biggest such set available in market. Most of the time people get couple of such tickets but not more than ten. Looking into these tickets, I wonder how many such colorful tickets would have been issued. Like I have some 12 tickets of 4 annas denomination, 5 tickets of 2 annas denomination and 1 each for 1 anna and 8 annas. At least, similar colorful shades must be available in all denomination which makes it really difficult for any collector to have a complete set.

But basically, what I am really interested is knowing history behind them. What was the purpose behind these tickets and when were they issued along with what "SKILL PRICE" means. Please share any information you have on these.

Bikaner War Fund Lottery - WWI & WWII

This weekend happens to be another long weekend in India with Monday being holiday for "Dussehra" a Hindu festival. I didn't keep my promise last weekend of writing blogs on each holiday, just published 2 posts out of 3 days. Let's see if I can manage to do this weekend. It will indeed be an achievement for me :D

Today's post is about couple of war fund or loan lottery tickets issued by the princely state of Bikaner during WWI and WWII.

Shown above is the "Bikaner War Loan Lottery" ticket. The ticket was issued by the "War Loan Commitee" of Bikaner state. Though, the lottery doesn't mention the year of publication but my guess says it belongs to WWI. The reason is I have seen another similar lottery where 1918 is printed. Moreover, WWII tickets were called war fund or war fete. With that assumption in the mind, lets continue with this lottery.

The lottery ticket was priced 1 rupee each. It mentions that the total amount of lottery is 25,000 Indian rupees on front but reverse side mentions that winning amount can be increased or decreased as needed depending upon the sale of tickets. It also mentions that the tickets will be sold until 30th of september and results will be declared in 1st week of october, exact date to be announced later. The back side of ticket has details in both English and Hindi. The above ticket is issued to someone called Daluram Sarawagi of Rajgarh which was another small princely state in India.

Here is my first ticket of WWII series. The ticket is called "Bikaner State War Fund Lottery" and carries Bikaner state's official seal on it in center. This ticket was issued sometime in 1942 by the state government; it bears the name of then revenue minister of state "Prem Singh" on it. It mentions the closing date of 23rd Feb, 1942 and drawing date of 10th March 1942. The ticket was priced 1 rupee each same as earlier one. The ticket also carries 'V' symbol. The ticket has text only in English even on back side of it. This ticket also carries name of person to whom it was issued: Bhanwari Lal Surana and his wife Santi Nath.

Last in the series is ticket shown above. The ticket is issued on the occassion of "Bikaner State II War Fete". As it mentions, the drawing date was 24th October 1942. The price of this ticket was rupees 25! That's huge money in those times.

Again, the purpose of issuing all of these was to raise fund for war contribution & relief programs. Bikaner being one of the loyal princely state to British Empire was very active in these activities (perhaps second only to Hyderabad) and helped significantly by organising these programs /activities to serve the cause.

Madras Presidency War Fund Raffles

Today's item focus on contribution from Madras presidency during world war II.

At its greatest extent, Madras Presidency included much of southern India, including the present-day Indian State of Tamil Nadu, the Malabar region of North Kerala, Lakshadweep Islands, the Coastal Andhra and Rayalaseema regions of Andhra Pradesh, Brahmapur and Ganjam districts of Orissa and the Bellary, Dakshina Kannada, and Udupi districts of Karnataka. The capital was at Madras, now known as Chennai.

In 1908, the province comprised 22 districts each under a District Collector. Today, we cover North Arcot, Ramnad, Tanjore and Madura districts under British rule.

North Arcot

North Arcot district formed a key province in the then Madras Presidency, under the control of the Nawabs of Arcot. During world war II, North Arcot held a grand raffle to aid the war plane fund.


As shown above, the raffle was held at 1st Dec, 1940. The ticket price was 4 annas. North Arcot had Mughal/Muslim influence and they tried to imitate the Hyderabad's Nawab fund raising campaign. As we know, Hydeabad had raised funds for 2 squadrons of Splitfire airplanes. Nawab of North Arcots also tried the same. Even though, they were not as successful as Hyderabad.

Ramnad

Another district under Madras presidency which issued raffles for victory in war was Ramnad. Ramnad or Ramanathapuram (as it is known) is close to Rameshwaram, one of the main pilgrim centres in India.


This is where the difference in war raffles start showing. If you notice Ramnad had issued Victory raffles of denomination 1 Rupee in Tamil not English. Perhaps the reason could be that the area is close to Sri Lankan peninsula. And, both the sides of ocean, Tamil population was predominant with not much influence of English in those era. These were still hard core Tamil place.

Madura

While Madura or Madurai as it is known had issued raffle in aid of warplane fund in demonination of 8 Annas in both English and Tamil language. Perhaps, the reason lies in the fact that Madurai is one of the oldest continually inhabited city in the Indian peninsula with a history dating all the way back to the Sangam period of the pre-Christian era. And, the very fact that it was accomdating to change in culture over period of time (the reason of survival), that it had adapted English language also.


Well! Madurai is major tourist attraction in Southern India. It is also referred as Temple city. Madurai's cultural heritage goes back 2,500 years, and the city has been an important commercial center and has conducted trade as far as Rome and Greece since as early as 550 B.C.E.

Tanjore

And the last item that I want to present belongs to another oldest place in Southern India: Tanjore.

Tanjore or Thanjavur (as it is known) is one of the oldest cities in India and has a long and varied history dating back to Sangam period. The city rose into prominence during the rule of the Later Cholas when it served as the capital of the Chola empire. After the fall of the Cholas, the city was ruled by the Pandyas, Vijayanagar Empire, the Madurai Nayaks, the Thanjavur Nayaks, the Thanjavur Marathas and finally the British!



