Urdu & Persian Philatelic Glossary II
22 mâh hadh 1935 ~ 4 July 1878.
30 mâh hâdh sâl 1937 ~ 11 July 1880.
mâh hâdh sâl 1929 ~ mid-June
to mid-July 1872.
hawâla. A system of money exchange without the physical transfer of cash.
Written on early jawâb covers.
Hoshiârpur.
hundâ ~ kind of contract, often for the
transmission or exchange of goods. The hundî stamps
are bills of exchange.
lefâfe hundâ ~ letter prepaid for delivery.
khatt hundâ ~ letter prepaid for delivery.
As above, khatt and lefâfe being interchangeable in this context. The
kha- should have a dot on top.
inshâ'llâh ~ A Moham Deo volente, partly in aid of mail security.
inshâ-('llâh). As above, with feeling aparently.
inshâ'llâh ta'âlâ. When present, such notation is
invariably found in the upper-right corner of a cover.
Jagadhrî.
zila' Jalandhar.
Jammûn ~ Jammu. The final flourish may bend back to entail (joke) the n’s upper dot, as the second
image has it.
Jammûn. In full, dar Jammûn khâss ~ to
Jammu (‘special’) The second example of the back-flourish on the final-n is
a somewhat unusual variation.
Jammûn o Kashmîr, in the hand of
the Maharaja Ranbir Singh in correspondence (signature under ‘Ranbir’.)
Jaiswal Collection.
az Jammûn khâss ~ from Jammu (‘special’.)
az makân Jammûn ~ from the Jammu (postal) station.
janâb. Title of respect; Sir. From ‘side’, as in addressing the ‘lofty side.’
Jasrota, town in southern Jammu Province. Lettering from a registration seal.
jawâb ~ answer. Here, reading upward, jawâb talab ~
requiring an answer; called to account.
jawâb talab zarûrî
~ requiring an answer, urgent. zarûrî ~ urgent.
mâh jeth sâl 1924 ~ May 1867, with cover corroboration.
2 mâh jeth sâl 1933 ~ 13 May 1876.
Caution: this word is easily confused for the month chait when it appears in
this sort of gestural style.
28 mâh jeth sâl 1934 ~ 9 June 1877.
19 jeth sâl
1936 ~ 31 May 1879. This form is sometimes confused for chait.
jeth sâl 19-?-37 ~ May 1880. It is unusual to see the
retroflexion marked explicitly in the name of this month. A bottle-opener has intruded on the date
for reasons (here) unknown.
31 jeth sâl 1943 ~ 12 June 1886.
Accompanied on right by 9 ramazân 1303 ~ 11 June 1886. (A Kashmir
cds on the reverse of the cover showed 12 June.)
17 mâh jeth sâl 1947 ~ 29 May 1890.
zila' Jhelum.
mâh jomâdi ' ol-avval sâl 1284 ~ from 31 August 1867. The
ol-avval means ‘the first’ such.
jomâdi ' ol-avval.
5 shahr jomâdi ' ol-avval sâl 1308 ~ 19 October 1890.
18 jomâdi ' os-sâni sâl 1284 ~ 17 October 1867.
The os-sâni means ‘the second’ such.
16 jomâdi ' os-sâni sâl [12]92 ~ 20 July 1875, with cover corroboration.
28 shahr jomâdi ' os-sâni sâl 1294 ~ 10 July 1877.
The pencilled-in notation on the scan is incorrect.
9 jûn ~ 9 June, in transcription from English, in jawaab notation.
Kâbul, Afghanistan.
lefâfe hunda dar shahr-e kâbal ~ letter prepaid to the city of Kabul.
From a cover originating at Srinagar July 1875.
Kânpur ~ Cawnpore. The nearest large city is Lucknow. Two spellings, with the
final-n form and the internal-n.
Calcutta.
lefâfe dar shahr-e kalkata ~ letter to the city of Calcutta.
kâr ~ service. kâr sarkâr Jammûn ~ Government Service
seal for Jammu Province in the form of a Staal-Sharma restrike. The same is repeated at top in Dogrî,
with Jammu rendered Jamvû ~ ‘Jumboo’.
