Bastar princely state fiscal court fee /revenue stamp

BASTAR ( NON GUN SALUTE STATE )

Bastar state was a princely state in India during the British Raj. It was founded in the early 14th century, supposedly by a brother of the last ruler of the Kakatiya dynasty proper,

Prataparudra II. It is today used to refer the same region, called Bastar division in Chhattisgarh state.

In the early 19th century the state became part of the Central Provinces and Berar under the British Raj, and acceded to the Union of India on 1 January 1948, to become part of the Madhya Pradesh in 1956, and later part of the Bastar district of Chhattisgarh state in 2000. The current ceremonial ruler is Maharaja Kamal Chandra Bhanj Deo of Bastar, of the Bhanj dynasty.

Bastar state was situated in the south-eastern corner of the Central Provinces and Berar, bounded north by the Kanker State, south by the Godavari district of Madras States Agency, west by Chanda District, Hyderabad State, and the Godavari river, and east by the Jeypore estate in Odisha.

It had an area of 13,062 Square miles or 33,830 Sq.Km and a population of 306,501 in 1901, when its capital city at Jagdalpur, situated on the banks of Indravati river, had a population of 4,762.

Traditionally the area is mentioned as Dandakaranya in the epic Ramayana, and part of the Kosala Kingdom in the Mahabharata. Around 450 AD, the Bastar area was ruled by a Nala king called Bhavadatta Varman, who is recorded as having invaded the neighbouring Vakataka kingdom during the reign of its king, Narendrasena (440-460)

Court Fee Stamp :-

Type-3 – 1915 AD , , size 72.5x36 mm., Perf . 14, British Indian court fee series of 1913 AD with the portrait of George V is over printed with , “BASTAR / STATE” , Wove paper.

One Anna, Brown Lilac, Ref. # 31

Type-4 – 1938 AD , , size 72x36 mm., Perf . 14, British Indian court fee series of 1937 AD with the portrait of George VI is over printed with , “BASTAR / STATE” , Wove paper.