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1 Rupee and 8 Annas Hundi promissory note
| Issuer | Bikaner State |
|---|---|
| Year | |
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| In circulation to | Yes |
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| Obverse description | Tan paper hundi bearing a red letterpress revenue stamp at left inscribed 'H U N D I' with a central coat-of-arms vignette and the legend 'ONE RUPEE EIGHT AS.' within an ornamental frame; the body of the document is filled with handwritten text in Devanagari script. A circular black ink seal and a handwritten signature appear at lower centre. |
|---|---|
| Obverse lettering | Log in to see details |
| Reverse description | Plain tan paper verso bearing two diagonal lines of handwritten Devanagari script and a small rectangular ink stamp at centre-left; the surface is otherwise unprinted. |
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| Comments |
Bikaner State operated its own treasury and issued indigenous financial instruments well into the British paramountcy period, when formal banking infrastructure in the princely states remained thin. A hundi of this denomination — 1 Rupee 8 Annas — sits at the lower end of the denomination range, suggesting it circulated among merchants and traders rather than for large commercial transactions.
The hundi as a financial instrument predates European-style banknotes in the subcontinent by centuries, functioning as a negotiable bill of exchange enforceable by custom and mercantile trust rather than statutory banking law. Bikaner's state-issued hundis represent the formal absorption of that indigenous credit tradition into princely fiscal administration.