Urdu & Persian Philatelic Glossary III

mâgh 1938 ~ 1882.

24 mâh mâgh sâl 1926 ~ 4 February 1870. Cover corroborates.

mâgh sâl 1934 ~ January 1878. Cover corroborates.

12 mâh mâgh sâl 1935 ~ 23 January 1879.

shahr 17 mâgh sâl 1933 ~ 28 January 1877.

shahr-e 29 mâgh [19]34 ~ 9 February 1878, with cover corroboration.

az Jammun khâss 25 mâgh sâl 1945 ~ 5 February 1889.

mâh. Persian for ‘month’. See also shahr below.

Mahârâjganj. The -ganj is a market.

11 mâh maghar sâl 1934 ~ 24 November 1877.

5 maghar [19]23 ~ 18 November 1866.

mahsûl ~ tax, fee. The top two lines of the Persian in the New Rectangular stamps read, in stacking fashion, dâk mahsûl ~ postal tax, i.e., postage. The dâk crosses the name ‘Kashmîr’.

mahsûl ~ tax, fee, postage.

nâ mahsûl ~ no postage.

mahsûl berang ~ postage ‘bearing’. It means that the fee was collected upon delivery.

mahsûl dâd-e shud ~ postage paid.

makân ~ from ‘being’, ‘residing at’, etc. By extension, address, place, or station, etc. Compare Hebrew maqôm ~ place. See also maqâm below.

az makân Jammûn ~ from the Jammu (postal) station.

maqâm ~ residing at, address, station, resting or halting spot, etc.

az maqâm Yârkand ~ from station at Yarkand, an oasis town and caravan junction in Chinese Turkestan, north of Ladâkh across the Karakoram range in the Tarim basin.

Bâzâr Mârwârî. A postal destination in Bombay.

Mîân Mîr. Often seen as Meean Meer on covers. Military cantonment of Lahore.

24 mâh moharram sâl [12]91 H ~ 14 March 1874.

5 mâh moharram [...] sâl 1284 ~ 9 May 1867.

27 moharram 1295 ~ 31 January 1878.

mohr ~ seal. This is taken as a detail from the Jammu square iron-mine obliterator.

Muhammad. Proper name. Right image Muhammad Shâh.

Multân ~ Mooltan, in the common English spelling of the day.

dar Multân ~ to Mooltan.

Bombay, rendered in script as Bamba'î or Bama'î.

Munshî Bâgh ~ ‘Officers Park’ in the European Quarter of Srinagar, near the official British Residency for Kashmir. Bâgh ~ park, garden, is common in place-names; munshî ~ bureaucrat, officer, secretary.

Munshî Bâgh Srinagar.

Munshî dâk Srînagar is “official post Srinagar.”

Muzafarâbâd. In western Kashmir.

nâ ~ no, not. Here nâ mahsûl ~ no postage.

nambar ~ number, in transcription from English.

Nîûyâk Amrîkâ ~ New York America.

November 1877 (navambar perhaps) in English transcription.

o. Conjunction ‘and’ for closely related pairs. Also va and Semitic wa.

28 October 1877 in English transcription.

Pandit. Title of respect to Hindus. Scholar.

Pânipat ... khâna ~ Pânîpat post office.

Panjâb. Lit. ‘five rivers’.

Panjâb.

pânzdah ~ fifteen.

parcha. Here, postcard.

pargana. An administrative sub-division for the collection of revenue. It’s head office is called tahsîl.

pâs. In care of, attention, retained by, with, ...

Patiâla.

Peshâwar.

dar shahr-e Peshâwar.

phâgun. The marking below are the 3 dots of the p together with the h-upstroke.

11 phâgun.

2 mâh phâgun [19]34 ~ 12 February 1878.

17 phâgun sâl 1924 ~ 27 February 1868.

24 phâgun sâl [19]34 ~ 6 March 1878.

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. A pind is a village.

dar Pind Dâdan Khân.

Pind Dâdan Khân.

lefâfe hundâ dar Pind Dâdan Khân bar dûkan ... Letter prepaid to Pind Dadan Khan, c/o ...

23 poh sâl [19]39 ~ 5 January 1883. This was arrival notation showing a 2a penalty charge for the absence of British postage. Compare the curled-loop final -h with the following form of the final:

7 mâh poh sâl 1945 ~ 20 December 1888. Also known as pus, but so far we have not knowingly seen this spelling on J&K material.

Punchî or Poonch.

Punchî.

Qal'a ~ fortification, citadel. Popularly spelt Qila, as here in Qila Dîdâr Singh, a postal location southwest of Gujrânwâla in Panjâb.

qasba(h) ~ village, market town. In scan, dar qasba(h) Amritsar ~ to the ‘old-city’ of Amritsar.

dar qasba(h) Amritsar Katra ‘Ahluwala’.

21 shahr rabî ol-avval [...] 1288 ~ 10 June 1871, with cover corroboration.

rabî' ol-avval sâl 1295 ~ starts on 5 March 1878. The ol-avval means ‘the first’ such.

The portion at the top is dated 25 rabî ol-avval [1284] ~ 27 July 1867, while the jawab section underneath has 8 rabî os-sâni [1284] ~ 9 August 1867.

9 rabî' os-sâni 1283 ~ 19 August 1866. The os-sâni means ‘the second’ such.

26 rabî' os-sâni 1286 ~ 5 August 1869.

22 rabî' os-sâni [12]98 ~ 24 March 1881.

11 shahr-e rabî' os-sâni.

Raikot. Technically the t is retroflex, notated by a ‘flat’ sign instead of the pair of dots.

Râj. State Power.

14 rajab.

shahr 2 rajab 1307 ~ 22 February 1890.

22 shahr rajab [...] sâl 1288 ~ 7 October 1871.

6 rajab sâl 1294 ~ 17 July 1877.

19 mâh rajab sâl 1294 ~ 30 July 1877.

Râjî Dâs.

rajistarî ~ registered. Retroflexed-t is the dictionary form for Urdu.

rajistarî

rajistarî hundâ ~ prepaid registered. Sometimes also followed by karânâ ~ actuated.

rajistarî hundâ dar Amritsar Katrâharî Singh. Prepaid registered to ...

7 ramazân.

ramazân 1283 ~ from 7 January 1867.

9 [rama]zân 1303 ~ 11 June 1886. Accompanied on the left by 31 jeth sâl 1943 ~ 12 June 1886. (A Kashmir cds on the reverse of the cover showed 12 June.)