Shown above is image of raffle issued by Tanjore District war committee to aid H.E. the governor's war fund. The draw date was 8th Dec 1940. The denomination of ticket was 8 Annas same as Madura warplane fund raffle.

Now, Thanjavur is an important center of South Indian art and architecture. Most of the Great Living Chola Temples, an UNESCO World Heritage Monument are located in an around Thanjavur.

For any tourist coming to Southern India, a visit to all these places: Madurai, Tanjore and Rameshwaram is a divine experience, specially for people having interest in history, architecture and civilizations. These places are rich in culture and offer variety of memoirs to be taken back home.

I guess, I should become another ambassador of "Incredible India!" campaign run by Toursim department of Govt. of India :D

Pudukkottai State War Fund Raffle

It's more than a week now and I have become some what lazy as well ;) That's the reason you see no blog update! Also, You know summer is setting here in Bangalore. It's really hot out there from city's standard.

But, wind is still blowin.. so blog will continue :)

Today's item is about Pudukkottai state war fund raffle.

Pudukkottai, now a district in Tamilnadu state of India, was once a princely state under British India. The rulers of Pudukkottai had fought against Hyder Ali, the ruler of Mysore and Tipu Sultan. And that way, they became natural allies to British.

As Tipu Sultan had sought to leverage the power of the French against his British adversaries. Pudukkottai came under British Government rule as 11 gun salute princely state.


Raja Rajagopala Thondaiman, was the ruler of Pudukkottai state during World War II. Just like other princely states, Pudukkottai state also organised raffles to raise funds for war to contribute to British Government of India. Below item is one of such raffle issued in 1941 of 1 ruppee:


This was 1st war fund lottery ticket issued by Pudukkottai state. Some 100000 of such tickets were printed. The war fund raffle has secretary of War Fund Entertainments Committee signature on it along with date of issue to ticket bearer which is 3rd June 1941.

The back side of ticket carries the schedule and rules of lottery while front side mentions date of raffle which was 23rd June 1941, Raja Rajagopala Thondaiman's birthday.

Unfortunately, there's not much information available on Pudukkottai's contribution to the world war in Internet. If some one has more information, please share with me.

Hissar Aeroplane War Fund 1941

Today's item is again about a war fund coupon :-) released by Hissar district of India. As, I stated in earlier blogs that most of Indian princely states and lots of private institutions floated war fund committees and organised either some kind of lottery or some sports to encourage mass participation.

This is just one of another example of how Indian public generously contributed to the great cause of Humanity.


Hissar was a district in British India bordering Punjab. In modern India, Hissar is a important town and district in Haryana state of India (of course neighbouring Punjab state).

Above coupons were issued in the name of Hissar District Aeroplane War Fund. Each such booklet contained 10 coupons of 1 rupee each. The coupon was issued in red and blue color combination which I feel quiet different from other war fund coupons which are generally printed with white/black combination. Like the one shown above, I have one such booklet of series 18301 to 18310.


Another interesting part of these coupons are some thing printed on back of each such coupon. I have yet to get it decoded but it appears in first glance that the script is Urdu due to closeness of district to now Pakistan. The area had sizeable amount of population from Muslim commuity.

I am not sure if the printing on back side of coupon was done in all booklets or it is just a few of them which has such prints ;) Ok, I know I am trying to make my booklet quiet a rare :D

Anyway, in general people say these booklets are now scarce so even if you ignore my desparate attempt to make my coupon rarest of rare, these are still gems from history.

War Purposes Fund - Bikaner State [BAAA]

Today's item is related to interesting football match organised in Bikaner state of India to generate fund during world war II.

During WWII, war purposes fund was created and most of Indian princely states had contributed to the fund to assist British in war. Bikaner issued "coupons of war purposes fund" to raise donation fund as shown below.

There are two varities of coupons: one with revenue minister "Prem Singh" signature on it issued under "Government of Bikaner" while other with president of national war front committee starting with "K*********" issued under "Bikaner State".

If anyone can read or knows who was the president of National War Front Committee that time then please let me know.

Both the coupons were for the football match organised between Dungar College vs Dungar Lancers (which was one of the Bikaner state force which included His Highness' Bodyguard) on 16th October 1942. The coupons carry the date 16.10.42 on back.

I purchased this item from one of Indian dealer.

Rajpipla War Purpose Fund Lottery Ticket [HFA]

The aim of this blog is to report any war fund ticket, cinderella, raffle, labels, stamps, revenue, fiscals or interesting envelopes etc. all kinds of stationary where Indian involvement is shown to philatelic community.

Basically, I would like to gather as much information as possible behind each such item. They include items from my personal collection as well any sighting of such material on internet.

Do share your knowledge on each such items displayed here as I am amateur in this area. (I hate to say this but I didn't develop test for censor covers where lots of people expertise.)

Wherever possible, I will try to provide reference of book or catalog,

I know this is very vast and big area but of the late I developed taste towards it while collecting world war II related stamps of other countries.

I started digging about Indian role in world war I & II and slowly this sweet poison paralyzed my nerve system making me addict.

Without taking much time, let me try to start now.

Above photo is one of private lottery ticket issued in aid of war purpose fund in Kapurthala of Punjab. The event organised to raise fund was Rajpipla Cup, a polo tournament held in Bombay.

I purchased this war fund ticket from one of known dealer of Bangalore. I know there shall be hundreds of such items issued by Indian states as well private party to support the war.

If you have any such item which you would like to share then please send me details with photo and all the information. I might be even interested in buying such items as well :-)