Merchant Scripts Glossary
Hmmmm? Kashmir (and other) postal covers display a vast acreage of intriguing “merchant script.”
But so notorious is its reputation for difficulty that few collectors, even
specialists, bother with it much. Though “the” script in question comes in a range
of styles and local variants, examples from locales as separated as Leh and Kabul can be
remarkably similar.
Numbers & Dates
The minimum philatelic goal with these cursives is to be able to discern year-dates on covers, for
many is the irksome item for which only the month & day is visible in postal markings.
A year lurking in the merchant can sometimes come to the happy rescue.
1912 samvat ~ 1855-56 AD. In each AD conversion, the span of months is from about
March 12 to the following March 12.
1921 ~ 1864-65.
1924 ~ 1867-68 (odd, perhaps a botch, but this did come with clear cover corroboration.) The
standard 4 is the γ-looking thing seen in the 1940s entries.
1926 ~ 1869-70.
1928 ~ 1871-72.
1929 ~ 1872-73. (With thanks to Max Smith for these two images.)
1930 ~ 1873-74.
1932 ~ 1875-76.
1933 ~ 1876-77.
1934 ~ 1877-78.
1935 ~ 1878-79.
1936 ~ 1879-80.
1937 ~ 1880-81.
1938 ~ 1881-82.
1939 ~ 1882-83.
1940 ~ 1883-84. Second image 21 1940.
1941 ~ 1884-85.
1942 ~ 1885-86.
1943 ~ 1886-87.
1944 ~ 1887-88.
1945 ~ 1888-89.
1946 ~ 1889-90.
1947 ~ 1890-91.
1951 ~ 1894-95.
1951 ~ (April) 1894.
1955 ~ 1898-99.
1956 ~ 1899-1900.
1959 ~ 1902-03.
1960 ~ 1903-04.
More Numbers
Strange Sum: 466 + 191 + 188 = 845.
14 + 21 = 35
1350 + 3815 = 5165
55 + 11 + 60 = 126.
3555, 19, 3697, and not in the least least, 217646.
A seldom-seen hijra date in this script: 1305 ~ (Sept) 1887 to (Sept) 1888,
with cover corroboration. The 5 and the variant 8 can be confused for one another.
74. The common symbolic warning to those who would tamper with the letter.
Do read the fascinating footnote in Staal, pp 124-5.
Another 74.
Glossary
a. The vowel. Notation for nasalization (~ am) is usually absent, but may appear
as a variously placed dot.
Amritsar. If in a slightly
a(m)vr(i)t-sar-ish sort of way.
Amritsar.
Amritsar.
Amritsar with honorific bracketing: Srî Amritsar-jî.
Amritsar Katra Ahluwâlian.
asû.
asû 6 ~ 20 September.
asû 10 (not 20) ~ 24 September.
asû 1934.
asû 22 ~ 6 October, with convenient corroboration from the datestamp with it.
asû 29 ~ 13 October. Hybrid rendering, with the sû in nâgarî form. The diacritic below
marks the long-u. Compare with preceding.
1940 asû 5 ~ 19 September 1883.
ba. Also va, wa indiscriminately.
baisâkh 15 ~ 25 April.
baisâkh 19 ~ 29 April
baisâkh 22 ~ 2 May.
baisâkh 1935 ~ April/May 1878. Spelled with an actual -kh,
not the usual k.
baisâkh 3 ~ 14 April.
1937 baisâkh 27 ~ 7 May 1880.
baisâkh 26 ~ 6 May, with cover corroboration.
baisâkh 29 ~ 9 May.
bâzâr ~ bazaar, the ja serving as za.
bha. A composed variant from ba + ha.
cha. Often transliterated ca.
More cha.
chalan ~ in process, in delivery to, etc.
chauk ~ “chowk”.
Chauk Kalandar. Town in Punjab.
chitthî ~ letter.
74 chitthî ~ letter.
The second example is in nagari.
da.
Dîdâr. As in Qila Dîdâr Singh,
southwest of Gujrânwâla.
