Jammu and Kashmir princely state fiscal court fee/revenue stamp

JAMMU and KASHMIR 21 GUN SALUTE STATE

Jammu and Kashmir was, from 1846 until 1952, a princely state of the British Empire in Indiaand ruled by a Jamwal Rajput Dogra Dynasty. The state was created in 1846 from the territories previously under Sikh Empire after the First Anglo-Sikh War. The East India Company annexed the Kashmir Valley, Jammu, Ladakh, and Gilgit-Baltistan from the Sikhs, and then transferred it to Raja Gulab Singh of Jammu in return for an indemnity payment of 7,500,000 Nanakshahee Rupees. Area of state is 222,444 Sq. Km. ,and population of state was 3,646,242 in 1931, Privy purse of state at the time of accession in 1947 , was Rs.10,00,000.

At the time of the British withdrawal from India, Maharaja Hari Singh, the ruler of the state, preferred to become independent and remain neutral between the successor dominions of India and Pakistan. However, an uprising in the western districts of the State followed by an attack by raiders from the neighboring Northwest Frontier Province, supported by Pakistan, put an end to his plans for independence. On 26 October 1947, the Maharaja signed the Instrument of Accession joining the Dominion of India in return for military aid. The western and northern districts presently known as Azad Kashmir and Gilgit-Baltistan passed to the control of Pakistan.