Karachi.
Karnaul. Near Amballa.
Kâshmîr (long-a) and Kashmîr (short-a.)
Kashmîr, spelt with short-a. The three dots of the sh are shunted far to the left on
account of the interferring -k of dâk ~ post. (The two
ks are crossing one another.) And there are
no under-dots on the long-i.
Katrâ. Originally a
market-town or area belonging to a fort, is used to designate city districts.
Here, Katrâ Ahluwâliân Amritsar,
known as a fabrics and textile area with a long-time commercial interest in cashmere and
pushmina shawls. The post office there at one time operated from the upper floor of a house of a
certain Dai Lal Chand (Staal p 21.)
dar qasba(h) Amritsar Katra
Ahluwala, where qasba(h) is ‘old town’, village, etc.
dar Katrâ Ahluwâliâ.
dar Katra Ahlûwâlian.
Katrâ Ahluwâliâ(n).
Katrâ Ahluwâliâ. Another one? In
full, dar shahr-e Amritsar Katrâ Ahluwâliâ.
Katrâ Bâgh Singh.
Katrâ Harî Singh. Another common postal destination in Amritsar.
dar shahr-e Amritsar Katrâharî Singh.
lefâfe hundâ dar
shahr-e Amritsar Katrâharî Singh. See lefâfe below.
dar Amritsar Katrâharî Singh.
katik. Here, 20 mâh katik ~ 4 November.
2 mâh katik sâl 1932 ~ 17 October 1875.
18 katik sâl 33 ~ 1 November 1876.
2 katik [19]34 ~ 16 October 1877.
25 shahr katik sâl 1929 az Jammûn ~ 9 November 1872 from Jammu.
Khân ~ Title and name. Second image contains same
in dar Pind Dâdan Khân, showing an
interesting ligatured version of the Khân.
Pind Dâdan Khân. A town outside the borders of
Jammu-Kashmir in Panjâb, down-river from Jhelum City. A k- is used instead of a kh-
here.
dâk khâna ~ post office.
. . . khâss ~ ‘special’ or honorific. The first is dar Jammûn
khâss ~ to Jammu (‘special’) The second is the same for Nowshera.
dar Jammûn khâss ~ to
Jammu (‘special’).
az Jammûn khâss ~ from Jammu (‘special’.)
khatt hundâ ~ letter prepaid for delivery.
The khatt and lefâfe are interchangeable in this context.
The kha- formally has a dot on top.
Kishtwar. A rare postal destination on the Batout-Padar line in
northeast Jammu Province. Urdû.
Ladâkh.
az Ladâkh.
az Ladâkh. The spelling differs from the preceding, where here a k + h
combination is used in place of the single letter (just as we do when we do not have at
hand a Greek chi, so to spell.)
az Ladâkh. By the way, ‘Ladâkh’ means ‘Many Passes’ in Ladâkhî.
Lahore.
dar (shahr-e) Lahore ~ to (the city of) Lahore.
dar Lahore bar shud ~ to Lahore paid.
Lahore, with with an explicit vowel diacritic.
lefâfe hundâ dar Lahore ~ letter prepaid to Lahore.
Lâlâ ~ Lalla. A form of address, Master, Mister, etc.
Lalla Javan Mal.
lefâfe hundâ ~ letter prepaid for delivery.
In the preceding, lefâfe is Arabic, Persian, Urdû, etc. for ‘letter’ or ‘cover’ and commonly introduces the address. It is based on an Arabic form laff ~ ‘wrap’. The term hundâ refers to a kind of contract, often for the transmission or exchange of goods. The ubiquitious hundî stamps, for example, are bills of exchange.
London. Without dotting. See next entry.
London. The ‘flat’ on the second detail shows the
d formally retroflexed à l‘Urdû. This specimen is
in the hand of Maharaja Ranbir Singh. Jaiswal collection.
Ludhiana.
Lun Miani.
dar Lun Miani zila' Shâhpur.