Râm Dâs. A common name. Long vowels not indicated in the script here.
da. The retroflexed version.
gha.
Example of the gh in maghar.
1935 hadh 16 ~ 28 June 1878, with cds confirmation.
har mas 1 ~ month hâdh 1 ~ 12 June.
1945 mas har ~ 1945 month hâdh ~ June-July 1888.
hadh 22 ~ 4 July.
Hari. Examples here in Katrâ Hari Singh.
‘Hasharpor’. Compare this Hoshiarpore with the following.
‘Hashârpor’.
i. Vowel. Also -u and -o.
i as initial and long-final, respectively and sometimes.
ja.
Jammu
Jammu
Jammu vich with nagari from the same cover for comparison.
jeth.
jeth 17 ~ May 28.
jeth 25 1947 ~ June 5 1880.
-ji ~ honorific following names.
ka.
Kabul.
74 kâkal ~ letter with warning symbol 74.
Karachi.
Katrâ with the ka and
ta in ligature.
Katrâ Ahluwâlian. Postal
destination in Amritsar.
Katrâ Ahluwâlian.
Katrâ Ahluwâlian.
Katrâ Ahluwâlian.
Katrâ ‘Aluvala’.
Katrâ Hari Singh.
Katrâ Hari Singh.
katak.
1935 katak ~ October 1878.
1945 katak ~ October 1888.
Qila Dîdâr Singh. A town southwest of Gujrânwâla in Panjâb.
kha.
la.
Ladâkh. Compare with the following:
The Ladâkh duplex (with toothed-d.)
The other Dogri on this marking is the month maghar, compare same below.
Lalla is an address-form, Mr., Master, etc.
Lalla Javan Mal-ji.
Lalla Patram.
srî lalla Dâs srî lalla Sain. Compare
Staal p 174 and next entry.
srî lalla Dâs srî lalla Sain Dâs.
Ludhiana-ji.
ma.
maghar.
maghar 2 ~ 15 November.
1944 maghar ~ November 1887.
Marwarî bâzâr, a postal destination in Bombay.
na. The latter form seems to be a final -an.
pa.
Lalla Patram.
phâgun 1934 ~ March 1878.
poh 10 [1930] ~ 23 December 1873 in line at top with datestamp corroboration
underneath.
1932 poh 3 ~ 16 December 1875 with cover corroboration.
ra. Some forms are confusable with ka.
rajistarî ~ registered.
rajistarî.
Râm Dâs. A common name. Long vowels not indicated in the script here.
ri. A ligature.
sa. Variable, and confusable with much. Sometimes sha.
The second element is an example of the sa as sha, in Hoshârpor.
Sambhar Lake.
Siâlkot. Does the dot mark the retroflexion or the
stifled final vowel (virama ~ detached.) Or a bug?
Singh. Surname.
Singh. Examples in Katrâ Hari Singh.
Qila Dîdâr Singh. A town southwest of Gujrânwâla in Panjâb.
Sopur.
srî.
srî Amritsar-jî.
Srînagar. This is less ‘merchant’ than it is standard Dogri script.
ta, ta (retroflex), and sometimes tha, the aspriate.
Example of ta in Lalla Patram. The 3-looking thing. Cf. Amritsar.
ta. Examples above in rajistarî, Jeth.
This element is sometimes rendered with the ta seen above, and vice versa.
tha. Also tha, thha.
u. Vowel. Also -i and -o.
u. Vowel.
va. Also wa and ba.
Wazirabad. Formally the ja-element is underdotted to give the z.
ya.
za, as in this bâzâr, is rendered
with the ja-element, sometimes underdotted.
Another bizarre bâzâr.
With warm thanks to Max Smith for providing extremely helpful materials on the regional scripts. If you want more information about these scripts, check out possible leads under such names as Baniyâ (~ lit. ‘merchant’), Wâniko, Landâ, Lamawasi, Lundas, and Takrî. Some of our gleanings have been taken from the website ancientscripts.com, and for which we are grateful.