𝐇𝐢𝐬𝐭𝐨𝐫𝐲 𝐨𝐟 𝐏𝐨𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐥 𝐬𝐞𝐫𝐯𝐢𝐜𝐞 𝐢𝐧 𝐈𝐧𝐝𝐢𝐚
According to world history, the first postal service in the world was in Egypt in 2000 BC.
Evidence of the existence of the earliest
postal system in the Indian subcontinent was found in the Vedic work Atharva Veda. It
is an underlying fact that like all other civilizations, the system of exchange
of information was available in India as well. Literary sources and folk tales, as well as
rhymes, reveal that the dhoots (messengers) and different animals and
birds were used to send messages from one place to another. Even monsoon clouds
and wind were thought of by eminent poets like Kalidasa (5th century CE) in his famous
poetical work Meghadooth (megha: cloud dhoot: messenger) as a medium for sending messages to a person of choice.
We can find swans in the episodes of Nala-Damayanti, Hanuman in Ramayana, and
Bidur in Mahabharata (between 500-300BCE) as faithful messengers.
In ancient times the kings, emperors, rulers, zamindars, or the feudal lords of India protected their land through the intelligence services of specially trained police or military agencies and courier services to convey and obtain information through runners, messengers, and even pigeons. The chief of the secret service, known as the postmaster, maintained the lines of communication. The people used to send letters to their distant relatives through their friends or neighbors.
It is believed that in India, Emperor Chandragupta Maurya who ruled the country between 321-297 BC, was the first to introduce a form of postal communication to dispatch confidential reports to distant posts in his empire. He divided his empire into provinces. The economic growth and political stability under the Mauryan Empire saw the development of civil infrastructure, including an early mail service.
The difficulty of communication between the capital city and the provincial capitals was solved by the use of pigeon posts. The pigeon post system continued even during the time of Emperor Ashoka. The letters in little cachets were tied to the feet of trained pigeons which were made to fly to specific destinations and thus important messages were sent.
Common chariots called Dagana were also used sometimes as mail chariots in ancient India.
However, the first recorded mention in history is found in the writings of historian Ziadduin Barni. He mentions that Ala-ud-din Khilji of the Delhi Sultanate, who ruled Delhi over 700 years ago, organized a regular horse and foot runner service called harakuras in 1296 AD. These mail runners were used for the purpose of conveying official information and wartime news. They carried a baton with bells and ran across the allotted territory with mail. Runners changed after each mile and the post was delivered in record time. The relay of postal runners worked throughout the day and night and was vulnerable to attacks by bandits and wild animals.
So Mughal Emperor Babar developed the horse courier service and maintained a regular courier postal service.
At this time in France, a certain Monsieur de Velayer had the idea of creating a small post office in 1653. During the reign of Louis XIV, De Velayer established a private penny post in Paris. He offered his customers small pieces of paper mentioning ‘receipt for the payment of transport’. Letters with these pieces attached were deposited in collection boxes on street corners around the city to be later sent to their destinations.
The earliest postage stamp was 1 denier, the smallest denomination of a French coin before the revolution. Letters were wrapped with a slip of paper bearing the inscription that said postpaid ………day of…….1653 (in French)
The world’s first pre-paid postage stamps were issued on May 6, 1840, in Britain. Called the Penny Black stamp and the two Penny Blue stamps they carried the portrait of Queen Victoria, who was the British head of state then.
Initial public reaction to this idea was not very favorable. But by January 1841, 72 million Penny Blacks were printed and issued.
The method was rapidly adopted by other countries and the postage stamp came into being. India, a British colony then, was one of the first countries to adopt this system.
Earlier in 1727, the East India Company (a company that had come to trade in India but ended up ruling it instead) established the first post office in Calcutta, India.
Following the Penny black, India issued a half-anna stamp in 1852 (an anna was the earlier Indian currency before the rupee system was adopted. 16 annas equaled a rupee). The world’s first circular stamp, the ‘Scinde Dawk’ (provincial), was issued on July 1, 1852. The stamp was embossed on circular red wafers with the logo of the East India Company. All India stamps for half anna and one anna were issued on October 1, 1854.
India is also the only country that has a camel post service in the state of Rajasthan, a pigeon post service in Orissa state, and a dog post service at Siachen glacier high up in the Himalayas.
Today, India has the largest postal network in the world with 1,53,454 post offices, and 5,62,000 letter boxes serving 6,04,341 towns, cities, and villages in the country.
Sources:
https://www.indiapost.gov.in
https://www.pitara.com
https://norbyhus.dk/btpb.html
History of Information
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