Welcome readers to todays offering from The-Philatelist. So slip on your smoking jacket, fill your pipe, take your first sip of your adult beverage, and sit back in your most comfortable chair, independent. We have an interesting story to tell of a place that has been absorbed into India and of the last Maharaja who tried to prevent it.
This stamp is a visual treasure from a forgotten age. A place even a geography geek will have trouble placing. A currency just known as cash. A wildly elaborate uniform on a young ruler named Maharaja Sir Bala Rama Varma. His full title and name would take over three lines. With due respect to him but in light of my limited typing ability, I will refer to him as BRV. The stamp also includes a beautiful waterfall. There is an overprint adding even more cash. Imagine a friend touring India and getting a letter from them with this stamp. You just know they are having an adventure.
The stamp today is issue A20, an 8 cash overprint of a 6 cash stamp issued by the Indian Feudal State of Travancore on September 17 1943. The stamp was part of an issue celebrating the 29th birthday of BRV. The Scott catalog places an absurdly low value on this stamp of 25 cents. No doubt BRV kept the printing presses going on their stamp issues, but how can there not be enough demand for a great stamp like this.
Feudal States in then British India were still aligned with India but had self rule using ancient mechanisms. For example, BRV was still a child when he ascended the title and he had to appeal to the British Viceroy as to when the regency could end and he could assume power. The Viceroy conditioned his rule on appointing C. P. Ramaswami, a well known Indian statesman has his official adviser.
The young BRV’s rule was promising. He spent much of the budget on education, including girls who at the time were often excluded. There were infrastructure projects including train lines, an airport, and hydroelectric projects. Industrialization also occurred and Travancore became one of the wealthiest areas of India.
The most famous reform was his proclamation opening the Hindu temple to the lower caste known as the untouchables. Travancore was the first place in India to take this step and got favorable reviews on it from Gandhi himself. Gandhi even suggested the title Mahatma might be a worthy addition to BRV’s title.
The times were changing fast however and it was not on the side of a separate Travancore. After World War II communists armed and trained by veterans of the British Indian army rebelled and tried to declare Travancore a communist republic. BRV sent in his army and quickly surrounded and massacred the communists. It was an armed rebellion but many felt BRV and his advisor CP went to far in crushing it so completely. C. P. Ramaswami’s reputation in India took a severe hit.
The British were fading fast from India and BRV tried to get ahead of it by unilaterally declaring his independence. He then merged with rival feudal state Cochin under a sort of one state, two systems arraignment. Newly independent India found Travancore independence unacceptable and started talks to bring it into India. CP claimed BRV had acted contrary to his advise and BRV was forced to agree to join India. He was gradually stripped of his powers and sources of money with the final cutoff of money in 1971. Travancore was merged into the Indian state of Kerala. BRV was still a popular local figure and died in 1991. After independence CP was less involved in politics and spent more time overseas. He died in London in 1966.
Well my drink is empty and so it is time to open up the conversation in the below comment section. What is the wildest stamp you have gotten on a letter from a traveling relative. For me it was a Iranian letter from a travelling German relative during the embassy hostage crisis. Come again tomorrow for another story that can be learned from stamp collecting.